Does Earth Help Us?

Happy Monday! It’s great to be back at Ohana after a nice weekend!

MORNING ACTIVITIES

This morning, we made a bunny ear headband out of construction paper and decorated it with feathers for a little extra flair! After snack time, we put them on our heads and sat in a circle on the floor. We didn’t need any hints; we already knew what we were about to do. We all shouted, “eggs!”

We left the room for a moment, so Cameron could hide the eggs. He told us that there would be one egg for each of us to find. Once they were hidden, we entered the room, and immediately began looking for the eggs. Not even a minute had passed before all the eggs were found! We were fast!

We wondered what might be inside…

Ar: A sponge?

Ti: A toy car?

Iz: A teddy bear?

We opened the eggs and discovered…

Au: A garbage truck!

Be: A teddy bear!

Ri: Small bear!

Iz: A truck!

Hi: Toy sushi!

Au told us a story about an egg that he recently saw, “In Okinawa, there was a egg on the ground. We saw it fall down from the tree! We look at it and just left it in the grass so the mommy knows.”

We put the toy inside our pouch and placed the empty eggs in a basket. The eggs were to be refilled and we were going to go again! Cameron tried hiding the eggs in even harder locations, but we found them quickly anyway. But this time, we couldn’t open them. We were told to wait until we got home. We’re excited to see what awaits us inside! Some of us may have already peeked a little!

SHOW AND TELL – Ar & An

Ar showed us many pictures from her skiing trip! She showed us the hotels she stayed, the food she ate, and her skiing with her ski instructor. After listening to her presentation, we had some questions.

Be: How yummy was the food?

Ar: Super yummy!

Re: How fun was it at the hotel?

Ar: Fun! I eat and play.

Ka: Why did you paint on the plate?

Ar: Because I want to do it.

Au: So beautiful! Was there a lot of snow there?

Ar: Yes.

Ti: How clean was the hotel?

Ar: Super clean! The floor is clean. The bed, super clean!

Ke: I like ski!

Next up, An! She also showed us many pictures of a family trip to a snowy place. We saw pictures of her and her brother, her playing outside in the snow, and an amazing swimming pool inside the hotel where she stayed. We had some questions for An too!

Ar: How clean was it?

An: Super clean.

Re: How cold?

An: Super cold.

Re: What country?

An: Japan.

Vieda: Did you wear special clothes?

An: Yes, pink pants.

Thank you, Ar and An for sharing your pictures and stories with us!

QUESTION OF THE DAY – Does Earth help us?

Our response to this question was even, with half of us saying yes, and the other saying no. Hi began our discussion by asking a very important question, “What is Earth?”

Ka: Earth is where we live. Only Earth, we can live on. We can now live on Earth because other planets we cannot live. We cannot breathe in other planets. Japan is on the Earth and only Earth we can live on.

That sums it up nicely! Ti brought our classroom globe to the center of our circle. During international months, we saw many incredible presentations about all the countries we and our teachers come from, including Japan. We know that each one of those countries is on Earth. Earth is the place in which we all live!

So now that we know exactly what Earth is, do we think it helps us?

Re said, “no, because Earth, no hand and no face.”  

Ka gave the opposing point of view by saying, “Earth helps us because we can walk and not like floating.” Ti also added, “without gravity, this place will just float away.”

An: What’s floating?

Ar: Floating is, “whoa” (gestures with her hands).

Be: Floating is, there’s a ground, but you cannot touch it.

So, we think that the Earth cannot help us because it doesn’t have human characteristics like hands and a face. On the other hand, we think Earth’s gravity helps us, by not letting us float off into space uncontrollably. Let’s see if there’s any other ways Earth helps us…

Ka: Trees help us with many things, and you can breathe with trees. In space, there are no trees, so you cannot breathe. Trees give us many things that we need, but if we waste it and cut more and more, they can be no more trees and you will not see it. Paper comes from a tree.

Cameron held up a piece of paper and asked us how paper could be made from a tree. We said that we didn’t really know how it works, but we know that’s were paper comes from. Cameron then held up a book about Earth. Is this book made from a tree?

Iz: Book is from plastic.

Ka: No, it’s from paper. You cannot see the tree. If trees get sick, you cannot read stories.

An: But trees cant get sick.

Ka: Trees can get sick, because on the outside of Tokyo, I see one tree is half and somebody cut the tree. If you take care of nature, the trees will live, but if you cut the tree, you cannot breathe. If there’s no more trees, we cannot breathe, so we can get sick. No more tissues, no more paper. Everything will get lower. Trees give us many things.

Ke: If trees die, we can get sick.

Then Ti said something that made us all pause and think…

Ti: There are more trees than stars in the sky!

What a poetic and magnificent way to end our discussion for today. Our homework for today is to think about other ways in which the Earth gives/helps us.

Have a wonderful evening! See you tomorrow morning.

Love,

Flowers Class XOXO