This week in Reception Rabbits the children have been preparing for Chinese New Year.
In order to do this, in Geography, they learned about traditions in China and all over the world- for how people prepare for and celebrate the wonderful 15-day festival.
Children cleaned the classroom and put up decorations. They set up the most beautiful Chinese Restaurant and we talked about who had been to a restaurant before. Adults modelled how to use chopsticks, and all the children had a go!
Please can I have some noodles and prawn crackers? I eat them at home- Amara
We need to use chopsticks- I don’t use them, in England we eat with knife and a fork!- Nancie
I can have a fortune cookie- they bring me good luck- Reggie
They learned the similarities and differences between the culture of Chinese New Year, giving gift of red envelopes, having a banquet with family and they even learned how to make Chinese dragons and lanterns.
Children receive money in red enveloped- red is the lucky colour- Amelia
Children go to the temple to pray- we don’t have temples, they are beautiful- Luna
Its Chinese New Year- we need to clean to send away all of the sad things- Chloe
Children observed and performed dragon dancing during PE.
For our History focus, children learned the story of the Great Race. Children retold the story, acting out the race and remembered the characteristics of each animal as the Jade Emperor chose the name of each year. We used the text- The Great Race, to support our learning and our communication and language.
The rat was a cheater, he won the race but the Ox was strong- he should have won!- Ava
He pig came last as he was greedy and needed to stop to eat- Kiyana
The dragon was kind- he could have won because he can fly but he stopped to help his friends- Cody
The Jade Emperor chose the year names- this year is the year of the dragon- the dragon came 5th- Chester
The animals all had a race- Lily
Children could sequence this story to discuss time and position in maths. They used super vocabulary such as first, next last and talked about comparisons such as 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
Towards the end of the week, now children have prepared and talked about how Chinese New Year is celebrated, they now look forward to their celebration, with a Chinese feast and dancing with friends.