Saplings Spring Topic: The Naughty Bus
Written by: Olivia Hughes
Our Naughty Bus topic is extremely exciting for our Saplings! We have been receiving letters from the Naughty Bus himself for seven weeks now! Saplings have been helping the Naughty Bus to travel around the world using different methods of transport. The Naughty Bus has been learning about different countries’ cultures, art, food and transport.
During our first week we spent lots of time learning the story of the Naughty Bus, we acted it out, made story maps, sequenced the story and turned the whole classroom into a bus station! We really embraced the playful nature of the book and the children were so inspired by the story that they asked to be filmed making their very own movie of Naughty Bus adventures in Saplings!
Our first destination was Spain, where we learnt all about our local cuisine, Antoni Gaudi and Flamenco dance!
Our second stop was England, where we learnt all about London buses, mapping and underground travel, and the sculptor Henry Moore and we ended our week with a traditional British tea party! We made scones with jam and cream and enjoyed our homemade lemonade (picked from our very own Saplings lemon tree)!
Our third stop was China for a Chinese New Year celebration! The children learnt all about the Zodiac story, and the language of Mandarin, made puppet shows, explored Chinese numbers and we ended the week with a Chinese feast! The children made noodles with fresh peppers and carrots! What a treat!
Our fourth stop was in Kenya where we learnt all about Masai Mara communities. The children have been exploring the broad diversity of communities in Kenya. We have been looking at the contrast between the life of a child in Kenya’s capital Nairobi and a villager in the Masai Mara. The children also learned all about the wild animals, jeep safari trips, food, culture, and the language of Swahili. We have been observing art by Bernard Ndichu Njuguna and had a go at creating our own pieces inspired by this wonderful Kenyan artist.
Celebrating diversity in the African continent has been at the heart of our dialogue. We have been reading a beautiful book called ‘Africa is not a country’ and each page shows a child’s morning routine in a different African country. Saplings learnt that there are 53 countries on the continent.
The Naughty Bus then travelled to Tanzania, and learnt all about Mount Kilimanjaro! We know that Kilimanjaro is also a dormant volcano. We made our own mountain with papier mache and lots of different materials! Our mini Kilimanjaro erupted in the Saplings garden and all of our children were very excited!
We then went on an exciting trip to the Vilanova Transport museum! The children loved exploring the difference between the old and new transport systems.
Our topic ended with a wonderful surprise visit from the Naughty Bus himself! The children were completely mesmerised and really enjoyed going upstairs in a real-life double-decker bus!
This topic has really inspired our Saplings to embrace being a part of an international, multilingual classroom. Over the course of our topic, we have been focusing on and celebrating the similarities and routines that children all over the world share.
Take a look at this Ted Talk to learn more about the importance of being conscious of the language, examples and storybooks that we are using when teaching and learning about countries and cultures around the world.