As part of Harmony Day, we have been investigating life in other countries. We learned how to say hello, count to five, looked at food and musical instruments and followed on to do something specific to that country. We read a story called Suki's Kimono about a girl in Japan being different from her friends then painted Kimonos. We looked at Chinese New year dragons and lanterns in China - and the noise and colours associated with them. We then made our own pellet drums. We looked at traditional Indonesian clothing and played traditional Indonesian games - one of which was Semut, Orang, Gajah - a version of paper scissors rock - ask your child to play with you! We listened to a story from Korea via youtube from a friend of Mrs West. The story was all about how we are all different and "Gwen Chan-ah", "that's OK". We then drew our friends being different. We made a sistrum from Egypt (see below). The children gained an understanding that Australia is made up of people from a range of countries and different cultures, who have enriched our country to what it is today. The overall message for Harmony Day is that we all belong... and to be kind!
Marhaban (pronounced mer-heb-an) from Egypt! We looked at the environment of Egypt, mummies and of course the pyramids! The children then independently made a version of an Egyptian musical instrument called a Sistrum - check them out - they did a magnificent job!