Are Other Countries the Same as Japan?

Happy Monday! We’re excited for the start of another week in Flowers class!

COUNTING HEADS

After quiet reading time, as we put our books away and prepared for circle time, we thought our library felt a little crowded. It sure seemed like a lot of friends were here today!

Sh: I know how many friends we have, 12!

That was a good guess, but is that correct? We counted to find out! An counted 17 friends, Da counted 15 friends, and Ri counted 16 friends.

The correct number was 16! Be told us, “There’s 19 teachers and friends.”

CIRCLE TIME

One of our activities this morning had us make a card with our picture, name, and country flag on it. Our group of friends have family heritage from all over the world! We each decided which flag, or flags, represented us. Our teachers even made one!

Later, we played a game with them. One-by-one we would randomly choose a card. We then needed to say which country’s flag was drawn on the card and where that country was on our world map.

We did a really good job of figuring out which country our friends chose to represent them. Although it was hard to find some of the countries on the map, we all know where Japan is now! After playing, we wanted to count which country had the most!

Japan – 9
America – 3
Philippines – 2
Thailand – 1
India – 1
Pakistan – 1
Brazil – 1
Lithuania – 1
Israel – 1

Ky: Wow! Lots of people from Japan!

We do have a lot of friends from Japan, and it’s nice to see many other diverse areas of the world represented as well.

DA IS BACK!

It has been such a long time since we saw our friend Da. He is finally back at school today. Let’s find out where he’s been…

Da: I went to Brazil in airplane. We cannot walk, they have water, shark, crocodile, and snake. So, we go in an airplane. Then in Brazil, a lot of country. I saw a bad guy in Brazil. I see the bad guy, but he didn’t catch me. Then, flying again, I go to another country, but I don’t know name!

Ky: Is that real? Maybe it’s a story. (If) it’s real, it’s gonna have news.

Da told us that after the long flight to Brazil, “I sleep in day, I wake up at night and go to sleep again.” We found out that he ate bananas and lots of barbeque. We also learned some things he did while in Brazil.

Da: At the beach, I do a big tower, I see a dog. My dog is Elsa, she was in Brazil. Elsa is black. Elsa bite me here (nose). I cried little, but ok.

We asked Da if things in Brazil are the same as Japan…

Da: It’s different, because have different people, different house. House look like black, tall (this much); I see my house go all the way to the sky! It’s a blue tower.

Au: Da, how does the house fly?

Da: The house was on the ground, then goes all the way up to the sky. It’s my house and many other people live inside.

DO OTHER COUNTRIES LOOK LIKE JAPAN?

Da’s story about what he saw in Brazil, got us thinking. Are other countries the same as Japan? We asked some of our friends, who have either been to other countries or have family ties to other countries, what they think…

Sh: In Israel, my grandma house is a little bit stairs. Sometimes people and friends go outside. When we finish, the people give us candy.

What about the buildings in Israel?

Sh: They look like not my house. They have stairs I think. They taller than me.

Au: Lithuania looks like kind of small and there are shops that have ice cream. In Tokyo, if you see Tokyo Tower, there are ice cream close to Tokyo Tower. In Tokyo, the ice cream is white and green. In Lithuania the ice cream sometimes is colorful.

Ka: We eat ice cream in Thailand. My mommy eat ice cream with me. Sometimes my mommy gets the same ice cream like me!

We asked Br about what he sees when he goes to America.
Br: The shops, dragon fruit (in the shops), toy airplane.

An: My grandma’s house in India is brown. Only my grandma’s house is brown. I see a lot of people (in India).

Be: When I go there (America), I always see grandma’s house. It was so old, brown, and has two floors. I also go to dance. The dance is different in America.

Iz: I see grandma and grandpa (in America). They have stairs inside (house). They have rings. There’s a piano. They have four dogs!

We learned that other countries have some things that are different than in Japan, but we learned that there are many things that we have in common as well! It was nice to hear everyone share what they’ve experienced and paint a picture in our minds of what they saw.

Have a wonderful evening! See you all tomorrow!

Love,
Flowers Class XOXO