Camping in the Jungle

     Seems like we were not away from the jungle for too long– we camped out in the jungle today!

After our gym class, our teachers gathered us in a circle and they turned off the lights.

“Ooh!” We all said excitedly. We were curious as to what our teachers were up to today. Then we heard sounds—

“Animals…?” L guessed.

“It sounds like animals,” R, a new friend, said.

“But where do you think it is?” Pauline asked.

“Animals… in the jungle?” K guessed. Yes, he was right!

“Remember what we did last Friday?” Pauline asked.

“We were in the jungle!” A said.

“We go camping!” K said.

“We built a tent,” A remembered. Our teachers told us that for this week, we will talk about camping!

“Now let’s pretend we are going to camp out in the jungle…” Pauline began. She then told us that she can hear a lot of things moving around outside— it’s scary! But, there are also lots of interesting things to see— and so she showed us a checklist. She said if we see the things on our checklist, we should put a check mark on the box; if not, then we can put an x mark. It’s like a scavenger hunt!

First, she had an animal checklist. Nimo had a flashlight, and he made funny faces with it and had us giggling. He then handed it to us so we can find what we need better. We found a tiger, and anaconda, but put [x] on the box next to the panda. Did you know that anacondas are the biggest snakes in the world!

Next, we had a bug checklist. In pairs, we found a mosquito, a spider, and a beetle. Then, we had a plant checklist and found an orchid, banana tree, and a giant water lily (which was as big as the circle we made for circle time). We didn’t find a rose, so we put [x].

The whole activity was a lot of fun! We enjoyed using the flashlight, especially when it was dark. It really helped us to find things much better! But when Pauline said we all did a good job of completing the checklist, and we all cheered, she used the flashlight as a disco light. Hee-hee.

Since we forgot to bring food to our campsite in the jungle, unfortunately we had to go back to school so we could eat our lunch. It was met with a lot of “Ohhhh!” as we wanted to eat in our campsite. Our teachers said maybe next time.

For our gym class, we had an interesting obstacle of sorts with Tsurumi sensei. He divided the area into two parts: one with ropes, and one with cones. With the ropes, we had to either crawl under it, or jump over it; then we had to do “gu– pa” over the cones: jump with our feet together, then jump with our feet apart. It was a test of speed, agility, and balance!

Before gym class, we had the chance to ask our new friends today some questions. First, we asked them how old they were.

“I’m 4,” R said.

“I’m 4, too,” K said. Some of us remembered having both of them as classmates when they were in Buds Class. A and A seemed deep in thought as they tried to remember. A seemed to forget who were his teachers before in Buds class.

“Waaah!” Nimo cried, because he was one of A’s Buds class teacher.

“Waaaah!” Pauline cried, too, because she said she was sure A will forget her and Sayaka when he goes up to Flowers Class. We giggled. A and C nicely explained the classroom jobs to our new friends and helped them choose the jobs they want.

That’s all for our first day of camping. How about you? How was your day?

Love,

All the adventurous children in Petals Class