It Takes Courage to Admit Mistakes
Decorating Our Holiday Tree đ
Upon entering the room, most of us got wide eyed and asked, âWhatâs that?â (some even asked, âWhoâs that?â đ). A tall, big âsomething was standing in the middle of the room and itâs taking up a whole lot of space! It doesnât seem to be moving on itâs own so we guess we can quietly go around it to hang our bagsâŠ
Goh San officially introduced us to our Holiday Tree by asking us to join her in looping golden strings through the Christmas lights paper ornaments that weâve finished working on yesterday. Our older friends were given the challenge of looping the flimsy strings as it required more attention and focus compared to using fuzzy wires.
On the other end of the table, our younger friends got themselves occupied with looping jingle bells through fuzzy wires. Apart from looping, we also identified âloudâ and âsoftâ sounds⊠depending on how we shook the bells. Several of us had a friendly competition too⊠seeing who can fit the most bells inside our little hands.
After looping the strings and fuzzy wires, it was time to hang it on our Holiday Tree! We had a blast decorating the tree with garlands, tinsels, and ornaments. A few of us were clever to figure out to use cushions to step on in order to reach the higher parts of the tree.
And of course, anything shiny and shimmering should also be worn around our bodies. Garlands and tinsels also turned into belts, scarves, and wigs! Santa hats and Santa & Reindeer headbands were also up for grabs for us to wear on our heads to get into the festive mood!
Gingerbread Spiced Playdough
One table was buzzing with lots of clanking pots & utensils and exchange of ideas! Yesterdayâs playdough was mixed with gingerbread spices which provided us with different sensory experience!
The playdough has now turned brown in color which reminded us of burger patties, freshly baked cookies, pancakes, and bread! One of us even made a stack of pancakes đ„!
While others preferred the culinary arts, a couple of us preferred zoology by forming shapes that reminded us of certain animals. The most popular animal that was made was the âItsy Bitsy Spiderâ by inserting fuzzy wires to the playdough.
The colored rolled oats added âlifeâ to the activity as it was visually appealing with its lively colors. The colored oats enabled us to practice counting, sorting, and even gave our focus and fingers a workout by diligently pulling out those that got mixed with the playdough.
Cushions Free Play
Since outside was wet and slippery, we opted to stay indoors and let our imagination run wild with the help of soft round cushions! Hereâs what we did with the cushions:
1. Aligned it - straight line, curved line, zig zag line, and even broken line!
2. Get on top of it by balancing, hopping, sitting, and stepping on it
3. Stacked it - guess how high we were able to stack and who were brave to get on top of it. Also, this activity made us put on our thinking hats as we had to figure out how to make the cushions stable enough for us to stand on.
Having a bunch of cushions together allowed us to get together in one corner and just be physically closer together.
Music Session
With the cushions providing us a relaxed and homey atmosphere, we all longed around the inner part of the room while John serenaded us with our favorite songs âPeace Like A Riverâ (Elizabeth Mitchellâs version), âBaby Sharkâ, and âMagic Pennyâ (Bob Rosen).
It was wonderful to witness and hear everyone in harmony by shaking oneâs bells, singing along, and swaying to the rhythm.
Welcome, J! + Molding Playdough to the đ” + Finger Play
Whoâs the new friend wearing purple sweater? Itâs J! We instantly liked J A LOT as he showed us his groovy dance moves during Music Session. To quote S, âAlways music is playing in Buds Class so we can dance!â
A lot of us enjoyed yesterdayâs on the spot playdough ornament making while listening to music so we did a repeat of that activity! Erika added lyrics to the Jangala rhythm by singing
đ¶ âI have a playdough rolling in between my palms and itâs turned into a ball⊠and the ball is going to roll towards a friend who is sitting nicely which is⊠(name)âđ¶
Repeating this song until each one of gets a ball of playdough enables us to remember the lyrics and sing along to it. It also provides us with predictability which makes us know the right timing when to expect a ball and awareness of the conditions to receive one.
This time, chocolate balls and pancakes where the most popular items to be made with our gingerbread playdough.
And oh, we also had a fun contributing to the lyrics by pitching ideas of what we can do with our fingers.
It Takes Courage to Admit Mistakes
Festive holiday songs were played all throughout Free Play period to which tickled our dancing bones. We particularly enjoyed dancing to Leona Lewisâ âOne More Sleepâ. We were also given Santa & Reindeer headbands and Santa hats to wear while dancing until ooops! one of us accidentally snaps a headband in two!
The second time we gathered, Erika showed us the broken headband and asked us our thoughts on how we could fix it and if gentle hands were used while handling it. Without asking who in particular accidentally broke it, one of us admitted and took initiative in fixing the broken headband.
The solution was fixing it with tape! Several of us were open to helping our friend fix the headband by taking turns in wrapping the broken part with tape. While the headband may no longer be in its tip top shape, whatâs important is that our friend was given the opportunity to honestly admit his/her mistake and worked on finding a solution with a little help and encouragement from others! Kudos to our friend for being brave!
We hope all of you are having a wonderful Wednesday so far!
Love,
Buds Class Children