News / Nunn Road / 2023 / October 2023

 Dear Parents,

We are so glad and thankful that we can celebrate the Harvest Festival with all of you. The children were really looking forward to the day by counting down. On the real day, they carry the absent children in their hearts as they enjoyed and shined.

                                                                               

The bread baking right before the presentation was a bit of a rush. But the children worked hard happily to let parents try warm baked bread.

Thank you very much for your encouraging smiles for the children and for us, teachers. We always feel parents, children and us teachers, can make a memorable festival together with smiles.

Puppet show story: Water Dragon

Once upon a time, in the village, Mr. Farmer, Mr. Frog, Mr. Chicken and Miss Flowers were very happy, because they had plenty of water which produced by Mr. Water Dragon.

But one day, the Witch who hate people, animals and flowers’ happiness caught the Water Dragon using her magic stick. So everybody were in trouble because there was no more rain.

They asked advice from the Prince. When he asked the Wise woman, she told the Prince to take away the Witch’s magic stick so Witch will lose her power.

The Prince is very brave. He decided to go to Witch’s hut to rescue the Water dragon. In the forest, the village girl helped him with the direction to go to Witch’s hut. The prince took away the Witch’s cane when she was nodding. When the Witch woke up she was so angry to lose her stick and the Water dragon.

In the village there was rain again. The vegetables and flowers grew again and Mr. Frog is also very happy with plenty of water in his pond.

The girl brought many “Happy flowers” which she found in the forest to give to the children.

And the Puppets and children sang the Harvest song together,

Father sky Father sky, widely loving blue and high, Mother earth your warming glow, make the rice and carrots grow make the rice and carrots grow.

And the children received the Happy flowers.

 

                                                                   

The small children are able to memorize the songs and poems by repeating them. Repetition is an important rhythm in Early childhood education. We pay attention to repeat and lead things we want children to learn in the same order. With this we can make children stable to learn and continue with joy of waiting for the real day to come.

We adults choose poems, songs and Puppet stories in each festival to be suitable for the children. The small children will learn through their heart and body but not through their head yet. During kindergarten age, it is important to grow through the body. When they learn willingly with joy, it will surely become their power for life.

Many of the poems and puppet stories are original Nania creations. In the Christmas song sheet, we distribute this time, we made the prayer song when we experienced the Fukushima earthquake.  The song resonated and we continue to sing it to this day.

When the small children sing and pray with their small hands, we really can believe in hope for the future. Although there are so much destruction in the world, we really pray for the future for the children.

 We had a very enjoyable 'Bento day' on friday.

Festival is not only on the day, we do a lot of preparation beforehand and  accumulate the joy to wait for the day. So if some children absent on the day, it is a very missing and sad feeling. Some repeatedly say, " I wanted to eat Bento lunch with my friend..." Their friends carry the absent children in their heart.

The children especially bigger children are very busy to help the festival.This time big children did bento packing and showed the middle aged children group how to pack. In the end 2 groups proudly finished the packing together..

Some big children presented a puppet show during waiting time. They sang the Harvest festival song in the end. Teachers were invited to watch. The children did everything by themselves.

In one of the photos, one big boy is showing the small boy how to eat the rice ball with a fork. In the mixed age setting, we often see these heart warming scenes.

Aunty Janet and kitchen crew were very very busy on this special day. Teacher Sally's sister and my husband also helped during this intensely busy time.

We had a very happy bento shopping and eating together. Many of them had 2nd serving and some went back to the shop many times. 

November and December 2023 Activities

  November

  10^th  (Fri)  Deepavali festival

  13^th  (Mon) - 14^th (Tue)  Deepavali holiday

  21^st (Tue)  Laura’s 4^th birthday celebration

  23^rd (Thu)  Pool day

  24^th (Fri)  Big children’s Craft Circle (2023last session)

  (Snowman making)

  28^th (Tue) Puviya’s 4^th birthday celebration

  30^th (Thu) Zov 6^th birthday celebration

  December

  8^th (Fri)  Christmas Festival

  12^th (Tue) Tze Jie’s 5^th birthday celebration

  18^th (Mon)-1^stJan 2024 (Mon)  School holiday

 

  26^th-29^th staff work day (end of year cleaning)