Welcome Chloe and the Philippines

What a fantastic Wednesday we have! Today, we would like to welcome the beautiful Chloe to Buds class. Chloe was such a great girl for she was really quiet and observing the whole classroom. She was also very calm and cooperative the whole day. What a great start for you dear! Awesome! In the morning, our early birds Ritsuka and Yurika came and they did their morning jobs. They saw the play dough on our tables and they got some cutting tools for it. Both of them were starting to say the names of their friends and teachers. Sofia came and she liked to use the easel and stuck some art stuff on the sticky film. This month’s color is green so she had to find some green colored materials to stick on the easel. Ritsuka later joined in and they both found some green stuff that she could put on too.

                In our circle time, we sang a song about using our “gentle voice”. The song reminded us to sing, play and learn together with our gentle voices. This way, we will be able to concentrate and cooperate more with our friends and teachers.

We also identified our own pictures and it was very nice to know our names little by little. Sofie likes to say “S says sss..sss..” and Leanne also likes to say “L says llll…llll…”. Nikolas was very attentive and he also recognized his face on the white board. When John told us whose name he was holding, he quickly got up from his chair, took the name and put it beside his picture. He is now becoming more confident and comfortable with us. He also likes to sing more English songs now, although, it was not that loud but he still tries to sing on his own. And during playtime, he would get his costumes from the dramatic play area and he would start humming and sing tunes like A,B,C and the wheels on the bus.

                We had special visitors today. Carmen (Sofia’s mom) came and she joined us during our circle time. She was dancing with Sofia and Sofia was simply enjoying every moment she had with her mommy. Jen (Sofie’s mom) came and we started doing special activities about their country – the Philippines. We know that John is also from the Philippines and it’s nice to know that we learned more about their country.

First, Carmen read a book about the frog. In the Philippines, the frogs say “kokak, kokak” , it was the common sound that kids learn at school when they talk about frogs. It was very interesting because we also saw frogs made of plastic that she brought for us. Next, Jen showed us how to dance “Itik-itik” if translated it literally that means “duck-duck”. The traditional Philippine dance was fun because we had to dance like a duck. We had to put our hands under our armpits and we should flap our elbows up and down just like two wings. It was pretty funny because everyone from Buds class especially Rei was dancing funny movements to the song.

               Jen got a video and we listened to the song and danced with it. Leanne who was also very confident, got to show her own moves and it was amazing how she imitated the dance steps in class. Great job Buds!

                After the fun dance of Itik-itik, Buds, together with Jen and Carmen, went to our tables to do some craft with us. First, we saw some cut-outs of a boy and a girl but they were just wearing white. We found out later that the mommies prepared some costume cut-outs as well for us to stick on.

Sofie, Yurika, Rei, and Leanne showed their art work proudly to their teachers. It was very cute and we all loved it. Thank you so much Jen and Carmen!

We also sang a song for both of them, as to let them know how we appreciated what they have prepared for us. Thank you and come again someday!

                  We went to the park and Rei was so happy to see Arata! They played in the sand box for quite a while. Riku and Ritsuka were at one corner building something together. It rained yesterday so we were so happy to see the puddle of water. Some of us played with the mud but our teachers reminded us to wash our hands before leaving the park and so we did.

Thank you so much again Ohana for always bringing wonderful experiences to all of us. Hope to see you all again tomorrow! Have a nice day!

Lots of love,

John, Sayaka and Maki