Happy Setsubon Day
We would like to wish every one a “Happy Setsubon Day!”. We sincerely wish for each one of us to always find it within ourselves to look forward in creating new beginnings. Just like the promise of the first blooming bud of spring, new beginnings builds within us hope and optimism towards life.
Just like in Buds Class, each day is a new start to witness how much we can learn about ourselves, the surrounding, and from each other.
We had an eventful morning wherein a swirl of emotions made us rethink if we really had “fun” meeting the “oni”. Let’s walk through how our day went today.
Virtual Setsubon Celebration
A big round of applause and a heartfelt gratitude to T & N (K’s parents), S & J (R’s parents), and K & N (S’ parents) for planning, preparing, and presenting a wonderful virtual Setsubon celebration for the Buds children. It is always heartwarming to see how children react when they see their dear parents up on the big screen. Joy and a sense of pride are always seen in the children’s faces whenever a parent virtually pays us a visit. Thank you so much for working hand in hand in our efforts to make everyone still feel “connected” given the current situation.
Our celebration started with a brief background of how Setsubon started and why it is celebrated. We later then had a game wherein images of animals came out in which we had to make its corresponding sound. BUT! Once in a while, the oni pops out and we had to shout “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” while throwing beans (newspaper balls) at it. Go away oni! We then sang our special Buds “Thank You” song to our special visitors.
“Live” Setsubon Celebration
After our wonderful virtual Setsubon celebration, we had to get ready for Snack Time. Transition periods can be very busy so to smoothen the flow, Erika read/sang to us Eric Carle’s “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” which is becoming a favorite of ours. Similar to our game earlier, once in a while, the oni would suddenly pop out and we had to say, “Go away, scary Oni!” for us to reach the end of the song. We felt happy and proud whenever we get to successfully scare away the oni.
We then had our snack time and our teachers were so proud of how we are getting better at waiting for everyone to settle down before having our snacks. While waiting, we changed the lyrics of “Magic Penny” with “Waiting is something if you give it away (3x)… it will make everyone happy!”
Our teachers guided us to go up to the balcony for a “surprise”. And it was a surprise indeed! We saw a real life oni! Please watch the video that will be sent through LINE how we reacted to the oni. :) Thank you to Moko Sensei for dressing up as an oni this morning.
FREE PLAY PERIOD
Before our Setsubon celebration, we were all happily occupied with the many sensory activities prepared based on the shape circle.
Scented Sensory Balls
We continued with Erika making sensory balls. This time, both our hands and noses were delighted with the smell of orange scented tea leaves and the smooth texture of used felt cloth. This activity also helped us understand the importance of sharing and knowing how to clean up after making a mess.
Rolling Newspaper Strips to Make Balls
We enjoyed yesterday’s sensory ball making that our teachers decided to have us make more of it by crumbling and rolling newspaper strips. Together with Nanako, we felt the dusty powder and was amazed with how long strips of paper suddenly “shrank” to a small ball.
Round Cookie Making
Tamara guided us in making “cookies” by rolling flat white paper clay and using stencils to make round shapes from it. We later added colorful wooden beads on it to resemble colored chocolate candies because every day should be celebrated like a birthday party!