Remember last week, when we made a story about the little toy figures and turned them into one big family? Then we made a marvelous house for them during circle time and free play? Today, our teachers wanted to talk about animals– do they have families? Do they have houses, too?
“Animals should go to their mommies and daddies, and the mommies and daddies can bring a friend,” K said.
“Mommy giraffe in the zoo is sick, so she go to the hospital. The doctor gives medicine to the mommy.” C told us.
“Why is the mommy sick?” K asked.
“The mommy is ‘Ahem! Ahem!’” C told him.
“The elephants have families, too,” S said. They were right, like us, they have their own families. If there’s a baby dog, there’s a mama and papa dog. If there’s a baby bird, then there’s a mommy and daddy bird. Pauline asked if where do elephant families live.
“They live outside,” A said.
“Where?” Pauline asked.
“Same house as giraffes, koalas, and zebras,” A replied.
“How about dolphin families?” Pauline asked.
“Dolphin’s home is in the water,” A said.
“And parrot families?” Pauline wanted to know.
“In the trees,” H answered.
Pauline then read a book about “Animals of the Rain Forest”by Kathie Billingslea Smith. There were lots of nice pictures inside. The first one was about a —
“Cheetah,” A guessed.
“Leopard,” L said. Actually, it was a jaguar! Jaguars are very big cats that are color yellow with brown and black spots. We saw a picture of a mommy jaguar with her babies. They eat meat– meaning they eat other animals. Next, we saw a picture of a macaw– it was such a beautiful, rainbow bird! Then we saw a mandrill, a type of monkey that has a colorful face. It is the largest of all monkeys. We also saw a family of green tree boas (A mommy boa can have as much as 50 babies in her tummy!). Pauline said that next, we might talk about which animal families live in very, very cold places like the Arctic? She also asked us if we think the macaw family from the rain forest can have their house in the Arctic. We said no.
“That’s right. They will feel very cold! Animals are not like us that if it’s cold, they know how to put a jacket, and that they can make houses with the heater on.” Pauline said.
“Polar bear can live there!” C said. He was right!
Speaking of houses, Nimo had a wonderful idea: what if we made another house for our family on a big piece of paper? Because L was asking, “Where’s the house we made for the family?” and Pauline replied with, “Oh, sorry honey, we had to break the blocks up and pack them away in the box.” We were saddened a little by this, that’s why Nimo made this suggestion. Pauline added that maybe we can also add different homes for the animals as well, like he rain forest, the Arctic, the ocean, etc. We were excited about our big project– it will be like a doll house! We hope to start making this tomorrow.
Before we had our circle time, we had our gym class with Miyashita sensei. We practiced throwing and catching the ball properly. We concluded our class with a Japanese version of “Mr. Wolf, What Time is It?” that sent us running and squealing whenever Miyashita sensei called out “It’s 12:00!”
During free play time, we continued decorating our autumn artwork with Sayaka. We gave Sayaka ideas on how to make some apples to add, so we went to work a while ago. We drew apples on a piece of red construction paper, then we cut out with scissors. Tomorrow, we hope to add more.
That sums up our Monday. How about you? How was your day?
Love,
All the creative children in Petals Class