Apples dipped in honey for Rosh Hashanah

We welcomed back Sabine from her holiday and were happy to see her tanned and rested. Today the weather was different and we didn’t see the sun for most of the day. We did see lots of clouds and we also noticed that there were some large puddles in the park.

Upstairs we had fun during free play time. We took out the cars and played with them on the mat that has roads, buildings and parks on it. Nico and Nicholas played with the cars and enjoyed crashing into one another. Shoko, Jennifer and Miya played with one of the construction sets. We all laughed when Jennifer put two of the wheels together with a piece sticking out. She said: “Look, I made a strawberry”.

All of our friends who attended school today had snack time together upstairs. Shelley and Darren had a meeting so we all spent time eating and playing and doing music on the third floor. Everyone helped each other and it is always nice to know that we can learn from our older friends and they too can learn from us.

      During library time we looked at books that had animals in them. We looked at books about wolves, kangaroos, giraffes, crocodiles, bears and monkeys. We all listened to music on a CD and we danced with our friends and teachers. We played the “freeze” game where we had to freeze and stay still like a statue when the music stopped. We listened carefully to the music and stopped almost instantly when we had to.

Downstairs, we did some bead threading and peg pinching when we arrived at school. We also played on the mat with Lego. Shelley laughed when we were playing as she said that the toys in the classroom always travel; they travel from the floor to the table; and then from the table to the floor. Sometimes when we are playing with a toy, we see something else that we like so we take the toy with us and then start to play with the other toy. We are really good at tidying up and help our friends and teachers when it is time to pack away.

Before we went upstairs we did something special with our friends and teachers. Today is the second day of the Jewish New Year so Christine very kindly sent and apple, honey and dates to school. We washed our hands and sat down together for a story about a little house, with a red roof and a star inside.

We listened very carefully and tried to imagine a little house with a red roof and a star inside. In the story, the little boy and little girl ask everyone if they know where the house is. They ask all of us and all of us said: “I don’t know”. Then they ask Shelley and she said: “I will show you. Please can you get me a red apple”. We were a bit confused about this. Why did she ask for a red apple. We watched as she took a sharp knife and then turned the apple on its side. She sliced right through the apple so it was in half. There were two pieces. Then she asked us if we knew what was inside the apple. Hmmmmmmm? She then turned the two halves and………………   There was a star. It was amazing. On one half there was a star with brown seeds inside and on the other half there was a star with no seeds in it. Then we learnt that today is the second day of the Jewish New Year and people eat apple dipped in honey to celebrate at this time of year. They say that if you dip the apple in honey and eat it, you will have a sweet and happy new year. We all dipped apple into the honey and yummmmmm………it was so delicious. We hope that we all have a sweet and happy new year. Shelley sang to us:

Apple dipped in honey for Rosh Hashanah x 2

A sweet New Year a happy New Year

Apple dipped in honey for Rosh Hashanah

We also ate some dates as in some families dates are eaten at this time of year as well.

Thanks for a great day at school and while this is a short week, we are happy to be back with our friends and teachers for lots of fun and learning.

Love always Shelley, Darren, Christine, Nanako, Sabine, Ayaka and Goh.