We have loved learning about a Worldview this week at Westfield - Chinese New Year! Celebrations started on Tuesday 1st February and for EYFS - they have continued all week! We have focused on the customs, traditions and culture of the people that celebrate this special time of year and globally and within our own community.

As a whole school we were treated to an assembly performance by Class 4 who shared with us the countries in the world that celebrate this new year festival. China, Singapore and Malaysia all prepare for the major celebrations by cleaning and tidying their homes and cooking traditional dishes. Class 4 shared with us the story of the Great Race in which the Jade Emperor suggested the animals should have a race to fairly determine which animal should be named after each year. Was the race a running race? Do you remember which animal won? Can you remember the other animals in the race? There were 12 animals in the race and so there are 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac. Each new year depends on the new moon or lunar. Every year has a different animal named after it. Can you remember which animal year 2022 is?

We have enjoyed many rich experiences that have stimulated our learning and we have definitely learned more vocabulary along the way - Emperor, fortune... Our activities have included persevering with chopsticks, preparing and cooking a meal with noodles and vegetables, retelling the story of the Great Race, finding out which animal year we were born in, learning about ordinal numbers, writing numbers in Mandarin and writing our name using Chinese characters rather than letters from our alphabet.

We created lanterns, red money envelopes and dragon masks. We had a go at dancing in using the dragon and played drums to move to the beat. We also created our own fortune cookies, writing our own special positive messages in for the new year. We have all been saying Kung Hei Fat Choy. Can you remember what that means?