Canada Water School Highlights - August 23, 2024

What we did this week

This week the children started exploring New Zealand, specifically focusing on the Maori people, their culture, language and traditions. We also went on an amazing excursion to London’s famous modern art gallery - Tate Modern.

 

Discovering the world of Art & Creativity in Tate Modern

This week children took a double-decker bus trip to a famous modern art gallery - Tate Modern, located on the Southbank by the River Thames.

We entered the building through the Blavatnik building entry, heading to the basement. Our preschoolers straight away dived into an immersive exhibition in the dark room.

They showed how strong their curiosity and courage were, when they were very keen entering the darkness with flashing light and loud thundering sounds.

Later children explored an exhibition full of beautiful painted canvases, they reflected on the colours and took a moment to admire the oversized artworks.

 

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Pacific Ocean, New Zealand and Maori culture

We moved further into the Pacific Ocean, specifically exploring New Zealand, the history and culture of Maori people, the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand and their rich distinctive culture, language, customs and art.

Children took part in learning about how Maori people use gestures to communicate , such as pressing foreheads and noses together when greeting one another, to allow ‘Hongi’ - the Breath Of Life.

Babies and toddlers got inspiration in traditional Māori dance, their songs and meaningful dances were performed during celebrations and to tell stories.

Our talented babies and toddlers had lots of fun learning the rhythmical moves, with the face paint just like the Māori.

Children in preschool explored the meaning of the symbol ‘Koru’, representing a fern sprout, it is one of the most common patterns and used in Maori tattoos, symbolising new beginnings, the new life.

Children used a variety of mark making activities to draw the coiled shape Koru and also used salt-dough to create Maori Jewelry using the Koru symbol.

Our babies enjoyed creating lovely pasta necklaces, just like the Maori people have for their celebrations and dances.

Children had lots of fun learning about such a rich history of Maori people, they enjoyed relaxing Maori music for their morning yoga, Hikitia te Ha, a series of breathing exercises to calm the mind and relax.

Unleashing our artistic potential

After the visit in Tate Modern, where children enjoyed the colourful canvases of Oscar Murrillo, his exhibition Flooded Garden inspired our preschoolers to create their own masterpieces.

Children experimented with brushstrokes and colour-mixing and as a team of little artists, they created 3 beautiful canvas paintings.

Languages

This week we took inspiration from the great Polynesian storytellers, the Maori people are great storytellers as they did not have written language until much later on.

They used storytelling to preserve cultural values and believes and to teach younger generations so this week we indulged ourselves in the storytelling and reading to the children variety of stories.

As Maori traditional storytelling were not only for entertaining but also for teaching children values, behaviours and traditions, we focused on the spoken word and reflecting on what we remember from stories.

We also explored some aspects of Maori language, especially greeting and using gestures in their communication.

What we're doing next week

For the next week we are looking forward to exploring more of Maori culture, specifically the tribal body painting, music and dance rituals as well as breathing and meditation exercises.

Our preschoolers will also continue to learn more about the mythology in Maori culture. We will also learn about the natural beauty of New Zealand and what it is like in the modern world.

We also have very exciting news!

Our Australian parents are coming in next week to share with us their culture, read books and tell us all about life in Australia.

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