Welcome back, and Happy New Year to all! We hope you enjoyed a restful holiday period together, with the children home from school.
The children were delighted to see one another again this week after the three-week break. They enjoyed reconnecting, catching up, and playing together across a wide range of activities. With the weather being so lovely, we especially enjoyed spending time outdoors.
After an extended time apart, it is always good to refocus our attention on our sense of class community. Throughout the week, time was set aside to revisit ideas from our first (and ongoing) unit of inquiry, Who We Are, around working and playing together, including teamwork, collaboration and concepts of kindness. We began this focus with a fun activity on Sunday. After reading The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright—a story in which the main characters learn that sharing and working together often leads to greater success, and more enjoyment—the children were invited to take part in a collaborative challenge. Working in pairs, they were asked to move a large ball from one cone to another without using their hands. Instead, they had to keep the ball balanced between them and coordinate their movements to prevent it from falling. The activity prompted plenty of laughter and provided a meaningful opportunity for the children to practise cooperation and communication. You can see photographs of the children busily engaged in this game below. Later in the week the children were excited to be given the chance to work together as a whole class in order to play fun parachute games.
Other learning experiences this week included mathematics, where we continued our work on identifying and creating patterns. This time, the focus was on stripy patterns found in nature, such as those seen on animals like bees and zebras. In language and literacy, the children explored retelling a familiar story, Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons, using puppets and simple props to support their storytelling.
Next Thursday, 22nd January, KG1 will take part in the assembly featuring classes from KG1 to G1. Parents are warmly invited to attend from 12:20 onwards in the Muzoon. The KG1 class are excited to be on stage and share a short presentation with you.
Wishing you all a lovely long weekend, and we look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Monday.
The KG1 Team
