Hiba Academy Hangzhou has hosted a wonderful range of events and activities over the course of the year including the Chinese New Year celebrations, the Summer Carnival and the EY4 graduation, alongside a whole host of additional events including sports days and numerous project celebrations.
I admire all the opportunities that the Nursery team have taken to partner with our parents this year through parent expert and positive parent workshops, coffee mornings and a Mother’s Day event. It demonstrates our real community spirit at Hiba Academy Hangzhou, something we are very proud of and continue to develop year on year.
Whether you are staying in Hangzhou or travelling further afield, I hope you have a safe and healthy summer. I look forward to seeing you all again at our orientation days in August.
Click to view EY4 graduation video
Outdoor Learning has been at the heart of our curriculum this year. Each year group has provided inspirational activities and opportunities for children to explore, create and learn about the world around them. There is no way we could ever discuss or cover all these fantastic learning opportunities, but members of our team have chosen to share just a few highlights:
EY 1
Children as natural sensory explorers and learners. Sensory experiences are a way for young children to further investigate the world around them. Our EY1 children have been understanding the whole world through various sensory experiences. In the outdoor nursery activities our children learn through diversified sensory exploration to feel their current environment. During the recent rainy season, sufficient rain nourished the flowers and plants in the outdoor playground, the lush grass attracted the attention of the children. Together they collect rhizomes and flower-like plants that grow in our garden, they also lie down taking a short rest on the lawn. Their time outdoors allowed them to recall the story "We are Going on a Bear Hunt". In the story, the family walked through the tall grass, which made the sound “swishy swashy swishy swashy”, so we encourage the children to take off their shoes and feel the fun of walking through the grass. They explored with cautious steps to gradually running and playing on the lawn. What an adventure. After this experience the children’s description of the grass was no longer just “green” or “soft”, they described it as “a bit cool” and it is “slippy” and “itchy” when running their feet over it. When the children are able to fully immerse themselves in the sensory explorations of the natural environment their language and understanding develops further.
-- Ms Helen
EY 2
EY2’s outdoor experiences focused mainly on two areas: constructing and exploring each one of our senses. Whether it was on our balcony or in the construction yard, you could be guaranteed to see an EY2 child building something each day. Sometimes it was a boat, sometimes a spaceship and sometimes just a super tall or long structure.Our balcony area gave us constant opportunities to explore the world around us. Sometimes we would be sifting through the mud enjoying the new textures, sometimes we would be exploring different smells as we played in our outdoor kitchen. At other times we would be exploring rhythm and sound in our music area. Finally with the help of our EYA's we were able to grow a range of vegetables to prepare and enjoy.
-- Mr Justin Chamberlain
EY 3
This has been a great year for exploring the outdoors in EY3. We started the year by having parents bring in a special plant to place on the balcony, and the learning has only grown from there. The children took great pride in caring for these plants, and we have explored them in all sorts of ways. In EY3A, we specifically explored the smells of different plants and other sensory aspects of the natural world. We did a Smells Project that ended in us taking our learning to Lake Xiang to explore the sights, sounds, smells and textures of nature. Since then, we have continued to explore the interesting plants and animals that have appeared in our outdoor area. We have been especially interested in bugs lately and have started our own worm bin that generates fertilizer for the same plants that we brought in at the beginning of the school year. The children have taken great joy in their journey of outdoor learning.
-- Ms Kate Fowler
EY 4
As you can clearly see, outdoor learning in Hiba Nursery is constant, taking advantage of the serendipitous moments as well as thoughtfully planned activities by our teachers. We sincerely hope that your summer break is full of wonderful outdoor experiences, whether that be in a far-away wilderness or a nearby park.
-- Mr Nicolas Carlomany
Our ‘lines’ project is almost coming to an end, and it has taken us in so many different directions for the last few weeks. The amazing labyrinth, the coveted Milk-Tea shop, the police station symbolised justice, and the studio is full of artistic atmosphere. Children have learned lots of lines and shapes from the labyrinth; they produced the poster for Milk-Tea shop and designed takeaway routes. They also sourced resources for the police station based on their homemade map and used lines to decorate a starry sky in their studio.
EY3A has been investigating the popular game “Plants VS Zombies”. The children were involved in every part of the game, including choosing plant and zombie characters, specifying the rules of the game, deciding game monitor roles, and testing the game. We used a vote to make most decisions. While discussing and deciding on the various rules and details of the game, pay attention to what others were saying, speak in a considerate manner and respect the majority opinion, which served as a lesson in democracy and fairness. We hope this will inspire children to think and understand the rules of the real world in future situations.
EY4D presented their findings of the ancient culture project yesterday with their parents. Children had great fun and appreciated the unique charm of the ancient culture.