The Cheeky Monkeys have excitedly kick-started the festive season as they made St. Nicholas Day boots in one of their Visual Arts lessons. They were delighted to cut and stick shiny paper onto their boots and decorate them with drawings and paper pieces. The children excitedly discussed the arrival of Santa Claus and the presents he would bring. The Cheeky Monkeys cannot contain their excitement to meet Santa.

During one of the chess lessons, the Cheeky Monkeys Class played some games with the chess pieces. They were divided into two teams and played “Detective” where they had to find hidden chess pieces in different parts of the garden and place them on the board before their opponents. Additionally, they were introduced to a story titled “Protect the King”.

The Cheeky Monkeys have started preparing for Christmas—we decorated the Christmas tree with fun ornaments and lights, we made the door into an elf selfie and the children had fun posing behind the door for pictures. We had our first snowy day for winter; the children had plenty of fun sledding, making snowballs and playing in the snow. For our Unit of Inquiry, the children were paired to create a town with cutouts and a map.

Today the Cheeky Monkeys spent time learning about these two musical symbols that represent one played beat and one silent beat. Putting these symbols together in different sequences gives us rhythm patterns. We moved, played, and read this pattern; ta ta ta (rest). Learning to create and play sequences using symbols is a beginning step in learning to read music. Learning to read those sequences is also good practice for learning to read words and sentences. The benefit of the experience is that these patterns are experienced kinesthetically, aurally, and visually. The multi-sensory approach aids comprehension and internalization.

As Thanksgiving approaches, the children of the Cheeky Monkeys discuss the significance of this event. They recently participated in an art lesson where they created a beautiful turkey using their drawing abilities and the given materials. The children enjoyed the process of drawing, cutting and sticking, which allowed them to develop their fine motor skills while having fun. As part of the lesson, they also discussed the importance of Thanksgiving and what they are thankful for. This was a great way to encourage gratitude among children and promote positive thinking. Further, they were able to identify the parts of a turkey, which is a fun way to learn about animals and biology. The Cheeky Monkeys had a lot of fun while learning during this activity.

The Cheeky Monkeys children played some games with the chess characters in one of their chess lessons. First, they used their sensory skills to look for chess pieces their classmates rolled for them. Next, they played hide-and-seek with the chess pieces by helping their classmates with the signs of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ to give clues about the chess pieces’ secret locations. Further, they listened to the story called “Camp Fire”.

The Cheeky Monkeys have been learning about shapes in mathematics. We played an outdoor game where we first identified the characteristics of the 4 basic shapes—square, circle, rectangle and triangle. Then the teacher spread out shapes in various sizes and colours on the ground and the children had to find their shapes to take back to their circle. The next day, the children participated in some centre activities. They made a picture out of shapes, made some simple patterns, did some tangram puzzles and played some sorting activities on the smart board and tablet.

Anchoring new learning with movement is the best and most efficient path to understanding. The Cheeky Monkeys have now experienced a rhythm pattern by moving to it, hearing it, seeing it, and playing it. Because of this multi-sensory experience, the abstract concept is more understandable and will become a building block for more learning.

The Cheeky Monkeys children played some games with the chess characters in one of their chess lessons. First, they used their sensory skills to look for chess pieces their classmates rolled for them. Next, they played hide-and-seek with the chess pieces by helping their classmates with the signs of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ to give clues about the chess pieces’ secret locations.

This seemingly simple activity of playing the piano is a great source of practice for fine motor development. Playing with only one finger actually calls for sophisticated use of the tiny muscles in the Cheeky Monkey’s hands. Learning to find and play one note at a time is the beginning step in learning to play the piano as well as any other instrument where fingers need to play independently.

The Cheeky Monkeys children made Halloween-themed silhouette bat paintings in one of their visual arts lessons. First, they painted the background and layered the colours from light to dark using tempera paint. At last, they painted bat silhouettes using black tempera paint and painted various kinds of flying bats to the best of their abilities.

The Cheeky Monkeys have been learning about what it means to be a part of a community and neighbourhood. We read a story about a boy called Tom Tom who lives in a community with lots of family and relatives. We looked at the places and people he visits and what his life is like. Then we explored the neighbourhood around Happy Kids on Google Earth. The children also took turns searching for their address and presenting where they live and the neighbourhood around their house. For mathematics, the children learned how to write a family of number sentences. They went outdoors and collected some natural materials and used those to make number bonds and addition and subtraction sentences.

The Cheeky Monkeys made Senecio-inspired portraits using cool and warm colours in their visual arts lessons. First, the children learned some interesting facts about Paul Klee, such as how he became an artist and how he found his style which was influenced by children’s art, cubism, and painting on marks applied on paper using pale colours. Then, the children observed Paul Klee’s most famous artwork, such as Senecio, Castle and Sun, and The One Who Understands, and talked about them in great detail. Then, the children challenged themselves and drew and painted Senecio-inspired portraits, one with warm, and one with cool colours only to the best of their abilities.

The Cheeky Monkeys children played a lot of fun games with the chess pieces. First, they had to guess the chess pieces’ names by only seeing a bit of them. Then, they played the Hot and Cold game with the chess pieces and the children had to find the hidden pieces by following the chantings of hot, cold, warm, and freeze hints. At last, the children formed into diagonals, ranks, and files and played a racing game with the chess pieces.

The Cheeky Monkeys were busy looking into their Unit of Inquiry, Community Spirit, these past two weeks. The children first worked on an All About Me cube; they coloured, wrote and drew pictures about themselves. Then they cut it out and with the teachers’ help, glued it together to make the cube. The Cheeky Monkeys worked together outside talking about what an Ideal Classroom would look like. The children brainstormed ideas and rules in the classroom which would ensure a successful community. The children then split into their TRIBES group to draw some of their ideas and suggestions. Finally, we worked on a Harvest craft depicting paper plate scarecrows.

The Cheeky Monkeys imitated the rain and wind sounds with rhythm sticks and scarves. Ample opportunity for practice of this kind along with the affirmation and enthusiasm nurtures the development of the children’s gross motor skills and coordination.

In our classes, we teach the activities so that the Cheeky Monkeys can take in information through multiple senses. We call this multisensory learning. Multisensory learning is a powerful teaching tool because it fosters resilient learning and supports the different learning styles of children in our class. This activity involves listening, processing, labelling, and movement.

When we use multiple senses we are able to provide many opportunities to strengthen the learning and make it more permanent.

The Cheeky Monkeys children extended their knowledge and understanding of the three primary colours and learned about an artist named Piet Mondrian. They were shown some of Mondrian’s most famous works, such as Broadway Boogie Woogie, Trafalgar Square, New York City, and Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue. They observed Mondrian’s works and listened to his favourite music genre (what inspired him many times), jazz to get into a ‘Mondrian-inspired’ mood. The children used black paper strips and glued them vertically and horizontally according to their inspirations and creativity. They used their measuring skills, creativity, and imagination, and created artwork using their feelings, rhythm, order, and balance. They filled some of the spaces with paint using the three primary colours, just like Mondrian.

The Cheeky Monkeys children had a P.E.-themed chess lesson. First, they played a tag game with the royal couple. Then, they played line games, and racing games with the chess pieces. They used their balance and coordination skills, spatial awareness, fundamental movement skills, teamwork and cooperation skills, and safety skills. They also worked on some bishop-themed worksheets to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the bishop.

The Cheeky Monkeys celebrated three birthdays last week and we had cake and dancing, it was sure a busy week. For mathematics, we learnt about addition to 10 and how to connect number sentences to number bonds. The children viewed pictures that tell a story and they had to come up with a number sentence. Children were chosen to come to the board and fill in the number bond and addition number sentence.

What makes you special? Are you different or similar from one another? The Cheeky Monkeys children extended their knowledge of the features of their main physical characteristics. First, they looked into mirrors to see what colour their eyes were, what colour their hair was, what type of hair they had, and what colour their skin was. They identified other important characteristics such as glasses, colourful hairbows, hairbands, ponytails, the colour of their nails, and necklaces. When drawing self-portraits the children have the opportunity to accurately depict themselves, develop a sense of self-identity, understand and learn about spatial relationships, proportions, and symmetry, communicate about their work, and become more aware of cultural and individual differences in physical appearance, fostering a sense of diversity and acceptance.

The Cheeky Monkeys children visited the residents of the Chess Palace after their long summer break. They played some games with the chess pieces, such as organising them to the starting position, finding mistakes in the settings, walking, jumping on a steady beat, and handling the chess beanbag with their hands and feet. The chess characters tried to challenge the Cheeky Monkeys children but they were just too smart and clever not to fail.

When learning to sing on pitch, each child takes in the information and processes it differently. Our lessons are carefully crafted to give the kinesthetic, auditory, and visual learners opportunities to experience the lesson through their strongest learning styles. Hearing the two pitches sung, singing the pitches themselves, associating the two pitches with a familiar song, and moving their hands up and down while they sing are perfect examples of how one activity reaches each learning style. When the Cheeky Monkeys experience success through their dominant learning style, they gain confidence and learning is strengthened and accelerated.

The Cheeky Monkeys started the year off by doing lots of groups and class activities. We incorporate TRIBE activities every day and one of the games that was a hit with children was the ‘What am I’ game. In this game, children are chosen to hold up a picture of an animal, fruit or vegetable, which they do not know, and they have to ask ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions to their classmates to find out what they have. This game was quite complicated as the children had to use their thinking skills to ask effective questions. We did a variety of maths activities in the past two weeks pertaining to numbers to 10 and number bonds. The children learnt in a whole class setting where they saw and participated in activities set up by the teacher and they also went to the table for smaller group tasks such as arranging cubes in ascending and descending numbers.