week ending 24th January 2020
Kung Hei Fat Choi. Happy Chinese New Year. I am sure the children have told you all about our learning this week. This week we have explored the Chinese culture. We have talked about the celebrations that take place and have explored the differences between the two cultures 
We explored the differences and similarities between the utensils people may use. It was so very interesting. We learned about chopsticks, blossom patterns and food that may be eaten at Chinese New Year celebrations
We have been looking at the Chinese zodiac calendar and finding out what year we were born in. This is a little of our independent writing. We are really pleased with the way the children are developing their ability to hold a sentence in their head.
We also used the Internet as a means of finding out about dragon and lion dancing and the significance of it in the Chinese culture. The children were fascinated with the way they moved. We practised with our very own dragon in class.
We have also been busy in our challenge area. We undertook a pom pom challenge. We had 1 minute to try and pick up as many pom poms as we could. We then had to count them, write our name and the number we had collected. Tricky but great hand eye co-ordination practise 
We also explored Chinese food. We used chop sticks to eat our snack on Thursday. With a little bit of support and a lot of practise we perfected this.
We also used Chinese New Year as an opportunity to develop our number skills. We looked at the different signs and symbols and the numbers they represented. Here is just one of the many signs we have seen this week as the children work independently in the classroom.
This week has been a busy and wonderful week learning all about different cultures and ways of life. We have used books and the Internet to help develop our knowledge and the children have really embraced our learning. Have a little look on the news or in local newspapers this weekend as there will be lots of information about the celebrations in both Liverpool and Manchester. If the children would like to draw pictures or write about what they have seen on TV we would love to see this in school.
Finally, next week we will be back to learning about Traditional Tales. Next week we will be using the text The 3 Little Pigs as the focus for our learning. Please remember to check your child's uniform for names. When we did PE this week we had a number of red school t-shirts without names and this makes getting dressed really difficult.
Have a wonderful weekend
Staff and children in Reception W