Gentle Hands
It was a beautiful day again for Buds class. And we are all ready for an adventure in Ohana. We had some manipulative toys and play dough on our activity tables. Sofie did the cutting activity today. She could cut some straight lines but she would need some assistance. She tried her best to cut in the line. Great job Sofie!
In circle time, we sang our “Good morning” song with a different 
version. We saw the weather outside and it was a sunny day. So, we started singing “it’s sunny today.” Rei and Yurika was bouncing and dancing around the class. They both liked this song so much. We then learned a new song about “Gentle Hands”. And the song goes like this…
When I play I use my … GENTLE HANDS!
Help and hug our friends with gentle hands.
I clean up my toys with…GENTLE HANDS!
It’s nice for everyone to have gentle hands.
I paint the different colors with…GENTLE HANDS!
Pictures so lovely with gentle hands…
Oh lala, oh lala
Show me, show me your gentle hands.
It was a nice song for we learned how to use our gentle hands all the time. In the middle of the song, John would show his palm to us and we 
needed to touch it with our gentle hands. If we didn’t use them, all of us would say “GENTLE HANDS, PLEASE!” Just to remind one of the Buds to touch his palm gently.
Our favorite “Skidamarink” was also part of our song list. This is special for Buds because it is a song about showing affection and care to your friends. So after singing every other phrase, we gave a hug, did a high five, and shook hands one another. And then, we took out our song box and started picking out songs. Sofie volunteered to be the first and she sang “Where is thumbkin?” while Lisa sang “Baa, baa black sheep”. Then, we also did some face recognition game. John would point at our pictures and he would ask whether our friend was here or not. For example, he pointed at Dominik, and we didn’t see him today, so we would then say “Dominik is not here” and if he puts his finger on Rei’s picture, we all say “Rei is here”.
Our teachers called us one by one to point the picture of what name they would say. Most of us could do it. Taiga, Yurika and Rei liked this activity and they were all starting to say their friends’ names quite often.
We went to the park today. While walking on the street, Kaia was 
singing out loud, “Where is Sofie? Where is Sofie? And so on..” This was the first time that I heard Kaia singing outside the classroom. It was very lovely to hear her voice. And Sofie started singing “Gentle Hands” song too. And it was so hilarious that most of the Buds were actually singing with her. Sofie has an amazing voice. She sang every song in tune. Having this kind of friend, who loves to sing, could actually influence us to sing more wholeheartedly. Thank you Sofie for inspiring us all!
At the park, we did some exploration. Yurika, Nikolas and Lisa got some digging tools. Sofie met Lanah and Hana (Petals class was also there) so they were playing hide and seek most of the time. Taiga took his blue ball and started kicking it like a pro. We feel that he loves sports and he likes to move around at the park too.
It was a wonderful day again in Ohana! Thank you teachers for making this day possible. Happy Friday and have a great weekend!
Lots of love,
John, Sayaka and Maki