This week we have been celebrating Chinese New Year. The children learned how to wish each other great happiness and prosperity in Cantonese, the traditional greeting at Chinese New Year (“Gong hei fat choy!”). During circle time we read a book about the Chinese New Year and learned about the animals of the Chinese zodiac. The children were delighted to discover that they were Horses, Goats and Monkeys! We supported this learning with a small world play area that included puppets of the different Zodiac signs. The children also had a go at traditional Chinese dancing, tried prawn crackers during snack time, and used their senses of touch and smell to explore cooked and uncooked noodles.
Later in the week, we introduced a focus on oral health, with the children taking turns brushing our huge model teeth and playing a game where they had to identify the high-sugar foods. The children also enjoyed a painting activity where they created their own steam train designs, and had fun playing with water beads in our sensory area.
Our phonics focus this week was the “a” sound, and the children brought in some great examples of things beginning with “a” - we had an apple, an ambulance, an anteater, and Andy from CBeebies! A toy version, not the real guy, sadly… Next week’s sound is “s”, so please do ask your child to find something to bring in to share with the class.