All About Flamingos

          It was a double birthday celebration in Flowers for our friends, T and K who both turned 5 on May 29th (Saturday). Happy, happy belated birthday again!

          We love all Eric Carle’s storybooks but there is one book that stands out for each of us. We are very excited when we were asked to pick our very own favorite Eric Carle’s storybook and drew something about it. And in our story time, we enjoyed having a “sing-along” with Eric Carle storybooks. At the end of our story time, we listened to a Japanese version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We were so surprised to hear that this storybook is more than 50 years old already and has been translated in 60 languages! Wow, that is truly amazing!

          Ki: I have that book at home! It is in Japanese. Harapeko no Aomushi.

          Ch: I saw that book in English at the library.

          K: I have the Hungry Caterpillar book and you can read it in English and Japanese. Two of them I can read in my book.

          L: I have English one at home.

  When we sang the song, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See, Ti was in awe to hear the animal sounds that he asked with deep curiosity, “How did they make the noises?”. Ak replied, “The tablet make the songs that’s why we can hear the animal making the sounds.”

          Then came to our circle time. Vieda put down her mask a bit and said something but without her voice. She puts back her mask and then asked us, “What did I say?”. Our guesses:

          S: Vieda

          Ch: Thank you!

          K: Blah blah!

          S: Kano?

Hmm, and then came the correct answer! Ch excitedly answered, “FLAMINGO!’ A volunteered to write the word flamingo on our board. Good job, Ad

          At the mention of the word, “flamingo” Ch, L, and Ke immediately stood up and said, “That’s our group!”. We wanted to share what we learned so we asked Vieda if we could go up to the wall and talk about flamingos.

          Li: The life cycle of a flamingo is the beginning is the egg. Then it becomes a little baby, then grow a bit bigger until it becomes a Mommy.

          Ch: The top paper is the one we made a mistake. The one in the bottom is the one that we corrected our mistake. At first, we said that flamingo can have 3 eggs at a time. But, when we looked it up on iPad, it says that flamingo mommy can only have one egg at a time.

          Ki: I like flamingos. I think mommy flamingo can have 3 eggs, but no. Mommy can only have one egg.

  Good job, flamingo team! Orca team raised their hands and said, “We have something to share about orca too!”

          A: Orca can scare away sharks. And orca eat little fish.

          K: Orca can even eat sea lions.

          S: I like orca!

Of course, we cannot miss out Rabbit team to share all the fantastic things that they learned.

  A: We thought rabbits came from eggs, but they don’t!  Mommy Rabbit can have as many as 18 baby rabbits in the mommy’s tummy.

          Ka: And some of the baby rabbits become a big sister but some can be big brother.

          Ke: Some of the rabbits do not become big brother or sister because they get eaten by huge animals. Like the sea lions, they eat the baby rabbits.

We were so thrilled to hear all the wonderful discoveries that our friends made during their small groups. We are so grateful for your eagerness to learn new things and are always willing and happy to share them with your friends!

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Can you stand on one leg?

          We all answered YES! Hurray! We all got up and proudly showed our teachers how we could stand on one leg. Our teachers praised us and asked if we think we could keep standing on one leg up to 20 counts. There were wobbly moments where we started to sway from one side to another. At times, some of us accidentally grabbed on our friend’s arm so we could stand still! It was challenging and yet very much fun! Some of our friends were able to take the flamingo stand for over 20 counts! Way to go, Flowers!

          So far, we know about the life cycle of a flamingo. It didn’t take us long before we began sharing what we know about these cute birds!

          A: Flamingos have 2 legs but stand on one leg only. They drink water, eat fish, like a bear they can fly to catch fish. But when they eat or drink water, they bend their long neck like this (showed us how he saw a flamingo eats and drinks water).

          Vieda: What is the color of flamingos?

          S: Pink!

          Vieda: Have you ever thought why they’re pink?

          Ch: Because everyone have different skins. Flamingo has a type of pink skin.

          Vieda: What do you think they eat?

          S: Fish

          Vieda: When they hatch from eggs, what color are they?

          L: White and gray

          Vieda: Why do you think they turned into pink?

          Class: We don’t know! Please tell us!

          Vieda: Here’s a clue! It is because on what they eat! Well, that could be your homework.

          Vieda: How about the flamingo pose. Why do you think does it do that?

          Li: Because flamingo balance on one leg.

          K: Because flamingo means can balance.

          K: Because flamingo has been practicing on walking on one foot, jumping up and down so it can stand on one leg.

          A: Because they are good to balance, and they have wings.

          C: Because the flamingo is the type of a balance animal.

          A: Because I think they want to balance on one leg.

There are so many discoveries we unlocked by learning about flamingos, orca, and rabbits. We focused on flamingos today and we would love to hear what you think they eat that make their skin pink. Please be ready to share tomorrow!

 Love,

Flowers