Sparkly Domes & Optical Illusions

Today was a beautiful warm day and we took full advantage of the sunshine by taking our snacks and water bottles to the park today. We sat on the benches together and sang our snack time song before playing. In the free play time in the morning when we first arrived in the classroom we saw the projector all set up. On the wall we saw the shadow outlines of a sheep and pig made from Lego. Very carefully we selected the white and red Lego and followed the outlines of the sheep and pig. We needed to choose not only the right color but size too. We soon realized that if we used lots of long pieces we couldn’t make curves and so we needed to choose smaller blocks to make them. They look really good and we soon started a third animal; a farm dog with the grey blocks but unfortunately didn’t have time to finish it before pack away time. We will try and finish the dog tomorrow morning as they all look great. On the table we set up the cork boards, wooden shapes, small nails and hammers. Gaby came to the table to make a picture too and enjoyed using the hammer with the nails. On the carpet, Wes, Alexis and Lucinda played pirates and collected the treasure box and toy food together on the carpet. They looked so cute dressed up with their eye patches. After packing away the toys we practiced the days of the week, calendar dates and months with Ayaka. We were lucky to hear Ayaka’s beautiful singing voice when we practiced the school song together with our friends. Ayaka sang the lines of the song and then we followed with our own singing voices. We covered the 3^rd verse today and enjoy singing this together. In the park we enjoyed using the slide together. We each took turns being at the head of the train and slid down together. We decided we were going to Yokohama together and made sure we drank lots of water when we were hot. After returning from the park it was time for Kosei’s ‘Show & Tell’. Kosei had brought along 2 items to show his friends. He had them in a paper bag and first we had his friends guess what he had brought to show them. Kosei decided which children he wanted to guess and we heard some good examples such as “a book’, “a toy” and “a puzzle”. It turned out that none of us were correct and it was actually a dome and an optical illusion. Kosei then told us how the dome had water in it along with some small models of a police car, a palm tree, a cake and two characters. He showed us how the glitter mixed with the water when he shook it. Kosei stood up and showed all his friends before showing us a wonderful optical illusion. The optical illusion was of two bananas labelled A & B. When he put the A on top the B looked bigger, when the B was on top the A looked bigger. He then asked “Which one is Bigger” and his friends answered correctly. When he changed them around we were all surprised that the other one looked bigger. It was then time for Kosei to answer lots of questions from his friends such as “Why did you bring both of them”?- “Because I like it”, “Did you make the Dome”?- “No, I buy it”, “How did you get the models into the dome through the little hole”?- “No, The white goes down, open then glue. Put this top and this one open and water inside. Glitter first”. “Did you make that paper”? – “This is paper, paper and stick the banana and white paper”. “Which do you like the best”? – I like the ‘Robo’ model. Thank you Kosei for using your English so well and doing a good job telling us all about them. We then played a game where we sat in a circle and one of us moved around the outside. We said the words “Pig”, “Pig” while touching our friends on the head until we decided to say the word “Sheep”. We then had to run around the circle and return to our friends spot before they could catch us. We all had a turn and then changed it to any farm animals but suddenly said “ Chunky Monkey” before chasing our friends around the circle again. We had speak in a loud voice and listen carefully for those special words “Chunky Monkey”. This was great fun and will play again tomorrow. Have a great afternoon.