Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving! Now is the day that we have all been waiting for. Few days ago, we drew the things we are grateful for. We tried our best to write the words to describe our pictures, too! Our teachers were so thrilled to see our beautiful smiles the moment we came to school today and asked us, “You look so happy today!”. So, for our morning song, we sang, “Hello, ________! Ohayo gozaimasu. How are you today, please tell us’?
Ti: I think I’m happy.
Ke: Excited because today I go to school. I went to Kyoto.
Ka: Wonderful and happy!
Ki: Angry because I am going to the park.
Yu: I am wonderful, excited and happy.
Ak: Excited because today is my birthday!
Ri: Angry
Ad: I am fine, thank you. I am excited.
Ke: Excited and wonderful.
Vieda: I am thankful.
Nimo: I am extra hungry because I think of what we do on Thanksgiving.
Yu: Because you did not eat asagohan (breakfast).
Liezel: I feel cold.
Ak: I am thankful, too because it is my birthday.
Today is Thanksgiving! This day gives us the opportunity to pause and think of the things and people we are thankful for! We couldn’t help but to feel excited for our Thanksgiving celebration in Flowers today.
MORNING ACTIVITIES:
Looking at the things on the tables, we could sense that the winter holidays are coming very soon. We enjoyed making winter holiday cards with cute masking tapes. We are so proud when our teachers praised our writing using inventive spelling. Please look forward to receiving our cards!
How about the other table? There were tiny boxes which we decorated with collage materials. You may wonder what we are working on. Well, this is our winter holiday gift for our families, but we want it to be a surprise so we cannot tell you what it is. A little hint will not hurt, so here it goes. This is something that can give you a fright! Can you guess what it is?
STORY TIME
We read a book entitled, The Lion Who Wanted to Love by Giles Andreae. Before the story, Vieda asked us what we knew about lions. We all agreed that lions hunt for animals for food. As Ti put it, “Lions like meat”. However, Ke was quite uncomfortable when he heard this and said, “But it’s not nice to do that. Why don’t they look in the farm and eat vegetables instead?”. Yu then remembered that on her birthday, she had a special celebration where she ate meat. As Vieda turned each page of the storybook, we felt quite worried when we saw that Leo the lion looked helpless in the river.
Ka: Leo is saying help.
Ke Is Leo ground?
Ak: Leo is go down. Down in the ocean.
Ke: I think he is sinking down.
Ka: Oboreta. Drowning.
Ke: Awww! I thought hippo is eating the cheetah!
Yu: If you’re under the water, you don’t breathe.
Ka: But mermaid can speak under the water.
Ad: I can swim in pool that is not salty. I can talk underneath the salty water.
Leo’s story showed us that if we have love in us, we have the most valuable gift that we can ever have!
CIRCLE TIME
We made turkey crafts and beautiful centerpieces for our tables a few weeks ago. We even brought special dessert for lunch today, too! Our teachers greeted us, “Happy Thanksgiving!”. But, what is Thanksgiving? None of us sitting in the circle ever remembered celebrating Thanksgiving.
Vieda: What do you think people do on Thanksgiving?
Ka: People make something like party.
Kei: People do like Christmas party.
Vieda: What do you think they eat at a Thanksgiving dinner or lunch?
Ad: Turkey. They just eat one turkey. It’s big enough for people to eat. The one turkey is big like this (put arms together to make one big circle). They break it up to all the people.
Ke: Turkey
Ak: I think big chicken.
Ka: Like chocolate cake?
Ke: Lots of salad and so so big maguro (tuna fish). My Mommy said Mommy is 6 years old and she went to America. She said she eat too much food.
Ti: Meat and fish!
Ka: Fish
Ke: They eat chicken wings!
Yum! Yum! Yum! We cannot wait to hear the story of Thanksgiving and learn how Thanksgiving came about and how it is celebrated.
Vieda: Why do you think we have Thanksgiving?
Ka: Because there is… we can give thanks to people because they give you something.
Ak: Because everyone help you.
Ke: You are thankful for people. It’s nice for people to say thank back to you. The word thanksgiving means thank you for giving.
The STORY of THANKSGIVING
Nimo who was born and raised in the US, shared the story of thanksgiving. As we were looking at a world map, we learned that there were 102 people (pilgrims) aboard the Mayflower ship that sailed from Europe. We enjoyed listening to how kind and helpful the Native Americans were to the pilgrims. It was great to hear how the friendship grew among them. Nimo showed us pictures of some of the vegetables they were able to grow.
Ka: corn Ki: I have squash at home, too!
Ke: carrot Yu: rice
Ka: cereal? Ke: cornflakes
Ak: beans?
At the end of the story, we felt that it is always good to know that someone cares and is ready to support us! Thank you, Nimo for sharing! We are beginning to grasp the importance of celebrating Thanksgiving with our families and friends!
Before we went ahead and have a special Thanksgiving lunch, Nimo asked us a remarkably interesting question.
Nimo: Who do you want to give thanks to?
Ti: Ki
Ri: Ak
Ke: Ka, Yu and Ak
Yu: Flowers!
Ka: Everyone!
Ki: Yu
Ad: Everyone in Ohana
Kei: Daddy and Mommy and Flowers Class
Ke: Everyone!
We feel happy when we say thank you, as well as when others thank us! Happy Thanksgiving again everyone!
LUNCH TIME
Even though we cannot feast together, we felt wonderful to sit together around the lunch tables. Our tables were covered with cute tablecloths and were accented by the beautiful centerpieces that we made!
In the afternoon, we had a fantastic time singing lots of songs and learning more about numeracy with Nimo.
See you all tomorrow!
Love,
Flowers Class