On Monday of last week, we celebrated the Star Festival (Tanabata) by making star-shaped rice crackers (from dumpling skins). The children enjoyed cutting out stars with cookie cutters. We also listened to the “Orihime & Hikoboshi” story.
Since we talked about stars for Tanabata, we learned about stars and planets for the rest of the week. We built a big rocket ship, and then the students stuck on aluminum foil to make it look like a shiny metal rocket. Everyone also made some planets. Seal and Whale class students painted them using the ‘marbling’ technique, while Starfish and Penguin class students used dot painting.
Everyone also became an astronaut! They made an astronaut helmet and pretended their snack was floating (as if they were in outer space) and tried to catch it to eat it. When they watched a video clip showing how astronauts eat food while in a spaceship, they were amazed and asked many questions. Seal class students understand there is no gravity (and use this word) in outer space.
Shark Gakudo class students also colored the eight planets and lined them up in order.
