Happy Chinese New Year!

What a lovely week we have had in Elmers celebrating the Chinese New Year. We has listened to the story of the Great Race and role played it in our small world, we have made our own Chinese Dragon and danced with our friends and best of all we have tasted some delicious Chinese food. We were so pleased with all the children who eagerly tried the food and some even asked for seconds which was great. 

To watch the Great Race again please click the link below. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVClAj8q_lY

The World

The children had a fantastic time at our Chinese Restaurant. They used traditional Chinese bowls and spoons and even had a go at using Chopsticks. There was lots of discussion about the tastes, textures, where the food was from and the importance of food during the celebrations. 

Writing

In the Mark Making area, the children enjoyed some Chinese dragon themed pencil control activities. We practised holding our pencils correctly and tried very hard to stay on the lines. 

Maths

Our maths area is always available for the children to explore numbers and shapes in lots of different ways. Here, one of our Elmers chose to practise some number ordering with the number beanbags.

Dear Zoo!

This week we have listened to a new story, Dear Zoo. The children were excited to guess which animals they thought were hiding in the boxes. This story led us into our new topic - Amazing Animals. 

EAD

One of our favourite characters in the story was the lion. We made our own lion masks selecting coloured strips of paper and carefully sticking them onto a card circle to create a mane. We talked about what a mane was and why male lions would have one and then tried to think if there were any other animals that had manes. Some super questions and thinking but best of all some super ROARS!!!

The World

We talked about where lions live in the wild - Africa and ​​​​​​thought about which other animals in our story might live there too. We were then very lucky to have a visit from 'Unbeatable Energy' Who allowed us to join in an African drumming workshop. We learned the names of the drums, some new words but most importantly had a fantastic time making music. 

Physical and PSED

We have been working hard on developing our gross motor skills alongside our team work skills. The children were brilliant at working together to build a tall tower using the soft bricks and took turns to place the bricks carefully on top of each other and then with a litle help climb onto the tower and balance. Some children even managed to balance on one leg!

Maths

In group maths, the children have been feeding the Zoo animals. Each animal was only allowed either two leaves or two pieces of meat. We had to count the cubes out carefully so that we didn't make the animals sick. 

Alongside our group maths the children often choose independent maths activities. Here is one of our Elmers playing with what he knows - Number Blocks and enjoying some independent maths play naming the blocks and putting the in order. 

Back to school. Finally!

After a wonderful, extended, Christmas break we came back to a snowy and icy, Walkley.