Grandparents' Day and Digestion
Our day started with a cutting activity where we had fun cutting straight, wavy, and zigzag lines. We also enjoyed putting the cut-out strips of paper in a small Ziploc bag, too! Ka wanted to take it home, but Vieda told us that we will have it in our portfolio. After all of us did our cutting activity, we gathered in a circle. Vieda showed us a big calendar and asked us what difference we saw with the number 21 from the rest of the days last week. Yu immediately said, “It’s red. It means that we don’t come, and black means we will come back here”. Most schools and office are closed today because today is a special celebration.
Vieda: What is being celebrated in Japan today?
Me: It’s somebody’s birthday.
Ak: It’s zoom day!
Yu: It’s reading zoom. It is for Grandpa and Grandma.
As part of our celebration, we made special cards for our Grandparents. Some of our friends shared what their Grandpa and Grandma said about their gifts.
Li: Grandpa say it’s cute.
Am: I still have it, but they said it’s beautiful and I can’t wait for it!”.
As Yu mentioned, today is a special day in Japan to honor the elderly. In Flowers, we planned to celebrate this week as a special day for our Grandparents Week. Our special guess today was Nanny C, A’s Grandma.
At first, we did not know who our guest was. Ad thought she was someone from Israel, while Ak maybe she was from Nagoya. Yu’s guess was that she was someone from Karuizawa. And, when we saw our guest on the screen, we were all surprised to know that she was someone from Australia!
We greeted our special guest in both English and Japanese language. Before she read us a story, we were so excited to know some things about her. We are so thankful that she let us ask her some questions.
Ch: Where are you from?
Nanny C: I’m from Australia.
Am: Australia is in lock down.
Ak: Why are you in Australia?
Nanny C: This is where my home is. I have been here since I was little. I live with A’s aunts and uncles. We have a cat and a dog, too!
Yu: What language do you speak?
Nanny C: I speak English. It’s the only language that I speak.
Ak: Can we change Grandma? Can you be our Grandma?
Nanny C: Yes, I will be happy to be your Flowers’ Grandma!
Story time by Nanny C: Edward the Emu by Sheena Knowles
We had such a wonderful time during story time with Nanny C. During the story, she let us roar like lions and hissed like snakes! At the end of the story, we are happy to hear that Edward found an Emu friend named Edwina.
Thank you so much for reading us a story and spending some time with us today, Nanny C!
After the story, some of our friends asked what an emu is. Am raised her hand and explained to us that “Emu is a kind of a bird who can’t fly but it runs.”
Circle Time: Short Video/Song and Simple Experiment about Digestion
There were slices of bread, water, vinegar, and towel on the table. Before we started our experiment, we talked about the steps in digestion. We all know that digestion starts in our mouth, then to the food pipe called esophagus. Then the food goes to the stomach which is located at the end of the esophagus. Food nutrients are absorbed in the small intestines, which Ti thought was called the small “interesting”. We learned that some of the food do not get absorbed in our body are then pushed to the large intestines. Then, came the answer to our question last week. How does the food come out of our body? We got the answer by taking part in our experiment. We tore the bread in small pieces, mixed it with water and vinegar then we squeezed it! Guess how it felt to squeeze pieces of butter that had been mixed with water and vinegar! We could some friends saying, “Yucky!!!”, “Eww!” and “Sticky!!!”. Finally, we got to the last step of the experiment. It did not look like bread at all. It turned into something that represents the poo. That’s it! That’s how the food comes out of our body!
Vi: What do you think is it now?
Am: It’s poo poo.
T: Is it smelly?
Ad: One time I ate blue ice cream, my poo got green.
Ri: I eat ice cream, I choke.
Ti: When I was eating vanilla ice cream, my poo is a little bit brown.
Vieda: Does it come in shapes?
Am: It’s triangle.
Ak: Circle
Ti: Square
Ch: Diamond
R: Triangle
Ti: Circle
R: If you eat, you poo.
Ka: If you eat too much chocolate, it’s hard to poo.
We never realized how much there is, to talk about digestion and poo. We enjoyed learning how amazing our bodies are! This is just the beginning of our journey in understanding the different fascinating things about our bodies! We are indeed special!
Love,
Flowers Children