Baby Photos and Rickshaws

Today we saw as soon as we came into the classroom that there was a water play activity out on the grassy balcony. There were lots of play toys such as fish, frogs, turtles, scuba divers and even treasure chests. To play with the water we also had cups, and sieves. It was great fun even if some of us got our shoes and socks wet. On the table we saw there were some beads and string to make bracelets and necklaces. Jennifer made a beautiful necklace which she said was for her brother William. Nile enjoyed making things with the play-dough and decided it was a good idea to use the tube to cut small candy like pieces of play-dough. On the second table Adam, Ethan, Ryan and Tokutaro made their favorite colour picture using tape, markers, small sparkly shapes, colored cloth or paper and colored matchsticks. They spent a long time working on these and they look beautiful. After packing away the toys we had a small circle time to talk about ‘Manners and Respect’. We have noticed how some of us use words very harshly or sometimes use our hands when we don’t like something. We looked at a book titled ‘Respect’ which showed us some mice who learn to use their manners and show respect for their friends by using nice words, taking turns with games and talking, lining up etc. We headed for the park and had a great time in the sunshine as it was warm and sunny. When we got back to the classroom we had two ‘Show and Tell’s’ to do: Arata’s and Jennifer’s. Arata brought along two beautiful photographs taken when he was a baby. In the photos he was wearing a shawl knitted by his grandmother. He had the same shawl with him today to show his friends. Arata then chose which friends he wanted to ask him questions and answered all of them with a little help from the teachers. It was Jennifer’s turn next and she was very excited to show her friends four pages of a trip she took in a rickshaw. She told us all about her trip including the map and then answered lots of questions asking her to explain about a rickshaw, how it works, how many people it can carry and how it is like a taxi. She looked so proud of herself. We then did another small circle and asked about all the things we like such as food, sports, superheroes and our favorite colours. We then got our own ‘All about me’ sheet and added our favorite things to the sheet. We used a pencil and did really nice writing. Next time we will do things we don’t like. Have a great afternoon and we look forward to seeing you again tomorrow.