Practice time!

Hope everyone was able to stay cool in this steaming hot weather! It really feels like summer has started now that the rain has completely stopped, the sun is shining brightly, and the cicadas are singing their seasonal song. Today we had a special guest in Flowers class, it was Maryna from the Office! She came down to Flowers class to play with us for our morning free play time and then she did a short 20 minute ballet lesson for us! We did a quick stretching song then we danced to a few silly songs! We had a great time dancing with our friends, all the while stretching our bodies and learning a few new moves! After our Ballet session we all washed our hands and had our snacks, then we changed into our swimwear to go have some water play!

We did the usual splishing and splashing with our friends, but we enjoy it very much! Part way into our water play, John and a few of his Buds Class friends joined us! We were all happy to have them join and our Flowers Class friends did an amazing job looking after their younger friends and making sure Buds friends had a safe and enjoyable time with us! John brought a huge bucket and used it to splash us! After a while we found a very fun way to play with the bucket. We filled it up with water then we sat inside the bucket and felt the water flow out the bucket! We all worked together to form a line and to fill up the bucket every time it got drained.

When we got back to class, we dried ourselves and changed into our normal clothes. While Nimo was busy cleaning up the pool, Sayaka read us a story! It was a book called, “The Lion Who Wanted To Love” by Giles Andreae and David Wojtowycz. It was a lovely story about a Lion who didn’t want to hunt and be the “Mightiest” animal in the world, instead he wanted to share his love with other animals. Leo quickly made many friends with other animals and the other lions began to learn that, “You’ve got to be strong to be different,” and that love can bring everyone together. We thanked Sayaka for the lovely story time and we gathered together to sing some songs then start our circle time.

Our question of the day today was, “Do you practice?”. Once again almost all of our friends answered yes, when our teachers asked us what is “practice” here’s our thoughts:

Z: Practice is you can do it! You can practice running.

I: When people try to join Olympics, they learning how to join Olympics, by practicing.

Nimo: What do you practice?

M: I have Kabutomushi, I had two, but I gave the boy away, and now the mom is laying eggs! I am practicing writing what my Kabutomushi does.

K: Kabutomushi is ouchie.

C: What is Kabutomushi?

M: It’s a big bug. And it can fly. It’s black, and it has horns, it can go under the food. The Daddy kabutomushi has bigger horns. They like bananas, sometimes the mommy kabutomushi puts the banana on her head.

F: One time when C was very little he put a banana on his head.
C: Yes! I ate half of the banana then I wanted to put it on my head.

V: I practice eating.

K: I practice Violin.

I: I learn piano, then I go home to play and get better.

B: Violin.

Nimo: The athletes that compete in the Olympics, how long do you think they practice?

R: A lot.

I: Maybe 15 minutes?

M: Maybe more?

I: I know! They practice for 1 hour everyday for an year then they win the Olympics!

Nimo introduced to two new friends, his left thumb which had a face drawn in brown marker, and his right thumb drawn in purple maker. The brown one was named George, and the purple one was named Peter. George and Peter both loved to play soccer and they really enjoyed playing together. George practiced everyday and Peter would go home and eat ice cream, potato chips, and watch TV. One day, there was a soccer competition where George and Peter went head to head.

Nimo: Who do you think is going to win?

Flowers: George!

Nimo: Why?

M: Because he practiced a lot.

We were right and George did win the game. That night Peter went home very sad…

Nimo: Peter didn’t like losing he doesn’t feel so happy, what do you think he should do?

I: He should practice more and more and more to get better to win.

Peter learned from his mistakes and he decided to practice more than George especially because George started practicing earlier. The day of the next competition came…

Nimo: Who is going to win this time?

Flowers: Peter!

Nimo: How come not George?

F: Because Peter practiced a lot more than George.

Nimo: What do you think George will do if he loses?

I: George will learn from his loss and try to win next time!

Practice doesn’t make perfect, but it’s the only way we will get better. We played another game of Dodgeball today, but unlike yesterday, we had a practice session before we played our game. We learned on where it’s a good idea to be when the opponent has the ball, and where we might want to be when we have the ball. We also practiced dodging and throwing the ball a few times. After our practice session we were ready, we got into two teams and had a fair game. Our winners for today were, C, M, K, and R. Everyone showed great sportsmanship and showed respect to each other.

Thank you very much everyone for another fantastic day! Sleep well and we will see you for another day full of fun tomorrow!

Love,

Flowers