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Westminster School Highlights - September 20, 2024, 2024
- 9 mins
Baby Dragons
This week in the Baby Room, we explored the Middle East, the Great Fire of London, and the Mid-Autumn Festival through a range of sensory play, stories, and creative activities.
These experiences are carefully designed to introduce babies to different cultures and historical events, sparking their curiosity and interest in the world around them.
By participating in these activities, the babies are developing their personal, social, and emotional skills, as they begin to understand and appreciate various communities.
We also focus on boosting their communication abilities through interactive songs and engaging stories.
The children had fun discovering new sounds with our musical instruments, as well as through the activities led by Lucy Sparkles.
As part of our learning about the Great Fire of London, we introduced the babies to gentle sounds and visuals to make the story engaging and fun.
The little ones also created artwork inspired by the theme, helping them explore their creativity while learning in an age-appropriate way.
Next week, we are excited to continue our journey with the babies as we read Touch and Feel: My First Middle East Adventure and explore new themes together!
Fee Increases..
This is a quick reminder that our annual fee increase will be implemented in the coming month. We issued a notification about this on the 20th September but have drafted an update in the blog in more detail here. You can access your new rate card here and we'd like to remind you about the various subsidies and discounts that we provide. Do book a call with Kristina and the team to talk through should you need.
Blue Dragons
Mandarin: Transportation and Counting Activity
This week, the children learned the names of different types of transportation in both English and Mandarin, along with the sounds they make.
Using toy vehicles, we practiced counting in both languages, seeing how many cars we could find. It was an exciting day filled with learning and fun as we counted all the cars!
We introduced the children more about Middle East through engaging stories, music, and sensory play.
Alongside, we also celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, one of China's most important traditional festivals, with colourful and creative activities.
Moon Hunting
The children had a great time searching for moons with numbers on them, hidden in foam clouds.
Once found, they used yellow foam to create beautiful paintings of a sparkling galaxy—an imaginative and hands-on way to learn!
Flying Bunny Painting
As part of the festival, we introduced the story of the bunnies visiting from the moon.
The children got creative, using their favorite colors to paint special moon homes for the bunnies, helping them fly back to their moon home.
Their creativity was on full display!
Moon Hanging
With great focus and excitement, the children hung yellow moons on a square canopy made of crisscrossed tape, representing the night sky.
It was a fun and hands-on way to practice coordination and enjoy the festival’s theme!
Mooncake Cooking
No Mid-Autumn Festival would be complete without mooncakes!
The children, with the help of teachers, used playdough to make their own pretend mooncakes. They had so much fun learning through play!
Role Play: Serving Mr. Hungry Monkey
In this imaginative play activity, the children became little chefs, serving their first guest, Mr. Hungry Monkey!
They carefully prepared and served him with enthusiasm, and Mr. Monkey was so happy with his meal that he patted his full belly with delight!
Learning the Letter "S"
This week, we focused on learning the letter "S." The children sang the "S" song from Jolly Phonics and explored words that start with the letter "S," helping build their early literacy skills.
Contrasts: Big and Small Circles
We continued learning about contrasts with the help of our Mandarin teacher, who used toy circles of different sizes to teach the concepts of "big" and "small," as well as their Mandarin words.
The children did a fantastic job grasping these ideas!
So, don't miss out on our exciting activities in the future - increase your hours now!
Dragon flights: Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival and More!
This week, we had an exciting celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival by making bunnies using traditional Chinese printing techniques (印刷).
The children painted on paper, pressed the papers together to transfer the print, then cut the paper into rabbit shapes and added decorations to create the faces!
Along with this creative activity, the children learned the story behind the Mid-Autumn Festival, enhancing their understanding of this special cultural event.
Mandarin Activity
In Mandarin, we continued practicing the stroke 斜勾 (hook).
The children traced the stroke with their fingers and later practiced writing the character 心, which contains the hook.
We also introduced new autumn vocabulary, such as 秋天 (autumn), 南瓜 (pumpkin), and 树叶 (leaves).
We learned this along with important words related to the Mid-Autumn Festival like 中秋节 (Mid-Autumn Festival), 玉兔 (Jade Rabbit), 嫦娥奔月 (Chang'e flying to the moon), and 后羿射日 (Houyi shooting the suns).
Mathematics
This week in math, the children focused on recognizing numbers 1-5 by playing Uno with their teacher.
This game was both fun and educational, helping to reinforce their number recognition skills.
Geography and World Understanding
The children learned about different countries and animals in the Middle East, exploring various flags and their meanings.
This activity helped broaden their awareness of the world and introduced them to new cultures.
Art Activity
For art, the children explored the use of Chinese ink (墨水). They used straws to blow the ink, creating delicate tree branches, and then painted plum blossoms (梅花) on those branches.
This process fascinated the children and allowed them to experiment with a new medium.
Looking Ahead: World Health Day (29th September)
Next week, we will focus on World Health Day!
The children will learn about the importance of staying healthy, including lessons on nutrition, hygiene, and exercise.
Through fun and interactive activities, we’ll introduce key health-related concepts to help the children understand how to take care of their bodies.
We look forward to an engaging week filled with learning about how we can all stay strong and healthy!
