We travelled to the UK and Korea today

Wow, there was so much snow on the weekend after Friday’s snowfall. It seemed to be a lot more than the week before and many of us were happy to play outside and build more snowmen and snowladies. When we went outside today, we decided to go and play near the temple opposite the nature reserve. We thought that the park would be a bit slushy and dangerous with the snow becoming ice; and being really slippery. It is lovely to see the bright blue sky and white snow on the ground. We played outside the temple and then our intension was to go to the nature reserve to see the turtle and the fish but it was so muddy from the snow melting. We had a fun time and enjoyed chatting to our friends and playing with them too, in a different environment. Our friends upstairs went to the park and discovered a lot of ice and snow on the ground. In factm the green area, where we had our Sports Day, was closed because some of the fencing collapsed inwards, from the weight of the snow on the trees. There were also a lot of branches on the ground from the strong wind.

We welcomed Sharee as a new teacher at Ohana and our teachers were so happy that she is a member of the Ohana team. Michaela is also happy to know that her mum is teaching at her new school even though they are in different classes, like Nanako and Luka. Upstairs, we had more marbling materials so that Sophie, Sean and Noa could make their canvasses. We also marbled a lot of paper as this cleans the water for the next person.

On the second table, we had hearts to decorate as it will be Clodia’s birthday in March. We used sparkly pens and markers. We love decorating hearts for our friends knowing that we are participating in their special day at school, where we celebrate the day that we were all born. We worked on the map of the world on the carpet and we are getting more and more skilled at doing them. Some of the maps have made tiny pieces however, if we look at the charts with pictures of the maps on them, we can follow the shape and fit the pieces more easily. In fact, Beckett was a puzzle “whizz” today and he completed the entire map of Europe without any paper to guide him. Momo, Jennifer and Allie enjoyed playing together in the kitchen, engaged in social and dramatic play.

We looked at the “Children’s World Atlas” during library time and went on a voyage to the United Kingdom. We helped find the flag of the UK and then we looked at the huge map of the world and placed flags on the countries that we know and have been to. We looked at Nanako and saw that she was wearing a crown. We looked at the money from the UK which is called pounds and pence, and saw that there was a lady with a crown on; but it was not Nanako! The picture was of the Queen of England. We looked at the watermark on the pound note by holding it up to the light. We then flipped the coin to see if it landed on heads or tails.

Downstairs, we travelled to Korea with Adrien and his mum, Eun Kyung. She brought some special pancake mix for us to try. The pancakes are called “Hot tak” and are made of flour and rice flour. You put the dough into your hand and make it flat and then fold it over and make it flat again. Then you make it into a sort of round shape and in the very middle you put a spoonful of brown sugar. You close the pancake over the brown sugar so that the sugar is all inside and you cant see it. Then you place the “hot tak” into a pan and watch as they get golden in colour. As they are changing colour, you take a small circular dish and push down on the ball and it makes ir bigger and flatter. Some of us had a few pieces of it, and some of us didn’t have any at all. The smell and taste were fantastic. Kamsamida Eunkie!

Adrien’s baby came as well and he lay happily making noises while we were learning and listening. After Marc had taken off the special clothes called “Hanbok”, we listened to a story in Korean called “Bread Cloud”. It was a story about bread made from a cloud. Hmmmmm! Can you really eat a bread cloud?

We want to say a big thank you to Eunkie for coming to school and for teaching us about Korea and what people eat there, on the street as well as how they talk and what they wear. We know how to say hello in Korean “An jong hah say yo” and we know how to say thank you now as well “Kamsamida”. Tomorrow we will be learning about Japan and Hisami is going to be our “mum” teaching us for International Month.

We want to wish all of our friends and their families, get better soon. We know that it has been a tough time for your mummies and are glad to know that you are slowly recovering……especially Charlie!

Love always