Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! We would like to start off by thanking all of our moms and dads for the lovely chocolate presents this morning! We can’t thank you enough for all of your love and support for our classroom and now being showered with these gifts makes us feel very special and grateful for your generosity. We are just doing what we love, and it is quite a special something to be appreciated for it.

Our friends were excited to show our teachers what goodies they prepared! “Happy Valentine’s Day”, they shouted out as they handed the teachers their gifts. “Thank you!”, our teachers replied and gave us a big, big hug! We noticed our classroom looked a little bit different from yesterday. Along with our Chinese New Year decorations, our teachers put up some Valentine’s decorations too! Hearts here, there, everywhere! We had a very different schedule today. We started the morning as usual with crafts and activities. We sat down with Sayaka to do our Dad’s Day drawing and our necktie craft. After we were done with art, we played with the wooden blocks. We packed away our toys and then practiced singing our “Dad’s Day” song. Then, instead of getting ready for circle time like usual, we got ready for the snacks, then we were going to the park! A little confused, we asked our teachers, “Park now? Why?”, “No circle time?”, our teachers told us we would go play at the park first, then we will have our circle time.

We gobbled up our snacks then played at the park. S met her friends from her other school and the whole class was chasing her! E, R, and A, were trying to lock Nimo up in the “Sticky Dungeon”. L and M climbed all the way up to the top of the jungle gym and had Evita take some pictures! In the sand area Y dug some holes and A enjoyed swinging on the swing set. B went on a walk around the park with Sayaka as she took beautiful photos of us playing on the slide!

After our park time, we went back to school and got ready to have our lunch… Wait a minute! That’s right we were going to have our circle time! We sat down and started with a short Show and Tell. We first had E share with us the sea shells he found over his Chinese New Year holiday! Inside the bag was lots of beautiful shells. E some shells around and our teachers told us we might be able to hear something inside the shells. We put our ears on the shells and listened to the calming sound. E also brought some pictures of his trip.

Nimo: What is E doing in this picture?

E: I’m looking for shells.

Nimo: What is daddy doing in this picture?

E: Daddy? I don’t know what daddy is doing.

Nimo: Did you have fun?

E: Ya!!!

E finished up his show and tell by showing us the shell of the hermit crab he found. We thanked E for sharing and we moved on to do B’s Family Show and Tell.

Nimo: What color is your house?

B: Blue.

Nimo: Who are in your family?

B: C, B, Papa, and Mama.

Nimo: Your mom came to Petals yesterday, do you remember her name?

B: …Mommy?

Nimo: Y…Y…Y.

B: Y!

We clapped for B for a job well done and we sat back down on our chairs as Nimo brought our class calendar.

Nimo: What month is it? Do you remember our “Months of the Year” song?

Y: It’s February!

L: *Pointed to February*

Nimo: What day is it today?

S: Wednesday.

Nimo: Great! Do you know the date? Today’s number?

Y: 10?

Nimo: Hint, it’s after 13.

M: 14!

A: *Pointed at our calendar* That is where my house is, it’s way up.

Nimo: Today is a special day, who gave teacher’s chocolate?

Petals: Me!!!

S: Happy Valentine’s Day!

M: Hearts!

We started our circle time with a story, “The Night Before Valentine’s Day” by Natasha Wing and Heidi Petach. As we read the story our friends noticed many great details!

E: Look! A snowman!

Y: It’s winter.

R: It’s a flower.

E: A cake! Cupcake!

Nimo: What do you think is inside this box?

E: Chocolates!

A: I think it’s caramel.

R: I want to see!

Nimo: It was a guinea pig! The principal dressed up as cupid and brought the class a pet!

After we finished the story we went back a few pages and took a look at the flowers presents and the principal dressed up as cupid. Nimo showed us a real picture of cupid. A noticed, “It’s a baby.” and E said, “Has wings!”. Great observation! Cupid is a baby, with wings and a magical bow. Nimo brought a big bag full of flowers. He told us he was from America, and in America people give people flowers and chocolate on Valentine’s Day, whereas in Japan only the girls give chocolate to boys on February 14. Today, we were going to be little Petals Cupids and deliver Nimo’s flowers to the teachers in Ohana! First, we gave flowers to our Petals Teachers. Nimo wrote the teachers names on the flowers and showed us the first letter of the name and had us guess who it was. L was first and Nimo sounded out the first letter, “s… s…”, L said, “Sayaka!”. He took the flowers to Sayaka and gave her a big hug. Next, A took flowers to Evita! Y was in charge of giving Marjorie her flowers, B had Tamara, E had Goh-san, and M had Liezel. After we gave our flowers to Buds teachers, we moved up the stairs to Flowers Class and R handed Vieda her flowers. Our last stop was the office and we entered shouting, “Happy Valentine’s Day!”. S gave Maryna her flowers and a big hug! Today, Shelley wasn’t here so A gave Shelley’s flowers to Maryna and L gave her Moko’s flowers, of course with hugs!

We went back to Petals classed and talked about how good it feels to give other’s presents! Our teachers thanked us for the wonderful chocolate. Before we had our lunch L had a special something for us! He brought some yummy chocolate for us! The teachers helped L make small packs of chocolate and L handed them to our friends saying, “Happy Valentine’s Day!”, we replied, “Thank you!”.

We put our chocolate in our backpacks then got ready for lunch! Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Have a wonderful evening and see you all tomorrow!

Love,

Petals