January 2020 in Benjamin Preschool
Senec
New Year, new book to be filled with our experiences, friends, possibilities, wishes and resolutions. Kids already knew our traditions and celebration of the New Year which started already January 1.
But with kids we explored the celebration of the New Year in China. We were surprised that Chinese New Year 2020 falls on Saturday, January 25, 2020, beginning a year of the Rat.
What did we find out? How do they celebrate?
They are decorating houses with red lanterns, couplets and new paintings
Family dinner, called reunion dinner is a must, last day of an old year. (whole family together, several generations)
Parents usually give their children red envelopes, wishing them health, growth, and good studies in the coming year.
Setting Off Fireworks
Putting on New Clothes
Watching Lion and Dragon Dances
In order, the 12 Chinese horoscope animals are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. 2020 is a year of the Rat.
Kids were fascinated of Chinese. We tried to write RAT鼠 in Chinese as well as Happy New Year 新年快樂.
By creating our red lantern we tried to create a festive mood in our class too. And why red?
Red is the main color for the festival, as red is believed to be an auspicious color.
What a great celebration we had.
We wish you once again Happy New Year! 新年快樂!
Trnavska
We started the first month of the year year by exploring the world of transportation and making nice winter crafts as well. Some children travelled far away by airplane during the Christmas break and they talked about the plane and the flight. It was very interesting to hear about it, especially for those who have not experienced it yet. But sure they loved that idea of getting sooo far up in the sky by plane! We also talked about other means of transport - by land, by water and by plane. We talked about the vehicles - which one we have at home to help us to move, which one help people to build buildings, for example. During the playtime outside we played on the car drivers and motorcycle drivers and our coach served us as boat :). Of course we could not omit the bus by using our chairs!
Care bears and unicorn class did a very yummy winter craft...do you ask how? Well marshmallows is the answer! :) They build a snowman using white marshmallow candies, they used lentils for buttons and yummy eyes, too! What was the best part of it? The one that came after - eating the snowman! Truth is we would rather make one real outside so we hope it will soon be possible :), because we do not want to see the snowman only on the plate. Fingers crossed to snow soon here in Pezinok!
Myslenicka
In January we have spent a lot of time with science, talking about arctic animals and snowflakes. Science is fun but there are also many reasons why leaning about science in early childhood education is essential.
Do you know if penguins get wet? If yes/no why? First we guessed and had a discussion who thinks what. Then we watched an educational video where we got very useful information about these birds and together with our teacher we talked about it more deeply. After, we made an experiment using crayons colouring a paper penguin and as last we made a conclusion.
We have learnt that penguins have special oil in their feathers what they spread within their body and so the oil creates a waterproof layer. Cool! And so we used crayons and then spray water on the paper. And imagine, because the crayons contain oil, the paper penguin didn’t get wet. What a discovery!
Science provides us answers to many questions we have and it perfectly enables us our natural curiosity to grow.