The Small- but- Incredible Encyclopedia

May 20, 2019

Dear Mom and Dad,

It’s great to be back after a short break last week. Free play was, again, very interesting. Some of our friends were playing the baby dolls again, pretending to be mommy and daddy. Some of them were pretending to give the babies a bath, or changing their diapers.

The tables were also busy with puzzles. Some of them were working with Sayaka. They chose a favorite picture or scene from their books for show and tell, then drew it. We saw our friends really try their best and not say “I can’t do it.” The result: their drawings were really beautiful! That’s why it is important to try and try– until we succeed.

After cleaning up, we had our usual early snacks and waited for Miyashita sensei to arrive. In gym class, we practiced how to throw and catch the ball again, but this time, we should do our best to throw the ball as hard as we can. We ended with our favorite “hot ball” game where Miyashita sensei will roll the ball and we need to avoid letting it touch us. If it does, then we’re out!

After gym class, S had his Show and Tell. He had a small book filled with lots of pictures. Pauline said it was an encyclopedia, a book that contains lots of information that we can learn. She told us that when she was younger, her grandma had a big shelf of encyclopedias– they were big and thick. She would often read them if there was something she was curious about.

S opened to one page and said, “Look here. They are writing something.” It was actually a page about how people first started to write. S then flipped to another page and said, “Look, this is mommy and daddy and baby.” It was a picture about a family cleaning their home during springtime. He turned to another page where most of us went “Ooh!”

“Here, there is crocodile and snake-” S began.

“This one is an iguana,” Pauline said.

“Well, this iguana is eating the frog!” S said.

“Oh no!” some of our friends said. We looked closely and saw that the iguana is, indeed eating the frog. Sota turned to another page, and it showed a big picture of a castle.

“Look, this is a king. Same as Lion King. Lion King, R’s favorite,” Sota said, and R grinned.

“Lion King is also king, but he has no castle. Just savannah,” R told us.

“Why is this your favorite book?” R and E asked.

“Because I like it,” S replied.

“Why do you like it?” B asked.

“Because it has all the countries– it has everybody’s countries,” S answered.

“Is there something about volcano and earthquake inside?” J wanted to know.

“Yes. Inside,” S said.

“Why is everyone living in on the earth?” R asked.

“Because I can see it here,” S said, pointing to the picture on the cover of his book. It was a picture of the world, and when we looked closely, there were tiny people in it doing all sorts of things: there was one who was being chased by a rhino, there was someone walking a camel, and someone climbing a tall mountain.

“Is there something about the ocean?” R wanted to know.

“Yes. Here, inside,” S repied, and Pauline opened to a page which showed a picture of the ocean and ocean animals.

“Is there something about dinosaurs, too?” J and B asked in unison. S enthusiastically nodded and showed the page about dinosaurs. All the dinosaur fans went “Wowwwwwww!”

“What is the name of the earth?” Y wanted to know. S turned to Pauline.

“That’s the name: Earth,” Pauline said.

“Why are the countries here?” L asked. Pauline said that since the picture on the cover is the world we live in, so that’s why it has all the countries in it.

We thanked S after his show and tell. We just had free play in the classroom as we didn’t have enough time for park. Hopefully tomorrow we can go!

Love,

All the curious children in Petals Class