We will miss you so much !
13th December 2012
Today was a very special day for the Chesney family and a very sad day for all of us here at Ohana. Oliver and Eva are going to be leaving Japan in the next week or so and heading to London, England. Today we threw a big goodbye party for them both in the classroom upstairs. We were lucky that both Susana and Steven were able to make it to the ‘bye bye’ party and brought some wonderful muffins, bread and ‘mame’ beans for the children. We started off the party by asking the children where they were going to move to and of course Oliver knew… ‘London’. We then stood up and made a big circle and sang a special version of “If you’re ‘happy’ and you know it” with the words:
“If you’re ‘sad’ and you know it stamp your feet,
If you’re ‘sad’ and you know it stamp your feet,
If you’re ‘sad’ and you know it and you really want to show it,
If you’re ‘sad’ and you know it stamp your feet,”
which made us all feel a little unhappy. We then thought about what we could all say or do when it is time for someone to leave including saying “Bye, Bye”, “See you later”, and waving. We also thought that giving someone a hug to show that we will miss them was a nice idea. Eva and Oliver were so eager to give their friends a hug and lots of them wanted to squeeze their friends very tight to show them they loved them.
They loved the card with all their friend’s photographs, decoration and messages inside. We then moved to the table to enjoy the delicious food which Susan and Steven brought along for the children…Yummy, Yummy.
A big thank you for this, the children loved the cakes and finished off most it for lunch desert. We welcomed all the children from the second floor to the carpet after eating the yummy food and made 2 big circles as there were so many children together. We all sang ‘Ring a ring of roses’ together and turned in different directions each time. The older children did a wonderful job of helping the younger ones. We then paired up for a few songs and actions starting with the ‘This little piggy’ song. Each of the children removed one shoe and sang along to:
“This little piggy went to market,
This little piggy stayed at home,
This little piggy had roast beef,
And this little piggy had none.
And this little piggy went wee, wee, wee all the way home”
We then continued with the ‘Round and round the garden’ song and actions using their hands as well as ‘Where is thumbkin’. When we asked the children which music and dance they most wanted to hear they said “The monkey song” and “hot potato” were their favorites and so we put it on and danced and danced together….so much fun. Before the party Noa, Jenny, Miya and Shoko were all working on making decorations for their classrooms using the spiral template which they covered with colored markers, sparkly shapes and lastly glitter. 
Once the glue had dried we were able to cut the spirals and hang them from the ceiling to see how they turned in the breeze. All of the children listened so carefully to the book ‘How the birds got their colors’ and told us how they had all seen black crows nearby. A fond farewell to Eva, Oliver, Susan and Steven. We will all miss you dearly!! Love always Shelley, Darren, Nanako, Ayaka, Christine, Goh, Liezel and Sabine.