Otsukimi or Moon Viewing Festival

A very warm welcome to Flowers, An! We are very excited to see An in class today. She stood in front of us and introduced herself. She said, “I’m 4!”. Then someone asked, “Where are you from?”. So, we started guessing!

            Kyi: America?

            Au: Riverside?
            H: Tokyo?

            Be: Pakistan?

            D: But I’m from Pakistan, like Z. I live long time there.

            Hi: Nagoya?

            An No, ,I’m from India!

Then, we wanted to tell our friends where we are, too!

            K: I’m from Japan.

            B: Japan and America

            D Brazil

            Ky: Daddy is Japan and America but I’m from Kyoto.

            Au: I’m from Tokyo and my daddy is from Lithuania.

            Hi: Japan

            H: Azabu Juban

            Br: Hospital

            R From Tokyo house

            An: India

            Sh: South Africa

It is quite interesting to note that we all come from different countries. Some even have two counties. How did that happen?! We live in Tokyo, so could we say that we are from Japan? How about our mommy and daddy? Could we come from a different country than our parents? Well, it seems like we had started an interesting topic to talk about next time.

For morning table activities, we played counting sticks and made a craft. For counting, we looked at the number in the box and placed the appropriate number of sticks in it. On another table, we made a moon and rabbit craft. First, we glued cellophane squares on a tracing paper. Then, we also glued on a rabbit shadow and a mortar on it. We applied a lot of glue on another tracing paper and put it over the first paper. We pressed our hands gently over the paper and tried to see through it while holding it against the light. We can’t wait to see how it will look like when our crafts are displayed in the classroom.

In circle time, we talked about a Japanese festival that is celebrated in September. This year, it is going to be celebrated on September 10th and is called, The Moon Viewing Festival or Otsukimi. Before we read the book about otsukimi, we turned our attention to our question of the day.

 Question of the day:  Have you seen a rabbit in the sky?

 Di: Rabbit, it die. He jumped in the moon and then he will die.

Au: Rabbis is jumping goes so high.

Hi: Because it’s in the dark, there’s no bunny.

Sh: No! No rabbit in the moon.

Hi: Outside, yes bunny but not in the moon.

D: I go to the moon before.

H: My grandpa drive car and I see lots of people at nighttime.

Now, let’s read the book to discover the relationship of rabbit in the moon with otsukimi or moon viewing festival.

 In the story, we learned the special man from the moon pretended to be a beggar and asked food from the fox, monkey, and rabbit. We paused for a moment and wondered how we would respond if someone we do not know tell us, “Help me, please. I’m very hungry!”.

            Br: I will close the door.

            H: Carrot. Give carrot.

            A: I give cake.

            Sh: I’ll give him food.

            Au Go to Daie and get apple juice and ice cream for him.

            Kyi: Take to shopping and eat food. Other person give you the money and I’m gonna give him money.

            D: You give ice cream and pizza and cake.

Thank you so much, Flowers for sharing your ideas!
Now, we know why we would usually find a rabbit, mochi, and moon in Otsukimi crafts. How do we celebrate the festival? Hi answered, “Making mochi and eating dango!”. We looked at pictures of dango and we chorused, “ I want to eat dango now!”. Well, you can eat dango while looking at the moon to celebrate Otsukimi! Happy otsukimi in advance!

 Love,

Flowers