religious and moral education – Page 5

Chinese New Year

Last week we started to learn about Chinese New Year. We were very lucky to have a special visitor who has had first hand experience of the celebrations in China. Mrs. McGhie had everyone enthralled as she told us the story of the big monster and we were very good at using chopsticks and pans to make a loud noise to scare it away as we helped to tell the story.
We learned that that this is the year of the snake and all about the animals race, about lai see envelopes, fireworks, how children learn to use chopsticks, about a celebration feast, the clothes that people wear… we just learned so much. It was all very interesting to find out from someone who has had personal experience and the children loved seeing and handling all the exciting things in Mrs. McGhie’s basket.
After finishing with a dragon dance, we made Chinese food for snack which included a taste of Chinese tea that Mrs. McGhie had brought for us.
What a marvellous way to learn about someone else’s culture and celebrations. Thank you Mrs. McGhie for bringing Chinese New Year to life for the children. You gave us a fantastic learning experience.

We noticed Chinese writing on the tea tin.

We learned to say “Hello” in a Chinese language.

Helping Mrs. McGhie with her Chinese outfit.

The Chinese people put red decorations up in their homes.

Scare the monster away with lots of noise!

Chopsticks are tricky but we had a very good try.

The kitchen staff prepare for Chinese snack.

Check inside the red envelope to see what’s there.

Christmas is Coming

Christmas is definitely fast approaching and the children are getting quite excited, with talk of Santa everywhere we turn. At the start of this week we read the story of the nativity and there was great enthusiasm over the costumes in the role play area which helped the children talk about the Christmas story. The sheep and the donkey outfits have been particularly popular and baby Jesus has certainly been very well looked after.
The children also decorated the tree themselves at the start of the week and we’re sure you’ll agree that they made a good job of it. As you can see, Mary and a kind donkey took some time out from their busy schedule to help out.

Finlay and his Mum had fun

Another lovely comment about Eileen’s Family Learning activity from Finlay’s Mum. It sounds like everyone’s had a good time.
“Finlay loved decorating his footprints for the Diwali activity, it was such a fun morning with Eileen and the other children and their Mummy and Daddy’s, I think I had just as much fun as Finlay with the glitter. Thank you Eileen.”

Family Fun

It was great to see lots of parents and children taking part in our recent Family Learning activity which linked to our learning about Diwali. As promised, here are some photos of you decorating your footprints and some lovely examples of your designs. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves so we hope that you’re looking forward to Eileen’s next activity.
In the meantime, remember that you can collect an activity sack on a Thursday to take home for the week.

Ollie and His Mum Enjoy Family Learning

Thanks to everyone who came to the Family Learning activity today.

Ollie’s Mum left us a comment saying, “What a fun morning with Eileen , mrs carruthers and the other children and their mummy’s decorating our footprints for Diwali. It’s great to be involved. Thank you.”

I hope to put some photos on the blog in the next few days. It certainly looked like good fun so thanks go to Eileen for organising this activity for us.

Family Learning

Our learning this week is focussing on Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights. We would like to remind you that Eileen, our Family Learning Co-ordinator, is offering an activity linked to this on Thursday 15th and Friday 16th November. You can come along with your child to the learning room where the activity bags are given out and have fun together. Younger brothers and sisters are welcome too.

Eileen has put a notice up on the Family Learning board in the corridor beside the Rainbow Room’s cloakroom – simply add your name in the
time slot that suits you to take part. We hope that lots of families enjoy this activity. It’s a great way to have fun with your child and perhaps make some new friends.

Polish Christmas

We have been learning about Christmas in Poland this week. Hannah’s Mum (a.m.) and Sara’s Mum (p.m.) have talked to us about the traditions in their country at Christmas time. We learned about putting some hay under the tablecloth, about the twelve dishes at their meal, the empty place at their table and that Santa visits Poland too. We were even able to taste the nativity wafers that they have on Christmas Eve.

Christmas wafer — Tasting a nativity wafer.

It was interesting to find out that much about Christmas in Poland is similar to Scotland but that there are also several important differences. Thank you so much to both Hannah and Sara’s Mum for helping us to learn about their culture.