First and last with second and third in between

We have been looking at ordinal numbers. 

These are nice stories about order and sequence.

Next a video and a game to play

A car race game

Castles and Forts

Reception Bears families have taken on the challenge

to learn more about our topic on Castles and Dragons,

even when on holidays.

The first family got stuck in the traffic to Neuschwanstein,

so decided to go to Guimarães instead.

They might not have found a dragon,

but did they find a Unicorn instead?

In the bottom left you can see the statue of the

first King of Portugal.

These two little Bears went to Castelo do Queijo in Porto,

but it was closed.

They still managed to see a cannon and a drawbridge and took a photo to share with you.

They went to Museu do Papel Moeda instead,
and guess what?

They saw toy cars and vehicles

as well as miniture replicas of buildings, including a castle.

This family went to great lengths to visit a castle. They had to travel by plane and then go on a treck up the mountains.

Which country did they need to visit to see this castle?

This little Bear went to Póvoa do Lanhoso and found a Castle,
but there were no Dragons there.

You can see that the castle was built up high.
The enemies could not come near without being seen.
The mother of the first king of Portugal, D. Teresa,
lived in this castle.


This is the castle in Óbidos.

This family is on a Castle hunt. 




How many more castles will we see here?

Carnaval and a little street parade

Nian, colour red, noise and fireworks

There are many stories and legends in China,

but the story of Nian, the lion monster, is a popular one.

We made some rattles and wore red.

We had some mini fireworks

and made a lot of noise to scare Nian away.

Can you answer these questions about the story?

Who is Nian?

Where does Nian live?

When does Nian come to the villages?

Why are people frightened of Nian?

What do people do to frighten Nian?

Chinese New Year

Reception Bears prepared themselves for the Chinese New Year.

First we learnt how to say Happy New Year.

新年快乐

(sshin-nyen kwhy-ler)

We learnt about various Chinese traditions.

People visit one another and present their hosts with

 tangerines and oranges, which mean "luck" and "wealth."

Our first guest taught us how to make dumplings

and also steam a rice cake/pudding - nian gao.

We all had a go at making dumplings.

 The dumplings were delicious with the soya bean sauce.

Jing used a special pot to steam the nian gao.

We all had a taste of the rice pudding, but we did not all like it.

Our next guest taught us how to make pretty patterns with paper.

Paper was invented in China, they are very good at
making things from paper.

 We cut a monkey and a Chinese character

that means "double happiness."

See the story bellow to find out why this is the

year of the Fire Monkey.

Do you think the Jade Emperor was clever?

The New Year is also called the Spring Festival.

This is the character for Spring.

We folded and cut this intricate pattern.

Our third guest taught us how to draw some

Chinese characters.

We used brushes and special ink on red paper.

We followed instructions carefully.

We wrote numbers from 1 to 10.

Our last guest lived in Singapore and has celebrated

the Chinese New Year ever since.

Sarah makes cupcakes and decorates them with tangerines.

She helped us make the frosting and decorate our cupcakes.
Rodrigo's family provided some delicious tangerines.

We all had a taste and there were still plenty to take home.

The Chinese New Year was also a good excuse for a rickshaw ride.

It takes skill as well as strength to pull a rickshaw.

新年快乐

A tale from China by Hans Christian Andersen

The Nightingale

(nightingale song - click here)

Peter and the Wolf

In the Portuguese sessions with Professora Maria do Céu,
Reception Bears have been talking about
Peter and the Wolf. 

The children have illustrated the story and their work
is on the displayboard outside the computer room

if you wish to view some of the pieces.