Birthday Party and Snakes
Happy rainy Wednesday! Rain did not bother us at all while we had so much fun with our indoor activities.
Our hands were busy decorating New Year’s cards for our families. Our older friends carefully thought of what they wanted to write to their families. Then, they asked Vieda, “Can you please sound it out for me, so we can draw the letters?”. Some of our friends said, “I want to say thank you for playing with me”, while some said, “I like to say I love you. Happy New Year!”. Za drew something on her card and said, “Look, I made a heart. You know why I made one? Because I love my Mama!”. Our families would surely be touched by our warm messages! The part that we enjoyed most was putting New Year’s stickers around our card. So showed some stickers that she picked and said, “These stickers are like Japan’s stickers. Like Mount Fuji and oshogatsu!”.
BIRTHDAY PARTY
We love celebrating our friends’ birthdays at school. There is something about it that we make our hearts full😊 and today was no different. It was even special because we had not just one, but two birthday celebrants, A and K. A very big thanks to Tr, M, Hi, and M for celebrating with us via zoom. We enjoyed listening to Tr as he read the story of The Smeds and the Smoss by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.
Flowers was lucky to have the chance to ask some our birthday friends some questions. Please enjoy reading them below:
Me: What did you eat at home today? For breakfast.
A: Osushi!
K: I forgot!
U: What did you get for present? Or what did wish for?
A: Cards
K: Not yet. I didn’t wish anything.
C: Do you like dinosaurs?
A and K: Yes!
Za: Does A have something for everyone?
A: Origami!
N: What animal do you like, K?
K: I like everything!
N: What did you wish for Christmas, A?
A: I want caramel popcorn. My grandpa and grandma’s house where the Jewish people go. It’s far. We get on airplane.
A very happy, happy birthday to A who turned 4 years old today. And, on the 22nd, K will be celebrating his 5th birthday! We wish you all the best! Enjoy your special day! Thank you so much for the treat bags😊
GAME TIME
The fun continued after our zoom birthday celebration as we played our favorite Freeze Game. We played using winter holiday themed freeze dance games which we enjoyed dancing into! After several rounds, we cheered, “We want to dance more!”. And guess what music went on? SANTA HUNT! S showed us some beautiful dance steps that go with the music because she said, “I do this Santa Hunt for ballet class!”. We had so much moving and dancing around.
We wanted to do more dancing and freeze games but then the time for our winter holiday party rehearsal had come. Our teachers set up the computer as if we already had our moms and dads on zoom. We had some stickers to stand on to make sure that everyone on zoom can see us as we sing songs and recite poems. Ki had been very keen on reminding everyone about our special attire on Friday. Me excitedly told us that we can bring treats for Friday, too! Oh, we can’t wait til Friday!
CIRCLE TIME
After lunch time, we had a short circle time to talk about snakes, their hearts and life cycle. Some of our friends who were not here yesterday shared their ideas about snakes just before we moved on to today’s topic.
A: I think snakes have blood when you cut them, you will see their blood.
U: They also have strings like people, like this (pointed to her veins on her hand) so there’s blood in their body.
Today’s question of the day was, do snakes have heart?
N: Some do, and some don’t.
Kyi: Snake have it here (pointed in the middle of his chest).
Ch: They have it here on the tail.
U: They have the same as humans.
K: Here in the middle of their body.
A: In their mouth.
Ky: I hear, donk, donk (as he placed his hand over his heart).
Vieda: Did you know that snake’s heart can move?
U: Yes because snakes wiggle because they don’t have feet.
Vieda: What do you think snakes eat?
A: Nothing.
S: Small worms
Ky: Fruits and leaves
Me: Bugs
Chr: They say “sss” when they eat.
U They eat flies.
It was jaw-dropping when we saw some pictures which showed snakes eating alligator and goats! We were so surprised and wondered how they were able to do it!
K: I think the crocodile got trapped. Can they eat lions?
Ky: How about sharks? Can they eat sharks?
Za: Maybe because they have sharp teeth.
K: How about hippos? Can they eat them?
As we looked at these pictures, we realized that there is a reason why the snake snake’s heart can move in its body. As U put it, “They can’t just let the heart stay in one spot!”. If it doesn’t, it would pose a concern when it eats something that is bigger that itself. K mentioned that, “It could squeeze its heart if the heart does not move”.
Then we moved on the snake’s life cycle. We were quite sure that mimizu or worms become snakes when they get bigger. Vieda showed us a diagram of the snake’s life cycle which made our eyes got bigger! Snakes hatch from eggs and then become baby snakes, and not mimizu or worms!
Me: Oh, just like otamajakushi (tadpoles). They become frogs!
K: Some people put the big snake on their necks.
Vieda: Oh, I almost tried to!
No: Are you scared because they might bite you?
U: And sometimes they can also choke you.
Ky: One time I see you tuber put big snake here on shoulder.
It was great learning some things about snakes. Today, some of the things we wondered about them were:
Do snakes have lungs, too?
Can snakes eat rhinos?
Cheers to all the fun things that we had today! See you all tomorrow!
Love,
Flowers XOXO