Happy Birthday Ayaka

This morning was another sunny one with lots of sunshine and smiling faces. We arrived to see the wooden puzzle blocks on the table with the matching cards and immediately started to complete the cards by putting the pieces in the right place. On the main art table the last of us started our New Year kite activity. We chose which monkey picture we wished to use and taped the plastic kite over the picture and traced the main outlines with permanent markers. We are very happy with how they look and can’t wait to take them home and try them. The math puzzle blocks were also very popular this morning in the carpet area. To use these we needed to connect several blocks together, count them and then see if we were right by slotting them into the special tray. Also on the carpet area we enjoyed playing with the farm animals and countryside rug. After packing away the toys it was time for our special event; Yes, Ayaka’s Birthday party. We all headed down to Buds class to be together with our friends from Petals Class too. We arrived to hear John the teacher playing the guitar to our friends. We all sat together and knew that we were there to celebrate her birthday. She sat in the special chair at the special table and we all sang some of our favorite songs such as ‘If you’re happy and you know it’ and made up our own actions to include in the song. It was then time to check how old Ayaka is and she said she was 23 today. We are not sure if this is true but it would not be polite to ask her! We were so happy to then put a crown we had made in Flowers class on her head and give her a card from all of us. Petals and Buds class also had a card each to give her and there were lots of smiles and hugs. Finally it all went dark as we brought out the cake for her and saw the pretty candles. Ayaka blew out the candles and looked so happy! Happy Birthday Ayaka, we all love you! After returning to the classroom we all got ready for the park and enjoyed some fresh air and sunshine together. In circle time we looked at some of the things we know are moved by the wind including clouds, hot air balloons, gliders, and boats. To get an idea of what else we needed to add to our boat we looked in a teacher’s book which had a very big picture of a pirate ship with lots of sails. We learnt a new word today too; “mast” which we saw in the book. We then moved to the table to make our own mast and sail, We split a straw at one end and then glued it in to make a mast. Then taking some card we cut it to the shape we wanted and decorated it with our own personal design. Next week we will attach the sail to the straw mast and see which ones move well with the wind. Have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday.

All our love, Darren, Ayaka, Pooja & Ryoan