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Join UsNews / Nunn Road / 2024 / February 2024
Dear parents,
It was lovely to see all of you during our Chinese New Year Festival. The children certainly benefited from your presence, and they performed really well in front of the supportive crowd!
Right before the festival, the children helped a lot with the preparations. They practice their singing and dancing every day. A couple of days before the festival, all of them sat together to make the Ribbon Kuih. The Big Children cut a line in the dough while everyone folded the dough into ribbons. After lunch, Auntie Janet and Auntie Oh fried all the dough and kept them in big containers in preparation for all the guests who were here during the festival. All the children enjoyed eating the Ribbon Kuih and I hope you enjoy their handiwork as well.
During the Thaipusam Outing, the children all sat in a van and we did a tour of the Thaipusam booths along Jalan Utama. They came back happy and excited about the celebration.
There was a Friday where 8 Form 2 students from the Penang Japanese School visited Nania, they played with the children and even show them how to make origami. Afterwards, all the children and our visitors had a picnic in our garden. All the children are amazed with the ‘koko’ and ‘jiejie’ and they showed their appreciation by making paper necklaces for them.
We also celebrated Bean Throwing Day. It was a good chance for children to wish for all people to be safe and healthy. The children made and wore their masks before going out to the garden with a small box that they prepared. We scattered the beans as a symbolic gesture to get rid of sickness and sadness while welcoming goodness and happiness in the new year. The children chanted “Sickness, sadness outside; happiness inside” while they threw the beans against the demons which represented sickness or sadness. After that, they all collected the beans and planted them together. We look forward to having some edamame for lunch when the seeds become plants.
We recently welcomed a new friend who is almost 3 years old. He has made some friends who share their toys with him. The children all welcomed him with open arms.
Now, we are hard at work practicing for the graduation ceremony. The older children who will be graduating this year have overcome difficult times because of COVID-19. And now, by fate, they will be graduating together here at Nania. Moreover, starting this year, both classes will have a joint graduation ceremony. While there are challenges ahead, these eight graduating children, who have spent time together and worked hard at various events, are ready for it. We hope that by supporting each other, this graduation ceremony will be memorable, and we sincerely wish the best for them after leaving Nania.
We understand that for 3-year-olds, sitting through a long graduation ceremony might be a little challenging. We are planning to let them participate where they can. Otherwise, they will stay in the Blue Flower class with a few teachers. There may be some children coming and going during the ceremony. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Names of the Graduating Children
Blue flower class
Tan Yen H’ng
Wang Zov
Yeoh Bethany
Yeoh Yuka
Sunflower class
Hikari Fukuda
Naoki Sumito
Sakura Yoshikawa
Sho Satoh
Graduation Ceremony 29 February 2024 (Thursday)
All the children arrive at school as usual (before 9am)
0900-0930 Snack Time
0930-0945 Toilet Break
Parents, please arrive and wait in our car porch by 0945. Please park along the roadside.
0945 Children have another drink of water
0950-1040 Graduation Ceremony (Part 1)
1040-1130 Small Children in Blue Flower Class: Toilet break + Snack (Nania’s Orange Cake) + Drawing + Origami
1040-1050 Water and toilet break for Graduating Children; Toilet break and refreshments for Parents
1050-1130 Graduation Ceremony (Part 2) followed by tea with Nania’s Orange Cake
1130-1150 All other children: a walk in the garden and a change of clothes
Graduating children: exchange greetings with teachers and take photos in the garden
＊Greeting to the teachers
Teacher **, thank you very much for your guidance. (cooking)
We will miss you.
See you again.
1150 ‘Goodbye Song’ by the graduating children and parents
Note:
· We will prepare some tables in the car porch for the display of the art works of the graduating children. As the younger children will be changing their clothes indoors, we will conclude the graduation ceremony by giving greetings and singing songs here.
· Thank you for preparing the photos and message cards. They will become cherished memories for the graduating children. We will begin to make the albums with the materials you provided.
· Regarding the giving of presents from the graduating children. They can do so in the afternoon of the graduation day itself.
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We will celebrate the Japanese Girls’ Day Festival (Hinamatsuri) with the children on1st March (Friday). The dolls in traditional kimonos will be displayed at the festival corner as prayers for the well-being of girls. The dolls are called hina-ningyo and the custom is also known as momo-no sekku (Peach Festival) because it is the peach blossom season on the lunar calendar. In some areas, nagashibina, the custom of loading one’s troubles onto a paper doll and floating them off down the river is still practiced.
Most Japanese families with girls display hina-ningyo and dedicate peach blossoms to them. They are usually arranged on a five or seven-tiered stand covered with a red carpet. The Emperor and Empress are at the top. Three court ladies sit on the next level, followed by five musicians, two ministers, and three servants at the bottom row of a five-tiered display. Displays may include small pieces of furniture, meal dishes, and other things. The hina-ningyo at Nania was hand made by a child’s mother.
The children have folded paper dolls to be used as wall decorations. They will bring the wall decorations home on the festival day.
Bento (Lunchbox) Day
We will have Bento Day on 7th March (Thursday). It is one of the children's favourite days. This is because Auntie Janet makes onigiri (rice balls) bento on that day. Everyone makes wallets and money a few days in advance to ‘pay’ for their bento. On the day itself, the older children would help with the packing and when the bento shop opens, everyone goes shopping for lunch. The kitchen staff would also prepare some change for the children when they pay with their money. It is an enjoyable shopping experience, and the children would always go for seconds.
March 2024 Activities
1st (Fri) Girl’s Day
5th (Tue) Qian Ru’s 4th Birthday Celebration
7th (Thu) Bento Day
15th (Fri) Annabelle’s 6th Birthday Celebration
27th (Wed) K-ra’s 5th Birthday Celebration
28th (Thu) Public Holiday for Nuzul Al-Quran