Welcome to the USA!

Image from: https://www.amazon.com/Agate-Moose-Joy-Morgan-Dey/dp/0942235738

It’s the last week before spring break- and we’re quite lucky to start this week with a tour of the USA! 

“It’s my mommy!” M told us with a big smile. Yes, M’s mommy, L, gave us a little tour today!

First, she showed us the map of the USA. She said that M is from a place called Minnesota. On the map, it’s at the top and color purple.

L told us that M is known for 10,000 lakes- wow, that’s a lot! She said that M’s grandparents live near a lake called Lake Superior, which is the largest freshwater lake in the whole world. We also saw a picture of Minnesota’s state bird which is called a loon. 

M enjoys exploring the outdoors with his family and they like camping, canoeing, and hiking! We saw some pictures of M skipping stones on Lake Superior, building a snowman (who he said was Olaf) with his brother B, and playing together on the sand. 

L introduced us to a game they have in Minnesota. Most people call the game “Duck, Duck, Goose”, but it’s only in Minnesota where they call it “Duck, Duck, Gray Duck”. When the IT touches the player’s head (All the players are sitting in a circle except for the IT), they say a color + “duck” (ex., “red duck”) If the IT says “Gray duck!” then the player needs to get up and chase the IT around. If the “gray duck” fails to catch the IT and the IT steals the gray duck’s spot!

Pauline volunteered to be the IT first. She said, “Red duck…. Yellow duck… blue duck… pink duck…” while going around the circle and touching our head. “Gray duck!” she said when she touched Kai’s head, so Kai got up and chased Pauline around the circle until Pauline stole his spot. So Kai was the next IT! We kept on going until a lot of our friends became the IT. 

We didn’t want to keep Lauren for long, so we stopped playing and we thanked L for a wonderful presentation. Pauline said that she will read a book called “Agate” by Joy Morgan Dey. M brought it to school to share with everyone.

When Pauline opened the book, it seems like that Michael has met the author and illustrator of the book! It was signed by “Joy” (the author), and “Nikki” (the illustrator). They also wrote that M was a “Peridot”, a precious gem! We wonder what’s that about?

The book tells the story of Agate, a brown moose who adores his friends named after special gemstones because each of them has something special. But Agate thinks there’s nothing special about himself! His friends came together and made him realize that he is very special- just like agate, his true beauty lies within him!

So who or what is “Peridot”? We learned from the book that peridot is a special green stone for people whose birthday is in August- and Michael’s birthday is in August! In the book, Michael told us that Peridot was the name of Agate’s porcupine friend. 

As Pauline read each page, she showed us the pictures of the special stones that Agate and his friends were named after. They were so beautiful!

After reading the book, Pauline asked us if we can be like Agate and say something that makes our friends special.

M: “He can run fast,” C said.

O: “I like Oscar. Because he can run fast,” H said.

K: “I like him because he plays with me,” L said.

S: “I like S play with me,” R said.

R: “I like R she is nice,” Asaid.

Co: “She runs fast!” C said.

C: “I like to play with her,” M said.

L: “She is cute,” H said. 

R: “She is sweet,” L said.

H: “She is funny!” L said.

S: “I like Sara run together,” H said.

A: “I like A because I like play together,” R said.

B: “I like B because he is funny,” H said.

K: “I like K and H run together!” H said. 

After our circle time, we went to the temple because the green area might still be wet. We loved exploring the back area of the temple, and then we continued to play “Duck, Duck, Gray Duck”. It was fun- but we were a bit surprised how warm it was! It was a perfect spring day!

That’s all for today- how about you? How was your day?

Love,

All the happy bunnies in Petals Class