Spring Is Here!

Welcome back, Petals! How was your spring break? We hope you had a great time with family and friends! Today, as soon as we unpacked our bags, we immediately started painting our styrofoam bricks that we will use for our playhouse. While painting, we chatted with our teachers about what we did over the break.

R: I was here (pointing at UK)

S: I didn’t go anywhere.

W: home

P: I went to China with Mommy.

Evita: What did you see there?

P: I saw a table.

After cleaning-up, we danced to Petals favorite nursery rhyme, “ The Floor Is Lava” to get our bodies moving and ease back into our routines. Evita asked  us to describe what we see around the classroom. Petals noticed the flowers around us and got us talking about the current season which is spring! She then showed us the book, Pop-up Season by Anna Milbourne. This book shows the different seasons we have here in Japan. We shared what we usually see in each season and mentioned which season we like the best. 

P: flowers

R: I see bathroom

M: I see big flowers!

Evita: What color?

M: yellow!

D: a red flower

J: PInk!

Evita: Why do we have flowers in our classroom?

R: because it’s mom’s day

J: Daddy's day!

Book

Evita: I want to show you this book, Pop-up……

R: pop-up of leaves

J: Rigel?

D: Pop-up Seasons!

J: 1,2,3,4 (counts the rabbit )

Evita: December until February is winter.  What season are we now?

D: winter!

R: autumn, summer

P: spring!

R: bird (points at the mama bird)

M: sakura

R: quack quack

D: baby birds, 5

R: baby chicken. But we can eat him right? ( pointing at the duck in the book)

J: I like summer. My house windows I see summer

D: I like winter. I want to build a snowman.

P: Winter! Because winter has snow

R: I like summer because of (the fireworks)

Before heading to the park, Evita showed us the cherry blossom tree we made and posed a question for us. What do we do at the park during March and April? Rigel answered, “ Hanami”, which led our discussion to the Hanami picnic we’re supposed to go to tomorrow. Petals shared that we eat and play games during picnics. Because the Hanami Picnic was cancelled we went to Arisugawa park to find some cherry blossoms and have fun with friends.

M: Sakura

P: picnic

Evita: What do we do in picnics?

P: eat food

R: Robot park?

Evita: We are going to look for cherry blossoms at Arisugawa park. What else can we do at the park?

R: go to the slide

P/ D: Bubbles

M: KACHING ( does a camera gesture) Take pictures

P: bring food?

When we got back, we sat in a circle and learned that we all have names that are different from each other. We learned the meaning behind our teachers' names and Evita gave us homework. We had to find out the meaning behind our names. For the final activity of the day, we stood up and spelled our name in front of the class.

R: No , my name is R. 

Evita: Is your name Evita too (M)

M: No, my name is M

Evita: Each name has meaning. My name is derived from Yvette and Eva which means  life.

Esmi: My name means emerald

Nimo: My name Suguru means kind and gentle.

See you all tomorrow!

Love,

Petals