A Busy Week in Monkey Class!

Dear Monkey Class Families,

I hope you have all had a lovely week! Monkey Class has been very busy this week, and many of the children have helped to paint, stick, cut, and co-create our Monkey Class space and environment. You will be able to see more photos in the Google albums, but I have included a visual below of the creations we have made. These include:

Our 'Frozen Land' creation has sparked incredible imaginations! With all the necessary characters, the children have delighted in role-playing, transforming themselves into Elsa, Anna, Olaf, and more. It's been wonderful to observe their lively conversations and creative ideas as they share the roles and practice taking turns, ensuring everyone gets a chance to shine.

Our vibrant city, complete with dazzling fireworks (as requested by the children!), was a true collaborative effort. The children actively participated in its creation, deciding on the essential modes of transport, and carefully planning the placement of roads, bridges, and waterways.

The children also helped create an erupting volcano and a lush green mountain, which many declared to be the jungle, reflecting their ongoing fascination with animals. We even incorporated a weather element into our scene, deciding on a rainy/sunny day. While the children couldn't agree on whether the sun should be yellow or orange, we creatively resolved the debate by including two suns in our artwork!

Developing Play Skills and Collaboration

We have also been working on our play skills, collaborating, and sharing ideas. You'll be able to see many examples of this in the Google albums. While ideas differ and it can be a challenge for many, we have been working on being more open to listening to each other's ideas. It would be helpful if parents and caregivers can support children with this at home too. When playing with your child, you can make suggestions and share your ideas, and take turns to lead the play and not only follow what your child wants to do. This will help the children to become more open-minded.

Bike and Scooter Fun at Bradbury School

This week, we also had the opportunity to visit Bradbury School to practice our bike and scooter skills. The children were invited to go down in small groups and had the choice to go or not. They were also able to choose bikes or scooters depending on which one they felt more comfortable with. After the Chinese New Year holiday, the bikes and scooters will be available more frequently for the children, so I encourage parents to practice these skills at home too.

Exploring Math: Prepositions of Place

While we have continued to explore numbers this week, we introduced a new math concept: Prepositions of place. To introduce this activity, we revisited our bean bag song and then practiced using our listening skills and understanding of prepositions to put the bean bags in a variety of different places. We then used this video to spot the monkey as he moved around the room and practiced using the following prepositions: on, in, under, next to, between, or behind.

What's Next...

In the coming week, we will continue to explore Chinese New Year, which we have introduced briefly this week, and engage in name recognition activities and artworks.

Google Albums and Spotify playlists

Monkey Class Spotify Playlist - Term 2

Wishing you a lovely weekend and until next time take care!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Monkey Class Rocks! (And Rolls into Summer!)

Image
Dear Monkey Class Families, I can't believe this will be my final blog post, and tomorrow marks our last day of the school year! The year has truly flown by, and while I'm certainly looking forward to the upcoming holiday, I feel a mixture of emotions. First, I am so incredibly proud of all the Monkey children. Each and every one of them has shown tremendous growth this year, and in so many different areas. The children started the year unfamiliar with their classmates and teachers, and together we've developed a beautiful community – one where each child is valued, loved, and appreciated. New friendships have blossomed, and with those new friendships, we've seen growing confidence, stronger ideas, and clear opinions, which has also meant learning how to navigate conflict together. I've watched the children support and help each other, celebrate each other's growth, and simply "be there." Coming to school each day is an absolute joy for me. Our Monkey ...
Read more

Term 3 begins!

Image
Dear Monkey Class Families, As the final term of K1 unfolds, it's wonderful to see how smoothly the children are settling back into their school routine. They have enthusiastically joined in all activities as we started tuning in to our final unit of inquiry for the year: How We Express Ourselves, while also continuing to deepen their understanding within our year-long unit, Who We Are. Who We Are: Navigating Our Inner World Leading up to the term break, we observed that many children were navigating a range of big emotions. We dedicated time to sharing and discussing these feelings, creating a safe space for them to explore their inner world. Building upon this, and drawing inspiration from the delightful story ' The Colour Monster' by Anna Llnes, the Monkey class children embarked on a creative journey, designing their own monsters. They thoughtfully chose both the colour and the emotion they wished their monster to represent. Our classroom now proudly features a dedica...
Read more

Making Art Happen: Artwork in Progress!

Image
Dear Monkey Class Families,  The Monkey Class  has been buzzing with creativity lately.  As we continue to immerse ourselves in the world of art and self-expression, it's been inspiring to witness the students' growing enthusiasm and developing talents. Many exciting projects are now well underway, and we eagerly anticipate sharing the results of their creativity with you soon. In visual arts , our students have been busy developing their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination . Our collaborative artwork, inspired by Piet Mondrian , is really taking shape. We began by tracing shapes, a great exercise for hand muscles. Then came the fun of using tape to define shapes before colouring them. We had a small issue with the chalk rubbing off, a good problem-solving opportunity! We adapted and switched to paint, which is now bringing our Mondrian-esque piece to life. We expect to finish this artwork soon and are excited to display it in our classroom. We've also been revis...
Read more