Autumn in Japan is truly a beautiful time of year. In the classroom we have been learning about the pumpkin life-cycle and then made our own to connect our understanding with a hands on activity from seed, sprout, plant, flower, green pumpkin and orange pumpkin.
The children have also enjoyed bringing into class all types of different leaves to observe and talk about. We noticed the diverse shapes and colours too. Seasonal fruits like persimmons are also enjoyed. The very sweet persimmons are popular to eat at this time of year in Japan. They are eaten both fresh and dried. Some children were unsure, but were willing to try a slice and then came back for more!
We also learnt that there are small pumpkins that are perfect for making pumpkin pie with and then there is the biggest pumpkin in the world known as the, “Giant Atlantic.”
Apart from crafts being fun they also support and strengthen little hands when a child needs to use scissors, hold a pencil correctly and use a glue stick. While also learning to follow directions in a sequence.
Thanksgiving traditions are not only a time to learn about this North American part of history, but also for one to pause and reflect on what we can be most thankful for in our lives here in Japan. When you ask a young child, the answers can be interesting, but the most common is the love for their family and spending time together playing.
We read stories to connect our understanding of Thanksgiving stories with visual pictures. And we also looked at what the first people landing in a foreign country on the Mayflower ship all those many, many years ago from England would have eaten on Thanksgiving Day. We learnt how the Native American Indians shared community in helping them grow different vegetables to live. One poultry that the people were shown to eat was turkey . The children cut, drew and pasted together their own unique craft to celebrate the day! We also shared with each other what we are most thankful for with each other.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!