Raise Your Flag and Fill Your Happy Buckets!

February 25th, 2019

Dear Mom and Dad,

Guess who’s back in today? X! We missed her so much and we just gave her a big hug when she came in. We were excited to play with her again!

           The carpet area then became busy. We took out the cars and the Duplo blocks. Some of our friends were trying to build towers taller than us, which caused a heated debate amongst some. The teachers reminded us about playing nicely and using our gentle hands.

We still continued our name art and cutting practice with Sayaka. I think she’s impressed at how good our cutting skills are!

Miyashita sensei came after our snacks.  We tried to balance on the cushions again– but at the same time, balancing a tiny bean bag atop our heads. Tricky– tricky! We played “Karasu– Kaminari” game after; when Miyashita sensei says “Kaminari!” We have to look for a partner and be joined belly– to- belly. If he yells out “Karasu!” we have to be joined back– to– back. with our partner. It was a lot of fun!

We had our circle time after saying goodbye to Miyashita sensei. Our teachers then talked about what happened during free play time, when we were building towers. There was some pushing, and not– so– nice words were used. We were reminded that we should not forget to use our gentle hands and nice words, so that we can avoid hurting our friends.

We then talked about our bucket fillers. Pauline asked us about what other things fill up our happy bucket.

“When we play together AND pack away together,” Y said.  We all agreed as we do need to pack away every after we play.

“Asking nicely,” Z said. Our teachers nodded in agreement.

“Okay, W. Let’s pretend you’re playing with a toy,” Pauline said. W did as she was told. Pauline pretended to be the child who also wants to play with her toy, so she snatches it from her.

Some of us gasped, and W pretended to cry (Which was an acting deserving of an Oscar, by the way).

“Do you think that’s okay?” Pauline asked. We said no.

“You should ask nicely!” X said.

“You should say, “May I borrow, please?” V said. Pauline said the same thing to W, and W gave her the toy happily.

“Use magic words,” V said, and Pauline added that to our happy bucket.

“Bibbidi– bobbidi– boop!” Q said, giggling. We all laughed.

“No, not those magic words!” Pauline said. “Not ‘Abracadabra’ and ‘Open Sesame’!”

“Please, may I, and no thank you,” T said.

“Now, what fills up our sad bucket?” Pauline asked us.

“Not asking nicely,” X said.

“When we say, ‘I don’t like you, you are not my teacher,” F said.

“When someone says ‘I hate you’,” G said.  Pauline asked us if we know the meaning of the word “hate”. Some of our friends shook their heads.

“’Hate’ is another way of saying ‘I don’t like you’,” Q said.

“That’s right,” Pauline said. But if you use the word ‘hate’, it means that you really, really, really, REEEAAALLY don’t like something– or someone,” she said.

“It’s a very powerful word,” Kiki said. “We should be careful when we use it. That’s what my mother always told me when I was little.”

“It can hurt our heart,” Pauline said.

“It can give us heartache,” Kiki added.

“If someone says ‘I don’t like you’, then says ‘Pfft!’” W said, making a face. He’s also right, it’s okay to make silly face when you’re having a good laugh with your friends, but making silly faces when you want to be mean and rude is another thing.

After talking about our buckets, we discussed the Petals flag we made last week. We wanted to add so many things to it– like stars, sharks, water in the pool, another fish friend for Rainbow Fish, etc. Pauline then explained that the flag is something important that shows a special story about the country. For example, America’s flag has 50 star, because of their 50 states.

“Maybe tomorrow, we can make our own flag,” Pauline suggested. “For example, I can make a ‘Pauline’ flag.” then she thought about things that are important to her and things that she loved, so she ended up drawing a big heart with her daddy, mommy, younger brother, and John. Some of us asked why John is there, so the teachers explained that John is Pauline’s husband, juts like daddy is mommy’s husband. Then she drew in tiny petals inside the big heart– it symbolizes “my Petals family” whom she “loves so much”.

“Aww… you love us so much?” X asked.

“Of course!” Pauline answered. Then she drew in an ice cream cone, French fries, and a candy because….. That’s how much she likes food. Heehee. Now, we’re excited to make our own flag tomorrow! Then maybe after that, we can edit our Petals flag.

Before preparing for lunch, Sayaka talked to us about using toilet paper. She noticed that teachers have to change toilet paper rolls more often. She said that we should be more aware that we only use the amount that we need to use– not excessive. We shouldn’t waste toilet paper as they come from trees– if we keep on wasting paper, then we need to cut down more trees, then if we have no more trees, there will be nothing to clean our air, nothing to “drink” the water when it rains. The air will be dirty, and there will be flooding in a lot of places. Some animal friends won’t have homes when there are no more  trees. We promised to be more conscious of what we use, and this discussion prompted more questions:

“Where does the tongue come from?” RR asked.

“Where does water come from?” SS wanted to know.

Our teachers were able to satisfy our curiosity as we got ready for lunch. So, that concludes our Monday– how was yours?

Love,

All the curious minds in Petals.