Finally– It’s Back to School!

           After almost 2 months of being away from school– this is it!  WE’RE BACK! Some of us felt a bit strange being back after a long time, some of us cried for a bit and didn’t want to wear the mask. You see, wearing the mask is challenging for us as it’s something that’s also new to us– and now we have to wear them all the time.

“But mommy said that in the car, we can take off the mask. At home, too, we don’t need the mask,” A said. He was right. We only need to wear the mask if we go out of the car, and out of the house.

“It hurts my ears,” H told the teachers, so they helped her adjust the knots.

“There! I feel much better,” H said.

“I have unicorn on my mask,” M happily showed us.

“I have Anna and Elsa!” L replied to her.

We settled in our usual routine of free play– some of us played with stickle bricks on the floor, or with the doctor set; some played with puzzles with Nimo. Some of us just missed our library and sat down to read some books; we certainly missed teachers reading a story to us, so we were glad when Sayaka read a book to us. On the big table, Pauline explained what face shields were for, and how we would make it. First, we drew whatever we wanted to draw using colored pencils and markers. Next, the teachers will put it in laminating sheets and put it through  the laminating machine, and stick it on top of our face shields. We really enjoyed drawing and asked Pauline if we can draw some more.

We cleaned up after, and lined up for toilet and handwashing. We noticed that the stickers we follow for lining up were so far apart from each other. Then, we used small yoga mats to sit on the floor for circle time, which was far apart from each other as well.

We sang our good morning song with much gusto, that Tiger found it a bit noisy. Our teachers then asked us how we felt about being back in school.

“I missed Ohana, and I’m excited to be back. I’m happy!” C said. “I miss Nimo a lot,” C explained.

“I’m happy,” L said.

“I'm excited!” O said.

“I miss Ohana a lot,” A said.

“I miss Ima and Abba,” A said. “Oh!” He suddenly remembered. “Abba said he will buy me a skateboard and it flies. I’m really excited about that skateboard! It lifts off the grass!” He told us.

“I also want a skateboard, but my mommy doesn’t know where to buy it,” H said.

“You know, my mommy bought a skateboard for S– and me, too! She bought it on Amazon!” O told us.

“Ohhh… but I have to wait for a long, long, time…” H replied.

Our teachers exchanged amused smiles as they sure missed hearing our stories and chatter– we sure do have a lot to catch up on! N, who was logged in to Zoom listened to us and waved hello to us every now and then whenever we would look at her at the computer.

As promised last week during our Zoom session, L brought her favorite book to share with us, “Harold and the Purple Crayon” by Crockett Johnson. Pauline started off with the story with her usual joke of saying “The End!” right after she has read the book’s title! Ah, teachers can be really silly. She always laughs in glee whenever we yell out “NOOOOOO!!!!” in disbelief.

The book follows young Harold as he draws in his big adventure with his crayon, up until he gets back home in his bed and falls asleep.

“It’s also my favorite book!” C said.

“Me, too!” K said. “It’s my favorite book!” he told us.

“If you are going to have a crayon, what color will it be, and what will you make?” Pauline asked.

“I want my crayon to be pink,” C said. “I want to draw a house– my house! Then, some toys, a bed, kitchen, door, a calendar, and a map… and a white board!” He told us.

“Hmm.. I want purple crayon. I want to draw art. I want to draw my friends,” L said. “I want to draw with A, because I like A so much,” she said.

“Don’t forget T, too!” A reminded her.

“Oh, yes.. T, too!” L added.

“I want blue; I have crayon at home in my grandma’s house,” M said.

“What do you want to draw?” Pauline asked.

“Hmm.. I don’t know,” M said.

“I also want purple crayon,” Adam said. “I wanna draw house, my friends, calendar, ants, forest, myself…..” and he enumerated a hundred more things that he wanted to draw!

Our day ended with our favorite game– yes, it’s still freeze dance. Nimo had to tell us to pull down our masks every once in a while to catch our breath after all the dancing and jumping we made. All in all, it was a great day, even though it was a short one. We talked about some changes we had in school (Like people can’t come inside the school to drop us off or pick us up), and that we need to make sure we have our masks all the time to protect ourselves and each other (Which we did today– good job, everyone!) See you again tomorrow, Ohana and our beloved Petals Class!

Love,

All the happy– but– practicing-social– distancing- children in Petals Class

P.S.

Today is Sayaka’s birthday, and we all sang “Happy Birthday” to her!