Invitation To A Literacy Morning

COMING UP :

We look forward to see you for an exciting learning adventure with your child. Please hand in your reply form to the class teachers by this Thursday, 17 February 2011. Thank you.

Chinese New Year Lion Dance Troupe

YES! Two lion dance troupes came to the school on Wednesday, 9 February 2011 and thrilled all the children .......... well, only those who were not afraid. The children who found the lion dance frightening were kept indoors out of sight. It was an exciting and a memorable day. We were fascinated and enthralled by the agility, coordination and acrobatic skills of the lion dance performers. Chinese New Year will not be the same without the lion dance.

In the Chinese belief, the lion itself is regarded as a guardian creature to scare away evil spirits. The lion dance is performed to drive off the bad, evil spirits and to summon good luck, fortune and prosperity. For these reasons, it is common to see the lion dance performed on special occassions such as opening of new business, festivals apart from Chinese New Year.

The lion dance from the first group. The lion teased the children, nuzzling them causing the children to squeal in delight.
The lion nuzzling the girls!

Before leaving the school.

The farewell gestures before the lion left the school.
The arrival of the second lion dance troupe.

Performing the traditional ceremony at the door of the school to drive off all things bad and to usher in good fortune, prosperity and all things GOOD ~ we hope!

The Chinese drum.
This lion was very playful too ~ nuzzling the children. The children were so thrilled, most of them wanted to touch the lion.

Teasing the children. The rest of the photos showing the lion interacting with the children.

The pole with the flowers hanging from it. The lion 'eying' the flowers.

Performing acrobatic skills to reach the flowers.

GOT IT !
The BRAVE ones of Junior 1 & Reception (a quarter of the class - the rest in hiding)

Junior 2 Junior 3

The lion dance troupe that came to our school. Thank you for entertaining the children.

We hope that you will come back to visit us again next year.

Chinese New Year Activities

LEARNING ABOUT CHINESE NEW YEAR

Chinese New Year is one of the significant event in Malaysia and we did a special topic on this event so that the children could understand the Chinese culture and traditions. The children learnt that : - Chinese all over the world celebrate this event, the legend behind this celebration, the animals in the Chinese calendar, the lion dance, the costumes, the decorations, ang-pow, etc. We had a lot of fun learning this topic and enjoyed the activities carried out. We hope a REAL lion dance troupe will drop by our school next week.

Thank you to all our parents for contributing the decorative items for the class display, for the oranges, for dressing up your children in Chinese costumes and in bright coloured clothings, for the noodles and most of all ~ for your support in making this topic a success.

The classrooms were decorated with Chinese lanterns and words for good fortune, prosperity and everything good !

The classroom with lanterns and the 'RABBIT' .

Chinese New Year greetings and rabbits made from angpow packets.

The children learned that this new year is the 'Year of The Rabbit' - the children pasted the ears, eyes, nose & drew the mouth , then attached the head to the angpow packet.

The lion head and angpow packet.

Another version of the lion head attached to the angpow packet.

The rabbit ears head bands signified the 'Year of the Rabbit'.

We had a special assembly to watch the 'Lion Dance' performed by the children and also learned to sing a Chinese new year song.

We watched a video of 'Lion Dance' show and also learned how the Chinese prepare their homes for the celebration.

Beautiful basket of oranges.

The traditional way of bringing oranges when visiting friends houses during Chinese New Year.

For break time, we asked parents to pack noodles and chopsticks. Here's one way to eat with chopsticks! Parents packed spoons & forks too so that the children won't go hungry on that day.

We also asked parents to pack a Chinese orange for break time. The children learned the shape and colour, how to peel the oranges and discovered that there were sour and sweet oranges.

We wore bright coloured clothings and Chinese costumes. Class photo of the four years old and Reception class.

Junior 2

Junior 3

Happy Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year Greetings

from

teachers of Tadika Astana

Cooking Projects

WHAT'S COOKING?

Most children love cooking and baking. Most of the time the class teachers will come up with cooking projects to enhance the learning activities in a theme. But sometimes cooking classes were simply carried out because we love cooking or baking with the children. It is very rewarding to see the joy and pride in the children faces once they have completed their work. They enjoyed these activities very much and nothing can beat the taste of one's creation!

Two of the cooking projects were related to the theme 'Myself'. We had fun watching the children and some needed some help along the way. All the children were very proud of their 'master piece' and couldn't wait to show their parents what they have done. We hope that you will invite your child to join you whenever you are cooking or baking because this is a great way to learn ~ science, maths, vocabulary and to have a wonderful time with your child.

FACE SANDWICH

The 4 years old in Junior 1 made a 'FACE' sandwich with peanut butter, some black currants for the eyes, biscuits for the nose, red sprinkles for the mouth and chocolate rice for the hair. Of cos, some of the stuff went into the young chef's mouth ~ yummy!

Here's Hanis making her sandwich and the 'hair' is almost covering the 'eyes'. The children learnt parts of the face and where the parts should be.

Hanis's face sandwich.

Putting the 'eyes' and next the 'hair'.

Another version of the 'face' sandwich; no matter what ~ it tasted great!

Trying to figure out ~ Is the mouth here? How many sprinkles should I put? Think ! Think! Think!

EGG ROLLS

The 5 years olds in Junior 2 made EGG ROLLS ! The eggs were hard-boiled then mashed up with some mayonaise, a dash of salt and pepper. The bread slices were flatten, then spread with the egg mixture and rolled-up. Viola! That's how egg rolls were done and they tasted GOOD!

The girls mashing up the eggs. Mashing up the eggs can be a very tiring work !

They flattened the bread slices with rolling pins , two at one time.

Then spread the mashed eggs on the bread slices.

And rolled the bread up!

Here's my two egg rolls. Can't wait to eat them!

'FACE' CUPCAKES

Cupcakes were made by Junior 3, the 6 years old. The tops of the cup cakes were covered with white icing. Every child wanted a happy smile on the cup cakes ~ reflecting their joy in making this project. The eyes were made with 2 chocolate chips and red nose with a red sprinkle. The hairs and mouth were piped onto the cake.

Most children needed teacher's help to pipe the icing for the mouth and hairs on to the cup cake.

Piping the 'hairs' with teacher's help!

After putting the 'eyes', 'mouth', 'nose' and 'hair'.

Look! This is my 'Face Cupcake' !

This is a sample of 'Face' cupcake done by the teacher for the children to follow.

Thank you to our parents who have contributed an assortment of decorative sprinkles and other items for these projects.