Walking In A Winter Wonderland

It doesn't snow much in Osaka, and even on the night the weather was calling for several centimeters, we got none. So I was thankful for the abundance of snow and ice pictures posted by all my facebook friends in the eastern 1/2 of the U.S. to show my class what walking in a REAL winter wonderland looks like!

It's always fun to compare and contrast things about Japan and America with my students. They have famous deer in Nara, which is about an hour from where I live (yet I STILL have not gone to see them) but they are much smaller and from what I know also don't have antlers. The kids had fun looking through all the winter books on the shelf to footprints in the snow, belonging to deer and other animals. Since our music week(s) overlapped into winter sights, we even ended up with a trio of musical deers in class one day!

Whenever I pull out a special science card from the daily topic bag, it's like a party! I have a "special activity" picture for the visual schedule and every one gets SO excited. It's a big deal to line up and walk to the kitchen to "help" Kairu sensei gather all the supplies. They loved the "ice fishing" experiment. I think the record was 10 "fish" on a string at one time. 

Serious observation faces

Winter is not my favorite season, personally, I'd rather be warm. But, Mother Goose Time has redeemed the season quite a bit by providing so many fun learning opportunities (inside, where we can stay toasty warm!) about weather and environments near and far!