Winter Holiday Tree

Happy rainy Wednesday! It is a national holiday today so our friends were very excited for their home lunch! “I have my lunch today!”, “My daddy make my lunch. Only for me.”. They were very happy for the mama and daddy lunch. 

Since it was a raining today, we had long free play time. We spent our morning making special gifts and finishing up our turkey art with Nimo and Sayaka. We had a few little guests from buds class today. They are moving up to Petals from January so they came up to join us for free play time to get used to their new class.Kazu from buds was very excited to come and play in Petals. “Hi!” K greeted us and we said, “Hello buds friends.” It was short but we had a good time with them. Just before we cleaned up, Nimo started playing with a guiter. “I need to practice for our winter party.” He said. We sat down around him and sang songs together with him. Sayaka made a cardboard tree and we’ve been wondering what it is…”Is this Christmas tree?” we asked our teachers. “I’m going to talk about it when it’s circle time... “ Sayaka whispered.

Circle time! While we were eating snacks, Nimo and Sayaka were preparing something for indoor exercise time. “We do a game?” We asked them. “Yes, we will do a game but I’d like to talk about the tree before the game.” Sayaka said to us. We all sat together in front of the tree and she started explaining it. The tree is Petals’ Winter Tree. This year, most of us celebrate Christmas, however, there are people who don’t celebrate Christmas and enjoy winter holidays differently. The one of those celebrations is called Hanukkah. So, the tree is not only for Christmas, but also for everybody. “Can we call it as Petals winter tree?” Sayaka asked us. “Ok!” We nodded our heads. Since we were talking about winter celebration, we started talking about Santa. Then Sayaka asked what we would like to have from Santa.

T:” I have a secret…Spider. *He whispered.* I want a gecko. I see them moving at the Zoo. A Japanese Zoo. There’s spider, turtles, and jaguars. Spider gecko.

C: Pet dog.
Sayaka: What kind of dog?
C: Jack Russel. I want girl dog. It’s brown on his legs. 

Sayaka: Have you decided her name?
C: Gybest girl…Umm..boy actually. My mom and dad don’t want me to have a real dog.

Sayaka: When I was a little, my mom and daddy also didn’t let me have a dog. Now, I have a dog and I am taking care of her. Having a dog is fun and she is cute! But…you know there are also hard jobs I have to do…like she does poo and pee. She eats dog food and I have to buy it. When Sayaka goes for a trip, I need to make sure someone can take care of her. There are more things I have to do…She is cute but having a pet is not only just cute.
C: Hmm…*She was looking at her seriously*
M: She can have a dog named Maxi. I want to have a cat. My mommy said, “Yes, I can’t”
Sayaka: Your mommy said, Yes you can or you can’t?
M: My mommy said, “Yes, you can’t.”
Sayaka: Ok.

M: Gecko isn’t blue it’s green.
R: Donald Duck. I have Daisy at home. Soft Donald.

S: Nothing.

E: Mechanical…Tool mechanical.

P: *Thinking*
L: *Thinking*
K: Spider.

Sayaka: Spider? Aren't you scared?
K: Ya..

Thank you very much for sharing! Our teachers are also hoping that we can get what you’d like to have!

After that we did some decorations on the winter tree. We chose some materials to stick.  It will be one of our winter party’s decorations. Hope our mommy and daddy will like it!

It’s a game time! The first one was an obstacle course. We were divided into two groups, team red and yellow. It was a simple but fun team game. We walked on the tactile path and went to under the table and came back again. There were red balls and yellow balls in a basket. When we made it through the obstacle we picked up our team color ball, then the next team member would go. We cheered for our team, “Go go!”. This time…Yellow team was the winner! It was a great game and our friends said, “Good job!” to each other with a smile! The next one was a freeze game on the tactile paths. Nimo played ukulele and when the music stopped, we hopped on the tactile islands. It was a bit tricky because we had to keep our balance. Nimo and Sayaka pretendedthey were sharks. We tried our best to stay off of the floor otherwise Nimo and Sayaka sharks might eat us. “Noooooo!” We shouted out and it was a super fun game. Just before lunch time, we had dance time with Maryna. We did four dances with her for winter party performance. Having Maryna for dance time is always fun and special. 

After we enjoyed the all exercise time, we were tired and hungry! We had a bit early lunch time. Thank you very much for today and see you all tomorrow!

Love,

Petals.