We are excited to welcome our K2 students back as we begin a new year
of learning. To start the year with learning and joy, our K2 Immersion classes
are exploring New Year celebrations from around the world as part of our
Unit of Inquiry, How We Express Ourselves.
Through the inquiry, students are also exploring how people use
traditions, celebrations, language, art, and movement to express ideas and
feelings, with New Year celebrations providing a meaningful and engaging
learning context. There are similarities such as spending time with family and
friends and fireworks but there are also many differences making each country
and culture unique.
In Canary Class, we explored New Year celebrations from
different cultures around the world. Children learned about Japan’s Omisoka,
where temple bells are struck 108 times to cleanse human desires and welcome
the new year. We also discovered shimekazari decorations placed on doors to
ward off evil spirits, and the tradition of visiting temples or shrines to pray
for a blessed year ahead. A super connection to our field trip to Mishima
Shrine.
We also learned about the Chinese Lunar New Year, its origins,
and the meaning behind its 15-day celebration, including family
reunions, special foods, red decorations for good luck, and lion and dragon
dances. In addition, students explored Thailand’s Songkran Water Festival,
where splashing water symbolises washing away the old year and preparing for a
fresh start. Our learning continued with India’s Diwali (Deepavali), the
Hindu Festival of Lights, where lamps and candles are lit to represent the
victory of light over darkness and good over evil, celebrated between
mid-October and mid-November.
They enjoyed all the informative stories and discussion, as well as
being challenged through a Quiz game! They drew their answers on their New
Year’s Disco Ball, confident of their answers.
In Dove Class, we watched a short English video that took us on a tour of some countries. In Japan, people eat Mochi and Osechi for New Year’s day. Everyone will clean their house and decorate with Kadomatsu. When we traveled to Spain, we tried to eat 12 grapes at each chime and found it was a bit hard. In Brazil, we found that on New Year’s day, it’s so warm that we could play at the beach. We jumped 7 waves as Brazilians to wish good luck for this year. Scottish people will go and visit their friends and bring coal, bread or whisky for First Footing. Children found that was very interesting. There are so many different traditions around the world. In a short time we traveled to many countries and children discovered lots of fun things, as we are Open-minded learners we decided to inquire into more traditions around the world in the near future.
Then to find out how much we could remember we played a game in our table groups to match aspects of the traditions to the countries. Finally, once we had reviewed how New Year was celebrated in different cultures the children completed an individual activity choosing four countries they were most interested in and matching the New Year tradition.
It’s a good start of a new year and our lead up to International Days this term is the perfect time to inquire into how New Year is celebrated around the world.
