Experience lesson - Jim can do toddlers lessons!

Old Jimbo doesn't get in many class photos...

Yukari's "one coin" policy is proving popular, and also a lot of fun. Our nice big classroom is a very bright, warm and adaptable space. Today it became a bus, as we sang ourselves silly a la "Wheels on the Bus". We used Devon's version to prime everybody, then the full speed version to get the juices going (if you have an iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad, get yourself this as an app from Duck Duck Moose - and while you are at it get all their other apps - your kids will absolutely love them!)

The average age of our initiates was one and a bit years old, and all of our mums were keen to join in too (important!). Jim made sure they did, doing the gestures to other songs like "How's the Weather" and participating in "What's the time, Mr. Wolf?" Mums also had the chance to meet Simon and Eriko, who both wanted to join in the fun.

And a quick note: Jim is not "Employee of the Month" - Yukari is.

If you go out in the sun today...

 Making puzzles in the warm sunshine today, almost as good as being out in the fresh air. Except, we shouldn't really go outside today just in case we get a nuclear dose from Fukushima, still on the brink of multiple crises. It is very hard to give children 100% of your attention when you are trying to keep an eye on notices from your government and travel advisories, IAEA, radiation monitoring sites, BBC breaking news, phone calls from local friends keeping tabs on other sources of information...where is my grab bag?

Naomi was stoic on Tuesday, thank you. I was a nervous wreck, very concerned about things on the east coast.

"Five Little Monkeys, jumping on the bed"? I think so! We made our beds, coloured them and then stuck monkeys on our fingers. With the song from Super Simple Phonics we were jumping on our beds, bumping heads, waggling our fingers "no more monkeys, jumping on the bed!"

Excellent fun :)