This week we continued focusing on ‘Forests’, in particular, tropical rainforests. We discussed the ways in which we can protect our planet, such as using less paper, recycling, and if we can, plant more trees. A little help can make a big difference!

The children enjoyed creating homes for a few exotic Amazon residents under the stairs. Then during the week, our ‘nook’ changed continents and became a panda sanctuary in a bamboo forest.

The beginning of the week proved to be a creatively messy couple of days. In the number room, hands and wrists were painted to allow us to create trees with three leaves and in the letter room we had a splendid time playing in soil with spiders, slugs, snails and snakes.

On Wednesday, we celebrated Lunar New Year. The children were introduced to some of the traditions celebrated throughout the 15-day festival and the origins of the Chinese zodiac animals. We had an action-packed time, retelling the story of The Great Race using the small world animals. The children enjoyed splashing in the waterlily pond and filling and pressing playdough to make dumplings. We finished with a delicious feast of noodles, spring rolls and mandarins.

Thank you to the parents who organised a lion dance in the playground upon arrival in the morning, we all enjoyed this wonderful experience and received many good fortune ‘blinks’ from the lion.

A huge thank you also to Yiyi’s and Alyssa’s mothers in the afternoon class who came to share their traditions and stories and gifted the children with Lunar New Year lanterns, fortune cookies and red envelopes.