Celebrations and festivals around the world 🌎

Jamie Yeung ✨

In this unit, K2C has been busy exploring festivals from around the world, including the Hot Air Balloon Festival, Yipeng Lantern Festival, Fuji Flower Festival, Holi Festival of Colour, Day of the Dead, La Tomatina, and Songkran Water Festival. We began by learning about the origins of these celebrations. The first festival we explored was Chinese New Year, as we had just celebrated it and returned from the holiday. let’s take a look… Next, we explored Korean New Year and, lastly, Vietnamese New Year, comparing the similarities and differences in their customs, celebrations, and symbols. Here are the students making Korean money packets, similar to the red packets people receive during Chinese New Year! Then, we explored various festivals and celebrations from around the world. To start, the students guessed where these festivals originated and placed festival pictures along with their own photos on a world map. It was wonderful to see them use their thinking skills, prior knowledge, and reasoning to make their guesses! In this activity, the students were tasked with drawing the festival or celebration they found most interesting so far! We played games such as match the country to the festival… Festival Box Project – Part 1 & 2As the students gained more interest and knowledge about these festivals, it was time to begin our Festival Box Project!Part 1: Students started by creating a plan. They thought about the materials they wanted to use, the final design of their box, and the steps needed to bring their vision to life.Part 2: Following their plan, K2C began by painting the base colours of their festival boxes, setting the foundation for their creative designs. Teacher Jamie’s Plan of the Festival Box Teacher Jamie’s example Part 3: Next, the students focused on creating the symbols and key elements associated with their chosen festivals. For example, for the Fuji Flower Festival, students crafted flowers and built a representation of Mount Fuji. Here are how the students’s projects are looking so far… K2C has also been exploring the purpose and meaning behind the symbols and elements used in these festivals and celebrations.They reflected on questions such as:<ul><li>Why do you think people throw tomatoes?</li><li>Why do you think people throw water?</li><li>Why do you think people use marigold flowers in Day of the Dead celebrations?</li></ul>Students expressed their thoughts and ideas through drawings and writing, showcasing their growing understanding of different cultural traditions! Most recently, K2C has been learning about Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)! They explored key vocabulary, the meaning of the festival, where it is celebrated, and why it is important.In China, there is a similar festival with the same purpose but honored differently—Tomb Sweeping Day (Qing Ming Festival). It is important to respect both cultures and their unique ways of remembering loved ones. Día de los Muertos is a vibrant and lively celebration, filled with colour, music, and festivities, whereas Tomb Sweeping Day is observed in a more reserved and reflective way. Both, however, share the same deep respect for ancestors and those who have passed. In this activity, K2C began Part 1 of creating their own sugar skulls! Using playdough, they carefully shaped their skull designs, preparing for the next step—decorating and personalizing them next week! Here, the students had the opportunity to experience making a traditional Tomb Sweeping Day food—QingTuan (sweet green rice balls). These are made with grass juice and glutinous rice flour and can be filled with either a sweet or savory filling, such as red bean paste or pork floss! Phonics and RAZThe students are making fantastic progress in their phonics learning! PhonicsOn Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, we have our English games, where students practice letter blending by spelling out words on whiteboards using magnetic letters.During phonics time, the students have been thoroughly enjoying singing, blending sounds, earning stars, and exchanging them for stickers—making learning both fun and engaging!RAZThe students are showing incredible progress in their reading! Some are eager to read ahead, while others can’t seem to put their books down. Their enthusiasm and positive attitude toward reading are truly inspiring! What a fantastic journey so far through this unit! We hope you enjoyed looking through as much as the students have loved learning about celebrations and festivals around the world. See you next time!