What fits into a briefcase?

The weather was so beautiful today and we had a great time playing outside. The sun was shining and the air was dry and warm and it felt good to be playing in the fresh air. We spent time playing with the large blow up ball which became soft really quickly and Nico and Tokutaro sat on the swings. Finn played with the large ball and Gento went on the small yellow slide as well as the see saw. Today we did snack time together and we also had our morning circle and story time with everyone. We haven’t had morning circle together for a while and tomorrow we will do this again. What fun it is when we are all together! We all stood up together and held hands and then sat down so that we were sitting in a sort of circle shape. When we sit like this we can all see one another! We started off singing “I’m looking to see who is tapping their knees” (we do many other actions to this song) and then we said Good Morning in a few different languages.

We said it in English, Japanese, Norwegian, German and French. Finn asked if we could sing the “Hello” song which is an old favourite and one that we sing everyday at school and so we did. He sang all of the words in a loud clear voice and the rest of us tried to do the same. Then came another of our favourites and it was fun to see our Gento and Tokutaro doing the actions and remembering them. The song was, “Open them shut them”. Finn then put in another request and this one was to grow into a flower. This is a beautiful song as we start off like tiny seeds and then if we get enough water, sunshine and shade, we grow into beautiful flowers. Shelley sang “It’s raining it’s pouring”; “Good morning Mr. Sun” and she said the poem “Ame dear Ame”. Then she sang, “I am a little flower”. We grew so tall and then we all held hands and danced around together. We had such big smiles on our faces. We did the song twice as we love it so much. Then we sat together and listened to the story “Hairy Maclary”. It is about dogs that are really different looking; Hairy Maclary is really hairy; Schnitzel von Krum has a tummy that nearly touches the ground; Hercules Morse is almost as big as a small horse etc.

Gento and Tokutaro did a special activity at the tables this morning. They went with Shelley into the office and had their hands photocopied. They were really curious about the light that was moving and then when they saw their hands, they looked surprised. Shelley cut them out and pasted them on a page for them and they used the roller stamps that have paw prints from animals on them. The thought behind this activity was for them to see how different hands and paws look and that we have patterns on our hands which are different from other peoples. They did another activity using colourful containers and the tops of old markers. They put them inside their containers and then took them out and put them back again. Tokutaro discovered that you can put them on the tips of your fingers too. Then they sang “Tommy Thumb” and hid their hands behind their backs. The other really beautiful moment was when they both got inside the large briefcase that is near the kitchen. Yesterday we put cars inside the briefcase and they tried to open the locks, but their fingers are not really strong enough. Shelley helped them open it and ….they went inside it and then waved as if they were going somewhere. Bye Bye!

Love Shelley, Darren and Sabine