Hello Mr. Sun

Amazing Monday it was for the Buds, we arrived school and did our morning jobs as always. We went to our favorite toys and books. Nikolas was very busy making his own cookie as he told his teachers. And Lisa was quietly playing with the buses and trains. Lisa has improved a lot for she now showed big smiles every time she comes to school. Meanwhile, Sofie was staying in our reading corner and she got this small book about “Spot” the dog. On the art table, we also saw markers, crayons and some sketches of apples. John asked if we wanted to color these apples so that we could practice our fine motor skill which was to hold a pen correctly. Sofie chose the blue color and she was holding her marker like holding her toothbrush. Our teachers told her to hold it correctly and the best way to do it is by putting your index finger and middle finger on top of the marker and the ring finger and pinkie would go underneath and then support the pen with your thumb. John also asked us to color in the lines so that we could make a beautiful artwork. Dominik was really good in coloring inside and he didn’t miss it. We still need a lot of practice and more time in order to make it better and get used to it. But it was an amazing experience to learn this coloring control and movement.

In our circle time, we sang songs about “up” and “down”. We had a lot of fun because we needed to shake our hands, arms and bodies while putting our hands with up and down motion. We also used a tambourine to do this movement. We passed the tambourine around so that we could all have the opportunity to shake it well. But then, we have to wait for our turn (as part of our social skills and understanding lesson). Our teacher made it sure that we were very patient to everyone.

Today, we had a fun gym class. Tanaka-sensei was here again and he never fails to amuse us with his activities. Lisa and Nikolas were very active for they have followed instructions quite well. Rei, Sofie and Kaia were as energetic as they can be. We did our warm-up exercises and followed by actvities that Tanaka-sensei prepared for us.

  First, we did some animal actions like the bear crawl, frog and bunny hop and alligator crawl. Kaia and Rei were very excited when they did these actions. It was also a good workout for everyone even for our teachers when we move like this. It strengthens our core muscles and balance which are very important for gross motor development. The second activity was the “Dinosaur hunt”. Tanaka-sensei told us that we needed to listen carefully if the dinosaur was coming. The game started that we were walking around the classroom and then Tanaka-sensei would say “DINOSAUR!”, we all had to lay down and pretend to sleep so that the dinosaur may not catch us. It was a very tricky game and we had to be very attentive so that the dinosaur wouldn’t catch us.

Lastly, we formed a circle and our teachers asked us what we liked to eat today. Dominik said that he wanted to have a “pizza” so we all ate our pizza until the circle got very small and then when it was small, we all have to eat the cookie this time and start all the way back to make a big circle (pizza).

At the park, the Buds were like butterflies. They all wanted to fly around and discover everything. We saw a big puddle of water. Our teachers said that we could touch it but we just needed to be very careful so as not to get our trousers and clothing wet. We just played for a few moments and we then proceeded to the swing and slides. Maki also showed us our Ohana garden. It was small but we saw some colorful flowers. Maki told us that we had to be very careful and not to pick the plants and flowers. They have feelings too and the flowers can feel sadness if we don’t take good care of them. John drew a big sun and we followed him and drew our pictures on the ground. It was so interesting to draw not just on a piece of paper. It gave us a different learning experience as well.

  We went back to school with a very calm atmosphere. We started reading a story about “Spot”. The title was “Time for bed, Spot”. The story was about a dog who was supposed to sleep but he couldn’t because he said that he was not sleepy. So, Spot’s mum and dad tried many ways to put him to sleep but he just kept on getting up from bed to just play with his toys. Until he got so tired and slept on the floor. Sally (Spot’s mum) saw him and she said, “You’re sleepy after all” and tucked him into bed.

After that wonderful story, John showed two plastic apples; one red and one green. He told to choose one apple that we wanted to cut with our plastic knife. He showed how to use the knife properly and it was amazing how easy it was. For some, we still need to practice more but for the others they have learned how to use the knife correctly.

Thank you so much again Ohana family for the wonderful time we have in class. See you all tomorrow.

Lots of love,

John, Sayaka and Maki