7-5-3 Shrine Visit and Jenny's Show & Tell

Today we had so many special activities and had a great time throughout. When we arrived in the morning we saw what looked like giant eggs on the table but were actually big white balloons. Each of the balloons was in a large red bucket. Next to them on the table was some glue and strips of tissue paper. It turned out that the balloons are going to be used as part of our hot air balloon models. We needed to decorate each balloon and so first we put on a smock to protect our clothes and using the glue with brushes we applied a piece of colored tissue paper. We then made sure the tissue paper stuck to the balloon by applying glue so that it soaked into the tissue paper. We could choose which color we wanted to use and then started to apply lots of pieces. Just when we thought we had finished we noticed that we had only done the top half of each balloon. We turned the balloon up the other way and continued applying tissue paper. They look really good and we hung them from the class hooks to dry. We will continue decorating them next week with tape and markers. On the second table Adam, Marc and Arata made their own transport picture using the card tubes and colored lollipop sticks and matches that others tried yesterday. After clearing away the toys and eating snack Ayaka very kindly told us all about a special day in Japan called Shichi-Go-San (7-5-3) day which children celebrate by dressing up in kimonos and visiting a shrine. It is a celebration of reaching the ages of 3, 5, and 7. We all were so excited to go to the shrine together and took along our special bags with candy symbolizing a long life. We all walked together on the rope to the shrine and were very excited when we got there. There was lots of decoration up at the shrine too. We firstly all washed our hands, put some money in the donation slot and then rang the bell. We bowed 2 times and made a wish too. It was great to see so many smiling faces and posed for a group photo together at the end. We wanted to go to the park but of course Step-Park was too far and so we headed for Amishiro Park. It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun on the slide together as well as using the big swings and see-saw. When we got back from the park it was time for Jennifer’s ‘Show and Tell’. Jennifer brought along 3 photos of herself from a place called ‘Kando’ where she could get involved and try out lots of different occupations. Jenny had photos of her as a fashion model, a flight attendant and as a DJ. She told us all about where she tried these activities as well as answering some of the following questions; “When did you do the fashion how?”-“When I was 4”. “Why do you like the photos”?-“Because I look beautiful and sparkly”. “What does a DJ do”?-“Has CD’s and spin them”. “Can I be a flight attendant”? (Ayaka)- “No, it’s only for kids”. “Which picture do you like the best”?- “All of them” Well done Jennifer, it was great!! Have a great afternoon. All our love, Darren, Ayaka and Jen