Today, the students at MPS dressed up in Indian colours and clothing to celebrate and consolidate all of the learning that we have done this semester in Asian Studies. The Grade 1 & 2 students put together an amazing Indian themed assembly that included their own Bollywood music video and at the end of the assembly, all of the students, parents and teachers danced together to the song. See below!
This semester, the Preps have been learning about India. One of the things that we have been discussing is Indian food and this week we made a yummy curry and ate some pappadums. All of the students tried our curry and many came back for seconds. Below you will find some pictures of this experience and also the recipe we used (just incase you would like to use it at home), that was provided to us by one of the Prep parents (thank you). Many of the Preps have told us that they have now had curry at home and we would love for parents to post their recipe below so we can discuss the different ingredients used.
Mild Veggie Curry:
½ cup Potato (diced to ~ 1cm)
½ cup Butternut pumpkin (diced to ~ 1cm)
¼ cup Tomato (chopped)
¼ cup Onion (chopped)
1Tbsp Light Olive oil
1 tsp cumin (seeds ground)
1 tsp coriander (seeds ground)
Fresh Thyme
Fresh Bay leaves
Fresh Curry leaves
Put olive oil, cumin and coriander in pot and heat.
When spices start “bubbling’ quickly add all the veggies, thyme, bay leaves, curry leaves and mix
Add ~1/2 cup of water, bring to boil and turn stove to low.
Cook for ~20 minutes or until veggies are tender and have the desired consistency of the sauce
This Semester, the Preps have been learning about India. Late last term we made candle holders in preparation for celebrating Diwali.
Today, we will be celebrating Diwali, as it falls on this date for 2014. It is the Hindu New Year and is either a 3-day or 5-day holiday depending on where you come from.
It is a very exciting and colourful holiday. Homes are cleaned to welcome the New Year and windows are opened so that the Hindu goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, can enter. It is believed that she cannot enter a house which is not lit up, so every household burns special Diwali clay lamps (diyas) to light the way for the goddess, which is why the holiday is also known as the Festival of Lights.
The Preps will be taking home their candles and candle holders tonight, we are hoping that families will light their candle and if possible take a picture and either email or give us a copy to put onto the blog.
As a special, end of term treat, the Preps had a Japanese party with Ben. First off, the Preps learnt about the history and rules of Sumo Wrestling (even real Sumo Wrestlers aren't allowed to hit, scratch or punch). Then it was the Preps turn to be the wrestlers!
At the beginning of each wrestle, Ben measured up each pair of wrestlers to check if the contest would be fair. Next, the wrestles had to stomp their feet, as loudly as they could, to scare off any bad spirits, and to scare their opponent as well.
It is very important to show respect to your opponent, so before any wrestling occurred, the Preps bowed.
Then the audience yelled "san, ni, ichi" (3, 2, 1) and the wrestling began!
Here are some (very cute) videos which show the whole process (only viewable on the blog):
After all of that hard work, the Preps built up an appetite. Ben served some delicious miso soup and the Preps were asked to rate their soup in Japanese.
Our topic for Asian Studies for Semester 2 is Indonesia. In the last week of school, the Preps were learning about volcanos, which are very common across many parts of Indonesia. Students created diagrams, watched a David Attenborough documentary and finally got to create their own volcano. During Developmental Play, some Preps helped us create our volcano using sand and a bottle which went in the centre. In the afternoon, Ben showed us how to make the volcano erupt using baking soda, vinegar and red food dye.
As you can see in the pictures and the video below, the Preps were VERY excited. Next time, we are hoping to create an even bigger explosion.
If you would like to do this at home, we recommend the following website for instructions: http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/vinegarvolcano.html
Over the last three weeks, the Preps have been learning about the board game Congklak, which originated in Indonesia. Firstly, the Preps made dragons for the end of their boards, which are referred to as the 'mother' and this is where all of your counters are stored. During week 6, the students painted their boards using a different colour for each side and attached their dragons. Finally, in week 7, the students learnt the rules and played against each other.
Below are some of these rules, told to you by the Preps:
"There are 2 players"
"You have to have 7 counters in each house"
"You have to move your counters around like a clock"
"You move your counters from one house around the board"
"The person at the end with the most counters is the winner"
The Preps picked up the rules very quickly and have since used the board during Developmental Play.
We are excited to learn even more about Indonesia next week!
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