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by yspreschool2008

Field trip to our vegetable garden: June 5, 2008

ジーナ先生より

Field trip to our vegetable garden: June 5, 2008_b0137410_023816.jpgOn Thursday, June 5th, the long-awaited field trip to our vegetable garden (a small field) in Mogi FINALLY happened.

It was scheduled for Tuesday but, due to a typhoon, we had to reschedule. It was a beautiful partly cloudy day. The kids brought their hats and water bottles and boots, and we piled into the two vans and hit the road. On the way, we sang "Let's All Go, to the Vegetable Garden!" and looked for ABC's.

Each child planted two sweet potatoe plants in the rows. They learned how to walk BETWEEN the mounds/rows, and were generally fascinated by the bugs and rocks and sticks they saw, as all small children are.

We saw LOTS of nature, AND houses and cars and other stuff, too! Even construction (on Route 4 AND Route 288!). R.I.'s mommy dropped by to say "hello", and we thanked her for lending us the field.

It was lunch when we returned and after lunch we worked on our June Calendars (which we finished on Friday). The kids enjoyed making Hydrangea *bushes and a little frog and drawing the raindrops. This is a traditional design for June in Japan. Usually the kids make this flower with rain drops and either a frog or a snail. (We made really cute paperplate snails on Wednesday). Hydrangea are usually made by cutting out a pink or light blue "cloud" to represent the bush shape. Then decorated with smaller "blossoms" of deeper colors to represent the individual flowers.

I've seen a million variations on this simple craft and they always turn out elegant! But, that's no surprise, since the Hydrangea is an elegant flower. I love the way hydrangea bushes are everywhere in the summer here. Last year, the bush near my house blossomed until November (I'm not kidding).

(Hydrangea = sounds like dangerous, doesn't it? In Japanese we say "ah-jee-sah-ee"(American phonetics) or "a-ji-sai" (in romanized Japanese) )

Anyway, we had a lovely day. We are looking forward to eating the sweet potatoes in the fall!
by yspreschool2008 | 2008-06-05 22:08 | YPK