Happy Valentine's Day

Daisuki na kimochi wo agetara agetara, agetara

Daisuki na kimochi wo agetara,

Modotte kuru yo…

Is it because of the coldness? Lately, the days seem to start quietly and gently as our minds and bodies slowly warm up for action. Finishing our morning jobs, some friends enjoyed doing puzzles at one table, others loved to play imaginative play with the animal figurines. We also had a chance to make a special card for the special day. Yes, today is St. Valentine’s Day. Although it is important to express our love to the people around us every day, it is nice to take this day to remind ourselves about how much we love and how much we are loved by someone. First, we put a piece of heart-shaped paper into a salad spinner. Then we spooned some sparkly paint on the paper and closed the cover and span and span the heart inside...when we opened up the cover, we could see that the paint had danced on the paper, making neat patterns. We also made a hand print on the card, just to see how each and every day, we are growing :)

Missing a couple of ballet classes in the earlier weeks, we were all eager to prepare the room after our free play. Maryna is always so good and today she started the class with our favorite Shark song but in valentine’s version! We also did a couple of songs we already know like the Bicycle song and the Bear Hunt song. We also leant two new songs. One was called The Little Swans. At first, the song slowly guided us to do plie, un avant, arabesque, up and fly (on our tippy toes, we flapped our arms on the side up and down.) Then the music continued and we did the same move a little faster and we looked like dancing swans! The other one was along the tune of the Bingo song except we spelled the word HEART.

For circle time, Nanako opened up the talk by asking “Do you know what ‘I love you’ means?” It was a bit challenging to put into words but here is how the conversation developed...

Ak: (He showed his fingers to mean) I love you (in sign language).

Nanako: When someone says, “I love you” how do you feel?

Le, Ad, Ol: Happy.

Nanako: Who says “I love you” to you?

Ad: Mama says, “I love you” to me and I say “I love you” to mommy and we have to stop (hitting the table) with a fork and spoon.

C: Mommy says, “I love you.”

Nanako: How do you feel when she says that to you?

C: Happy.

Ad: I love you is like ice-cream.

Nanako: Who likes ice-cream?

(Almost everyone raises hands, including the teachers.)

Ch: Mommy gives me kisses and hugs when I go to sleep.

Nanako: How do you feel when she gives kisses and hugs?

Ch: I feel happy. When somebody doesn’t share the blue ice-cream, daddy takes it away.

Ad: I like brown ice-cream with savta (grandma) and with colors.

Nanako: Yes, love is like ice-cream and when you are sharing ice-cream, you are also sharing your love.

Chr: I like to go to McDonalds and Tokyo Tower with mommy and daddy. Then I go home.

Adh: My mommy cuts my nails.

Nanako: What else do you like when mommy and daddy do something for you?

Adh: I go home with mommy.

Nanako: Yes, home is where love is.

As a way of closing our beautiful flow of ideas, we read Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBrathney.

We didn’t have enough time to go to the park today but instead we went for a nice stroll around the neighborhood and chugged up the hill to the temple singing, “Down by the station, early in the morning…” By the time we were back, we were all ready to fill up our hungry tummies.

Thank you for another lovely day!

Love from the loving Buds.