Around The World Week has, for want of a better phrase, been pretty momentous. For this reason we really hope you, our valued parents and carers read this blog and look at all the photos we have taken for you. There are many many photos – in fact so many that we hope we don’t crash the site by putting them all on! But it has been such a special week and the children have learnt such a lot about so many different cultures from around the globe. They have learnt language, crafts, cooking, dances, songs, read stories, what flags look like, artefacts and coins, worn costumes and so much more. Too much to describe. All of their activities have been based around the many different cultures of the children in their groups which has made it even more special. Though coordinated by us many of the information and activities have been provided by you our wonderful parents and we wish to thank all of you who took part from coming in and giving up your time and talents to dressing up your children for our English Tea Party. The Tea Party like much of the week was spectacular and so lovely to see the entire nursery together all mingling and muddled up. They sat beautifully and wolfed down Curtis’s home-made scones and mums salmon and cucumber and cucumber sandwiches. We even sung the National Anthem – and no they didn’t know the words. Anyway thank you all for helping to make it a week in a million. So let’s get to it. There is a lot to say. Here are the main bits – it is impossible to mention all the snacks, songs etc. that have littered the week…
“Chinese Food Tasting”
The Chimps of course didn’t realise that they were having a multicultural week as much as the rest but Carly and Cheryl did make an effort to give them a global time. They did hand painting and snake painting with string to represent snakes for Chinese New Year. Their displays look vibrant and beautiful we are sure all of you have noticed. They also tasted noodles and played with them too! They have been singing songs from different countries like Frere Jacques – first in French and then in English (and yes they did understand!). They have been jiggling and clapping about to Hungarian Music too.
“Multi-lingual Stories”
The Howlers, being very ordered, split their week into days. Monday for the Howlers was China day. They had a Chinese restaurant in their role play area and dressed up in Chinese outfits and served food with chopsticks and bowls etc. They looked adorable. They watched a Kaoake DVD lent to us by Alice’s’ family and they made snakes out of salt dough and paints to represent this year – the year of the snake. Tuesday was Turkey Day. Hasan’s mummy came in with some delicious Turkish food and she read a children’s Turkish story to the children which they sat really well for. She also brought in a Turkish dvd which they watched. In the afternoon the children made Turkish flags and then did some fantastic ‘flag dancing’. Wednesday was Italy Day. The Howlers made their own pizzas and tasted the vegetables that they put on them. The Howlers visited the preschool (and some of them caused havoc – namely Finn and Jude and Harper!) but the rest sat and listened to Irene reading an Italian story. Then the whole nursery tried some of an Italian cake that Leontine’s mummy bought in for the children to share. Delicious. They finished the day with making playdough in the colours of the Italian flag – phew. Thursday was Africa day. They mad tribal masks with colourful paints and feathers and they look amazing! They painted their faces with markings in very bright colours and they did some very tribal dancing and some African drumming. In the afternoon they joined the rest of the nursery for our spectacular English Tea Party and were photographed by the Evening Argus (we think this is going to be in the paper tomorrow so please buy a copy or two!). Friday was Australia day and Harpers mummy, Leah, came in to do all sorts of things with the children. She showed them pictures on the computer and she brought in toy kangaroos and Koala bears and laminton cakes. Then they made cork hats!
“Multicultural Cooking Activities”
The Baboons watched a Chinese karaoke dvd. They also had a great time playing a Chinese Calendar game that they made up with props for music and movement. They made snake masksto celebrate the year of the snake and practiced transferring rice into bowls with chopsticks. On Turkey Day they enjoyed traditional Turkish food and music at snack time with Ayfer, Oliver’s mummy. She also read them a Turkish story and she also let them watch a Turkish cartoon on her ipad. Exciting! She brought in Baclava for them to eat which was delicious. They also did some paint marbling with shaving foam. On ‘Polish Day’ they read stories in Polish and tried to say animal names in Polish. Emile’s mummy kindly came in on Wednesday and shared Emile’s favourite Icelandic and German books with the group. They also listened to German nursery rhymes. On Australia and New Zealand day they read ‘The Little Kiwi’ – they also did some pretty amazing Aboriginal dot painting. To celebrate France and Italy Ebone has been practicing her French and reading Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood in French! They made some fresh pasta from scratch (see pictures) with their chefs hats on – very sweet! They joined the rest of the nursery on Thursday in the preschool whilst Irene read Italian stories and they loved the Panatone that Leontine’s mummy brought in for the children. They found the preschool visit very exciting indeed. They played guess the contents of the multicultural bag and looking for different countries on the world map. What a week.
“Multicultural Singing and Dancing”
The Gorillas have not let us down with their multicultural activities and their families certainly didn’t either. They have learnt how to say hello in no less than 6 different languages and they really have remembered (they have been displaying their language talents to Ben and I on quite a few occasions this week). They have counted to ten in German and listened to a German story read by Sammy’s mum Karin. She also brought in some delicious German bread for them to eat and they really enjoyed it. We could not ignore the fantastic fact that our very own Irene is of course Italian and she hosted many an activity this week but one of the highlights was making Calzone with the children. They got covered in flour and had a ball and it tasted delicious. They read a few Italian stories (actually this is quite normal for them and they are really starting to understand). One of the stories was called ‘1 Tres Porcellini’. Manfred’s mum Lisa came in and read a funny Swedish story and the children were in stitches – especially Declan and Tom. Funny (see pictures). They learnt to do Greek dancing – the ‘Sirtaki. Ben and I joined in – it was great fun and the children got very excited. They made Venetian masks and learnt lots of things about New Zealand when Oscar’s mum came in today (Friday). She showed them lots of images and painted their faces with Maori designs and she read them a great story about the All Blacks which they absolutely loved. As if that wasn’t enough she taught them how to do the Hakka! It was amazing the children were great at it as you can see from the photos. They also of course sang their phonics songs, played with Numicon etc. Oh and they also talked a lot about Australian animals and Australia and coloured in pictures of them.
As I said before it would be impossible to talk in depth about it all here – there have been so many overlaps and little bits and bobs over and above what I have mentioned but I won’t bore you any further. The staff have all been talking about how energetic and exciting it has been and how much they have enjoyed it. Thank you to them also – they all deserve a rest, or a big night out, this weekend. They have put their hearts and souls into making it the most amazing week for your children. You get the picture – it’s been a fab week. The end.
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