Spring Has Sprung

The sunshine gleams so bright and warm, the sky is blue and clear.

I run outdoors without a coat, as spring is almost here...

Then before I know it, small clouds have blown together,

Till the sun just can’t get through them, and again it’s mitten weather,

As spring is almost here.

We try our best to stay warm as spring goes through its annual changes. But this does not stop Petals class from having fun.

We arrived this morning with big smiles on our faces! We had our magnetic alphabet box and play dough set up at the tables. Children loved finding the letter that their name began with and even just letters that are in their name. Though they are still working on the order in which their letters go in, but the recognition is accurate!

Play dough was quite popular today. A beautiful moment we would like to share during play time:

H: “Kiki I don’t have any play dough to play with!”

K: “Well why don’t you ask your friends. You can tell them that you don’t have any play dough and can someone share please.”

H: “Friends I don’t have any play dough. Can someone share with me please?”

Next we saw that each child at the table took a portion out of their own play dough. They all worked together to make sure that H had enough playdough to play with.

R: You don’t have so much, here I can give you some.

E: (quietly placed some on Harriet’s table).

Y: I can give you some.

M: Me too, I have so much.

E: I can give you some.

L: Here you are

R: Here…

 H herself was so surprised to see ALL her friends sharing and said, “I had zero playdough, now I have so much! Thank you everyone.”

 We were so proud of our Petals and truly brought a proud tear in our eyes.

At the carpet area we played with ocean animals with Sayaka!

After our beautiful morning we then had John-John’s music class, which is now moved to Wednesday. John started with some breathing exercises and followed by asking children what their favourite songs were. As you can imagine Petals had many ideas and thoughts for John. He then followed with some rhythm exercises and a fun colour story. We always have so much fun with John-John

We had our snack and gathered around in a circle with Kiki. Kiki explained, as we are becoming big Petals now, the teachers are going to give them the choice of staying in class or going to park. This will not be always, but sometimes. The children who want to stay and do activities and do with 1 teacher, whilst others will go to the park with the remaining teachers.

Today Kiki suggested one group can stay and draw with Kiki (Group 1) and the other group and go with Pauline and Sayaka to the post office, to deposit our coins for Cambodia (Group 2).

Group 1: We sat with Kiki at the table, and discussed what we did yesterday. We talked about the Spring picnic and the things we saw and enjoyed. After our discussion Kiki asked the children to draw what they remembered from yesterday...what made them happy...What did they see...what did they do? The provocation was to only draw what they remembered, saw or experienced.

With this the children started drawing. Though some children needed gentle reminders to bring their focus back to their ideas, in general it was a great exercise in memory, creativity and focus.

Group 2: We set out with Sayaka and Pauline to our communities post office. We lined up like everyone else and waited for our turn. There was a tiny slot, where we had to put the coins in. We were glad that we had everything sorted out before hand, so it was a little easier. The tricky park was putting the coins one-by-one into the slot. It took some time, and before we knew it there was a long line behind us. We finished up as fast as we could, each Petals taking a turn. We were not able to do all the coins, so another trip will be needed soon.

Before we knew it, it was lunch time...

We had a creative and focused day filled with love and kindness!

Have lovely evening and see you all tomorrow!

Loving Petals