Xin Nian Hao!

            Happy 4th birthday to our dear B! We had been counting the days until her birthday. And today was her special day! It was a pleasure to have Ira and Na (B’s parents) and Uncle Ne (who joined us from Texas, USA). It was great to have three special people joining B’s celebration today. A very big thanks to I for reading us B’s favorite book called, HUMU, the Little Fish Who Wished Away His Colors (written by Kimberly Jackson, illustrated by Yoko Green).  Also, we had such a wonderful time playing Freeze Game at the party. Thank you so much for sending prizes for the winners as well. In fact, everyone received a special birthday present from B. Please enjoy!

            B looked so beautiful in her birthday crown which she decorated herself. We are glad that you liked the birthday card that we made for you. We hope that your dream of becoming a doctor will come true😊

            There was one more special event that called for a celebration today! Can you guess what it was? It’s the Chinese New Year!

            Xin nian hao! Ch excitedly put on his special outfit for today’s Chinese New Year and helped us how to say the greetings. Z came in and told us, “Look, I am wearing something golden, too!”. We would like to extend our greetings to all our friends and families who are celebrating the Chinese New Year that starts from today.

            We talked a bit about the celebration of New Year in China. Ch shared how children get some money in a red envelope from everyone. It is called hongbao. When our friends heard about hongbao, they got excited to share what they knew about it. Vieda showed us some real envelopes for hongbao. They were so bright and beautiful!

            Ky: Oh, otoshidama. For everyone. It’s money.

            Ai: I get too from grandma. Daddy give me chocolates.

We asked Ch to stand in front and noticed some interesting things about his special outfit.

            Za: That looks really fancy!

            Ky: I see this circle (on Ch’s outfit) when I went to Kyoto, too!

  We also saw photos of huge dragon puppets that are usually held in festivals during the Chinese New Year. Oh, just like we made this morning for our table activity. We traced our own hands (sometimes with our friends’ and teachers’ help) and cut them along the lines. The older group in Flowers were so quick in tracing and cutting their hand prints. The younger group did their best, too as they traced their one hand with their other hand. Cutting was a bit challenging but everyone tried their best to cut along the lines and asked help when they needed. We are looking forward to finishing our very own dragon puppet!

            We read a story that talks about the origin of the Chinese New Year animals. At the end of the story, we carefully looked at a photo of a wheel that has the Chinese New Year animals in sequence. We all exclaimed, “We know this one!”.

            Kyi: This is like saru toshi.

            Ch: Inoshishi is like the year of the wild pig”.

            Vieda: How about this year 2022? What year of the animal is it? What did you write on your kakizume with Nimo?

            Be: Tiger or tora!

            Ky: Yeah! Tora doshi! Oh, and the name Tiger is like our friend, T’s name!
           We also learned that it is commonly believed that people reflect some of the traits of the animal year that they were born in.  

            Vieda: If you were born in 2022, which is the year of the tiger, how do think would you behave?
           Ch: I will growl like this!

Ky: Eat people. I eat Vieda.

            Ch: But I was born in the year of the monkey. That’s why I like eating bananas!

            Ky: I’m saru and my mommy, too!

  Since today marked the beginning of a new month, we started our circle time by looking at our Ohana calendar. What does a calendar tell us?

            Be: Calendar tells us what day it is, or we look at it when you forgot what day it is.

            Za: The number 2022 is the school day.

            Kyo: Is that setsubun?

            Ch: It’s the year.

            Da: It’s the forest (referring to the picture featured for the February calendar page).

            There are several special days in the month of February, so we decided to put stickers on them. The stickers will certainly remind us of these special days. We stuck stickers on the first (B’s 4th birthday), 3rd (Setsubun) and 14th (Valentine’s Day). 

            Vieda: What is Valentine’s Day?
           Ky: Everybody give chocolates, like 753.

            Za: No, only for children!
           A: I will give to A, Vieda, and Nimo.

            B: You get together and eat food. You only eat chocolate and cake.

            Za: And you all dance like a ballerina!

  We are looking forward to celebrating more special days with all our Flowers friends!

            See you tomorrow!

Lots of love,

Flowers