Row, Row, your boat

Good day everyone! It’s another lovely day here in Buds class. We felt so excited to come and see Ohana because of the beautiful smiles that our friends and teachers had in the morning!

We also noticed that most of our friends wore the amazing Ohana family t-shirts, and it was nice to see how proud we were by showing them to our teachers. Aside from red and green shirts, the navy blue (dark) shirt was a great color too.

When we entered our classroom, we immediately did our morning jobs. Our amazing skills in putting things away, putting our shoes on, placing our bags, and communication notebooks were becoming automatic, and we’re all getting used to them.

Hence, it was also essential to be a role model to some of our friends (especially the new ones) because they also needed to understand the importance of doing our morning routines which could build our confidence and rapport with the people around us.

Table Activities
Recently, we have been practicing using the bands by stretching. The first table was busy with translucent blocks and garters. Today, we’ve witnessed how long it could go by putting more blocks in it. First, we stacked them, and Erika helped us how to maintain and wrap the garter around it at the same time. It was a bit challenging, but we did it. It took us a while to finish the task, but in the end, we felt triumphant as we were able to create our own.
We made some patterns on the blocks first and then held them from one end, stretching them to the other!

The second table was play dough time! We got some plastic knives, cookie cutters, and rolling pins to be used. We pounded, flattened, and made little balls with play dough. However, it got sticky, and our hands got sticky and a bit slimy. It was a messy table, but that’s one indication that we’re all having so much fun and learning its properties at the same time.

There was a big Maisy the Mouse jigsaw puzzle today. It was more than 20 piece puzzle, so what we did was we started doing it in little bits and pieces. Some completed eight puzzle pieces, and others did the other ten until our teachers helped attach the rest. Viola! We did it again!

Row, row our boat

We saw a big ship with a flag and paddle inside the room. We got on the ship and started to row with the paddle. We sang the song “Row, row, your boat .”Then, most of our friends expected that the crocodile would come out because the song says, “…if you see a crocodile, don’t forget to scream”. Our friends got so excited and invited more to come and join us in our expedition. We even told our teachers to hurry sailing the ship so the crocodile wouldn’t catch up with us.

We gathered ourselves for music time, and it was fascinating how music could connect all of us. The music around the room created an amazing feeling that all of us moved to the rhythm and tempo that the guitar was making.

Pretend Play - Sea Expedition
While on our sailing expedition, we noticed that some animal friends needed our help. So, we stopped and rescued them from the sea. We found a cow in the ocean and rescued it, followed by a pig, rooster, and dog. We even learned their sounds, and they were moo, oink, cock-a-doodle-do, and woof, respectively.

Let’s talk about our feelings
One of the important things we discussed today was the importance of acknowledging our feelings. We told our teachers that we were happy and sad.
So, we asked this question, “What makes you sad?” “What makes you happy?”

Here’s what our friends said during our conversation:

R: I am happy for mama, papa and R!
C: When I cry, I have a cough and cold, and then I take medicine, and then I feel happy and better.
S: I am happy when I drink medicine.
J: Happy! Jisoo mama and papa. Numbers - 1,2,3,4…

Lastly, we looked at our faces in the mirror, and John told us to show our happy, sad, angry, silly, sleepy, and surprised faces! We love recognizing our feelings!

Park time
It was a fun time discovering more about ants at the park. Tiny insects start to come out slowly as the weather changes.

On the way back to school, J and C said, I love you, and they replied, I love you two, I love you three, I love you ten, I love you 400. It was indeed a beautiful day! Our friends can be so creative in expressing themselves.

Thank you so much, Ohana and have a wonderful day!

Lots of love,
All the children from Buds Class 2022