Reception came back to a very eventful first week of the summer term. We learned about Ramadan, had eggs hatching in our creative area and looked after nature.
To start the week, we had a visit from Sara’s mummy, Aasia, who taught us all about the Islamic festival of Ramadan. She explained to the children that Ramadan lasts for a month, starting on a crescent moon. Muslims fast during this time, meaning they do not eat from when the sun comes up to when it goes down. People are also on their best behaviour during this month, doing lots of kind acts such as giving food and money to those who need it. At the end of the month when the moon is crescent again, you get to celebrate Eid-al-Fitr. On the day of Eid, you wake up early and put on your best new clothes. Everybody goes to the mosque to pray, facing towards Mecca where the first mosque was built. During the day people give and receive gifts, particularly money in an envelope called Eidiya, just like in Chinese New Year! A big family meal is eaten and people take part in fun activities, such as carnival rides and games. What a fantastic way to celebrate!
On Monday, an incubator containing five eggs arrived in Reception. The children learned about what sort of animals laid eggs, then made predictions about what might be growing inside our ones. Alligators, chicks, and platypuses were the dominant guesses, so everyone was surprised when ducklings started hatching out of the eggs on Wednesday. The children wrote their choices of names for the ducklings onto paper and the names that were randomly selected were Quacky, Flash, Peppa, Sunny, and Perry. The children have been busy learning how to look after our feathery friends.
Our tadpoles and pea plants have grown over the holidays and the children got stuck in with helping clean the tadpoles’ tank and getting the garden area ready for the peas to be planted into.
