This week the children have been immersed in our topic of ‘Chinese New Year’. Our focus for the week has been learning all about history of Chinese New Year and the different ways people celebrate it. We provided the children with a range of activities that exposed them to different aspects of Chinese culture which linked back to our learning of our British Values; Mutual Respect and the children’s ‘Cultural Capital’.
We introduced the topic of Chinese New year by reading ‘The Great Race’ which tells the story of the Chinese Zodiac. The Squirrels have loved hearing and retelling the story throughout the week and they especially enjoyed naming the animals and ordering them according to where they finished in the race. We learned that this year will be the year of the Ox. The children were intrigued to find out what animals represented the years they were born in, with everyone being either monkeys or roosters. In Literacy the children sequenced the story in chronological order, carefully observing the pictures and recalling and discussing as a group all of the different animals.
In Free Play the Squirrels have been busy painting Chinese numbers with cotton buds which has helped to develop their hand eye coordination, while providing an opportunity for discussion around the different number systems around the world.
The Role Play Area was transformed into a ‘Chinese Restaurant’ which the children have frequented through the week; ordering, preparing and sharing meals together. This play promotes a wealth of vocabulary from food and tastes to money and polite conversation. We loved hearing about the different foods the children's had tasted, including rice, spring rolls and crispy duck!
We finished the week with the Squirrels performing an incredible Lion dance where they danced together around the classroom. The children had the opportunity to play the Chinese drums or dance with their friends inside the Lions heads moving rhythmically
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