Tuesday was the big day for the children. Before we left, we talked about museum procedures and behavior and the children gave some ideas of what rules they thought there would be when we arrived. Some were: No running, no touching, no eating, and no shouting. We were impressed with their guesses!
At last, we left school and took our time walking to the Mori Museum. Along the way, the children were excited to see their school from afar as well as pass by Robot Park. They pointed out Tokyo Tower and took a few seconds to wave hello.
At last, we left school and took our time walking to the Mori Museum. Along the way, the children were excited to see their school from afar as well as pass by Robot Park. They pointed out Tokyo Tower and took a few seconds to wave hello.
When the children arrived at the museum, they immediately remembered the rules about staying together in their groups and using their indoor voices. We all squeezed into the elevator and they looked up as the numbers went higher and higher. Many of them said their ears hurt as we went up and some friends said they felt like they were in an airplane that was going up.
As photography was not permitted in the gallery, we have some photos of the actual artwork from the museum that was the most talked about from the children. The children had so many questions about various sculptures, especially when they learned that some of them were kings. They wanted to know why some of them were so small while others were so big. They were curious about their clothing. One friend asked, "Where are the doors to get in?" when they were observing a model of a pyramid. One necklace that the children were interested in was made of gold and they said it looked like the pumpkin seeds they dug up from our jack-o-lantern on Halloween!
As the children exited the museum, they were in awe of the glorious view that was in front of them. There were buildings as far as they could see and they tried to find Tokyo Tower (which was unfortunately on the other side of the building). Many said how small the cars and people looked below and others said, "We are so high up!"
Finally, it was time to make one last stop before heading back to school. As we have been studying types of sculptures in the past couple of weeks, the children knew they'd be visiting a very familiar one: the spider in Roppongi Hills called Maman. The ten meter bronze sculpture was a big hit with the children and they were so excited to look up and see the marble eggs in her sac! The children had made guesses about how many legs a spider has so when we got under the spider, Mya counted eight legs. Many of the children were excited that they could touch this sculpture as they were not allowed to do so in the museum. Some of our friends were quite surprised when they felt how cold the spiders legs were!
The next day the children were still excited about their adventure to the museum. Teacher June, who had recently visited the gallery herself, kindly let us borrow a book from the museum that had pictures of the different artifacts and sculptures that we saw. The children excitedly flipped through the pages to point out which items they remembered and which were their favorites.
During Circle time, we reflected on our trip to the museum. The children highlighted some of the main art pieces that we saw. We learned words such as "pyramid" and that they were triangular-shaped. Some friends talked about sculptures having "no legs" or being "just heads." A lot of children described a particular sculpture as being "flat because he didn't eat." The teachers were impressed with how much the children remembered and had learned!!
Paper Mache Project
The children especially loved the artpiece "The Golden Mask" from our trip to the museum so we decided to make our own masks using paper mache. In small groups, we mixed flour and water, and glue and water to make the paste. The children ripped pieces of newspaper and dipped it into the paste then stuck it onto balloons. The teachers were so impressed that the children worked well in partners and they loved the MESSY project! We will continue to put more layers on our "masks" in the coming days of school leading into the break.
Holiday Gift
Apart from museums, we have also been talking about how it is now December and that in a few more days, we will not be coming to school for a long time as it will be winter break (shown by the blue tape on the calendar.) The children had a great idea of inviting their mommies and daddies into the classroom and giving them a little present before the break. Please look forward to next Thursday afternoon. Here is a sneak preview of what the children are working hard on!
Birthday Celebration
To end the week, we celebrated another December birthday. Friends took turns signing Anna's birthday card and were eager to sing "Happy Birthday" to her. Thank you to Anna and her mother for sharing a lovely holiday book and delicious treats with us!
Have a lovely weekend and we look forward to seeing you next Thursday afternoon!
- Julie and Natalie
- Julie and Natalie