Happy Birthday Beckett
Today is Friday and our weeks are flying by. Today marks the end of our second week and we had so much fun with our feet upstairs; discovering all the things that we can do with our feet that we thought you could only do with your hands.
At the activity table this morning we had our cork boards, wooden shapes, hammer and small nails. FJ made a house and a flower using the shapes. A few of us made a crown for Beckett so that he could be the birthday king at his party. We put stickers on it to make it look special; as birthdays are special times for everyone.
Happy birthday Beckett! Beckett turns 4 years old today and he has the first birthday at Ohana for this school year. His mum, Frances brought his favourite book to read to us. It is called “A sick day for Amos McGee”. We sang “When you’re happy and you know it” and “Happy Birthday”. We had a special dessert for after lunch in the form of cupcakes and fruit. We all enjoyed the dessert so much especially those of us who are still getting used to the new obento lunches.
During our circle time we spoke about what we do when our teachers ask us a question. We said that if we know the answer we raise our hands and if we do not know the answer, we sit and think. Then our teachers asked us what else we can do with our hands. We said that you can play the piano (Sophie), push in chairs 
(Miya), play a tambourine (Jamie), play a guitar (Margo), open a door (FJ), eat (Noa), open a window (Nico), do exercise (Emily), throw a ball (Beckett) and play a drum (Oliver).
Downstairs we all now know that our eyes are for looking; our ears are for listening; our mouth is for talking; our nose is for smelling; our hands are for clapping and our feet are for walking. We have been singing songs each day asking the question: “What is my mouth for?” or “What is my nose for?” we are using our hands a lot each day; we pick up toys, pack away, hold our eating utensils, hold our drink bottles, hold the rings on the rope when we go to the park, choose books from the bookshelf and many more. Today after we had played a matching game with cards in our circle time, Shelley said that she was so proud of us and said that we should feel proud of ourselves too and so we patted ourselves on the back.
We had a great time doing KIDFIT exercises using inflated basket balls and scarves. We had to hit the basket balls into the air and kick 
them and we waved the scarves high and low and round and round. We learnt about our lungs and how we use them to breathe all the time. When we sing, we use our lungs; when we talk, we use our lungs; when we do anything, we are using our lungs. We put our hands on our chest and breathed deeply and could feel our chest going up and down. Our older friend’s upstairs used weights for their exercises. Our little arms are probably strong enough to use them but we are still a little small. Our weights are made out of plastic bottles filled with orange soapy water. They can also be used as props like trumpets and harmonicas.
We played our favourite Wiggles CD and danced and sang to “The monkey dance”, “Hot Potato”; “Butterflies”; “Where is Thumbkin”; “Shake your sillies out” and “Veil”. When we hear the music of “Veil” we sway in the wind like trees and raise our arms into the air blowing gently. It is sometimes hard for us to keep our feet still as we are always so eager to move our bodies. When we are in the park we always like to run around and move our bodies too. Today we chased our friends and 
teachers; sat on the swing; collected water from the tap and climbed on the high climbing structure. We had a drink while we were playing because we get really sweaty when we play outside.
We wish Clodia well as she was not at school today and hope that Beckett and his family have a great trip to the USA to a wedding. We look forward to hearing all about it when they return. We also wish Sabine a fun time in Saipan with her husband, Christophe. Have a great weekend everyone and see you for the start of a new week on Monday.
Love always Shelley, Darren, Christine, Nanako, Sabine, Ayaka and Goh.