Seriously, it was a very good day today! We had the Chinese New Year assembly (go here to read about it and see photographs). The children all sang beautifully (we're sorry that Cool got there late and wasn't able to sing, but he joined in with the other activities immediately on arriving). They all looked fantastic in their Chinese and Korean clothes, and we had a very fun assembly. At the end of it, they were all presented with red enveloped with money inside and, on opening, them, they found it was chocolate money! A big thank you to Mrs. Bingham and the Chinese teachers who organised the assembly, and Miss Helen Bai, who taught the children to sing their song. 

After the assembly we went back to class where we celebrated Cherry's birthday. Her grandmother brought a huge cake, some oranges and candy, and we all had a fun time. I hope that Cherry's parents, who are in Australia, will enjoy hearing about this and seeing these photos.

In the afternoon, we had a Design and Technology lesson. The children worked in groups to make model castles. They did some really creative work, cutting and gluing, colouring, decorating, and practicing sharing and teamwork skills. Their model castles are nearly finished. On Monday they will finish decorating them and evaluate them..

The children have all been working very hard on their projects at home. I think this has been an excellent piece of homework to help them with their reading, writing, spelling and science. Today, I collected in the projects and was very impressed with their quality. Mrs. Bingham came to the class and gave prizes to the four children who had produced the best projects (it was very hard to choose the best because they were all so good). The three were Sarah, Grace, Eunice and Lisa, and they chose fans and a teddy bear (Eunice was not here today). All of the children also received two housepoints. Good work, Year 1!

Hello! This will be another exciting week, In Year 1, we will:

The children will learn what science fiction and fantast stories are. We will read stories and have fun acting them and writing about them. The children will learn about characters and settings and how to describe them. We will read stories like Sleeping Beauty (a roleplaying game book), Dr. Xargle, and will read the online books The Princess and The Dragon and The Cold Planet.

This is linked to our work in Science, using materials like cardboard, plastic, glue and sellotape. And it is linked to our English work, reading magic stories about castles. the children will begin their castles this week, working in groups. I would be very grateful for any cardboard or plastic - boxes, bottles, etc. - you could donate for the children to share and use.
 Click here to watch a video of how to make a castle.

This week we will learn a song to practice English and learn about Chinese New Year customs. You can watch a cartoon of the song here (click on the picture).

Our maths topic this week is measuring - fun with clocks, rulers and weighing scales.