November Days

Look For Circles Day, World Kindness Day and Loy Krathong

Festivals and Fun Days to celebrate with your children in November. Jan Homden has put together a list of ideas for three special days to celebrate this month.

Look for Circles Day: celebrate on November 2nd!

Join hands to make a circle and sing along

Spot the circle:

In groups accompanied by an adult with a camera, the children (with their binoculars) go for a spot the circle walk around the school (indoors and outdoors). The children take turns to photograph the circles they spy on their walk. When back in the classroom each group chooses 2/3 photographs to display on the smart/white board and they nominate 1/2 children in their group to talk about where they found their various circles.

Stamping circles: for 2-3 years (this activity helps to develop fine motor skills and the task is open-ended)

You will need:

• paper tubes (if you are using long tubes, cut them smaller)
• tempera paint
• a choice of paper i.e. different colours, different shapes

Children dip the end of a cardboard tube into paint and stamp circles on their chosen paper.

Playdough Circles: 2-3 years (this activity helps to develop their understanding of estimation, same/different,  visual measurement as well as developing those fine motor skills). Children could roll a long playdough worm and then attach the ends while other children may chose to roll small balls and flatten with their hands.  Let them experiment and create circles of different sizes and colours from playdough.

Small world Play: for 2-3 years

Using a Wooden Circle Train Set or a wooden round car track the children put together the track and as they move the trains/vehicles around in an anti clockwise direction they practice tracing the shape of a circle.

Cereal circles: for 2-3+ years (from everydaychaosandcalm)

You will need:

• black construction paper
• washable glue
• Any brand of O shaped cereal e.g. Fruit Loops or Cheerios

Children draw a large circle on the paper with glue (maybe with adult support for the very young). From a bowl of cereal children select a cereal circle to press on to the glue.  For older children encourage them to make patterns with the coloured cereal or to add bigger circles and introduce them to the concept of concentric circles.

Stories to read:

The Dot (Creatrilogy) Paperback – by Peter H. Reynolds  (Author, Illustrator) Age Range: 4 – 7 years

Lots of Spots Hardcover – by Lois Ehlert  (Author, Illustrator) Age Range: 4 – 8 years

From Random Acts of Kindness – watch their latest video below

 

Dance For Kindness was initiated by Life Vest Inside (LVI) in 2012. It is a worldwide event in celebration of World Kindness Day which falls on November 13. Groups from across the globe join together to perform a Kindness Freezmob/Flashmob to the same song, same dance, all happening on the same day. The purpose of Dance for Kindness is to show that regardless of the differences in race, religion, ethnicity culture and background, the common thread that ties us together is kindness. (Wikipedia)

Register your school and DANCE WITH A PURPOSE!

Join in and take part in a global celebration of kindness through song and dance! Register now!

5 SIMPLE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES TO CELEBRATE WORLD KINDNESS DAY

Make a class, year group or school chain ……. Click on the image to find out more.

Paper Chain of Kindness – each child to write on a link one way they could help someone – SMALL ACT BIG IMPACT

10 Acts of kindness

Hold the door open for someone, Let someone go ahead of you in line, Leave a letter/note in a library book, Clean up your toys without being asked, Put a small bin in your family car to collect recycling, Give your friend a hug, Donate your outgrown toys/clothes to a charity, Turn off the water while brushing your teeth, Smile – it’s contagious. Remember to say thank you.

Listen to the story: The Kindness Quilt – by Elizabeth Wallace, Nancy (Author)

Stories to Read:

Kind  by Alison Green  (Author), Axel Scheffler (Illustrator) Age Range: 3 – 8 years

Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts  (Author), Noah Jones (Contributor)  Age Range: 5 – 8 years

Loy Krathong Festival  (Thailand and parts of Laos and Myanmar) – Celebrate November 11-13!

“Loy” means “float”, and a “krathong” is a special Thai floating sculpture particular to the holiday. The festival is celebrated nationwide by releasing lotus shaped baskets, decorated with candles and flowers onto the rivers.The traditional krathong is made from a cross-section of a banana tree trunk, which is then elaborately decorated with folded banana leaves and flowers in intricate towering designs. On the night of the festival, lights from hundreds of candles twinkle on the water. Thai people make a wish as they launch their krathongs on the streams and rivers. Often, school children will make their own krathongs in school or with their family. From: https://steemit.com

Has anyone in the class visited Thailand? How did they get there? Encourage the children to ask or answer simple questions. Use a globe or an interactive world map to find out where Thailand is in relation to your home country.

Resources to download: From Twinkl: KS1 All About Loy Krathong PowerPoint

For more factual information have a look at:

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/countries/thailand/

Amazing Thailand with Kids: Travel With Kids Thailand …Amazing beaches, jungles, cities

Travel With Kids TV – Click on the image to watch this snapshot of Thailand

 

Click on the waterfall to follow the link to Thailand for Children

Includes images of the festival

 

 

“Loy” means “float”

Experiment with floating and sinking – what will float and what will sink? From a selection of objects children to predict and then test.

Make boats – Children design their boat on paper and make their boat from plasticine. They test their design in a water tray. Could they improve on their design?

 

Stories to read:

Celebrations Of Light : A Year of Holidays Around the World Hardcover by Nancy Luenn  (Author), Mark Bender (Illustrator) Age Range: 7 – 10 years

Jan Homden – Consilium Education

 

 

 

Feature Image:  rmac8oppo – Pixabay

Support Images: everydaychaosandcalm, Random acts of Kindness, Study at home Mama, pinterest

songchai, kuhpaulinchen, naturepost – Pixabay