“Be a child again” was a chance to connect parents with children and school, to understand more about how children encounter materials and how parents can support children in their journey of learning and exploring this world.

To share how we invite our children to encounter materials we created four areas for families to explore:

– Clay: Clay is a wonderful natural material that is sustainable, beautiful, and connected to craft traditions around the world. With our school project being Dialogue with Place we asked the families to join our inquiry by contributing to a mosaic installation we are creating.

– Chalk pastels: Chalk pastels appeal to children and adults because of their deep and subtle colors and gentle textures. Rather than drawing a picture we asked the families to explore the pastels on paper. What different techniques could be found to manipulate the colors and marks? Beautiful shades of colour were discovered.

– Wire: Wire is a glorious material to manipulate. The way the light reflects off the metal adds to its beauty and potential for children’s learning. We encouraged the families to experiment with the texture and movement in the wire.

– Loose parts: We chose natural and recycled loose parts for sustainability and because our children experience these every day at school. We knew that this encounter would perhaps be a challenge for the families, but once they realized there was no ‘right or wrong’ we noticed an excited buzz. Loose parts foster problem-solving, co-operation and creativity, the possibilities are infinite!

Throughout the workshop we noticed the parents collaborating and talking together when engaging and exploring the materials. Just how our children at school do. Children are incredible at thinking abstractly and creatively. For adults, it can be harder! For example, with the water hyacinth, parents had the mind set of weaving and they started to weave immediately when seeing it, meanwhile, children are open to other possibilities. They see available materials in beautiful fresh ways, through the eyes of the child.

First week of Book Celebrations – AURORA PUBLISHING HOUSE – A community of Authors. There was an excited buzz throughout the school with children, teachers and families browsing and reading the wonderful collection on offer from Phuong Nam Book store. You are all very welcome to come in and browse the shelves and perhaps you will find books you love. Next week Fahasa will join our book fair and once again children and families can browse and select favourite books. A book lovers dream.

We are busy creating cosy book gardens for children and families to enjoy books together. Please come and stay in school with us to enjoy your reading. We are hoping that this will become a ritual that continues throughout the year. A strong culture of books is our wish.

Calligraphy giving is a special traditional custom in Vietnam that originated from the art of writing beautifully. The Calligraphy Master (Ông Đồ) not only teaches how to write but also transmits the art of Vietnamese calligraphy to future generations with the desire to preserve the culture of valuing letters as well as the nation’s tradition of being studious.

This Tet, the children in Aurora met Calligraphy Master again to learn about the culture of calligraphy giving as well as how to write it so they can give letters to their families. Although children aren’t familiar with the brush and how to control it, every stroke of their handwriting is always filled with love for their parents.

Aurora hopes that through learning about traditional Vietnamese arts as well as practical experiences, children will love and preserve the cultural values of the country where they are living.

STORYTELLING  WITHIN THE BANYAN TREE

Another memorable Mid-Autumn Festival – Tết Trung Thu – has come to Aurora International School Of the Arts. We were surrounded by snow skin mooncake workshop, creative lanterns making, the Moon project, Stories of the Moon and Banyan trees, the collection of the Lion’s heads by Primary and Middle School learners, traditional Trung Thu signature music and highlighted with Harmony by Candlelight. Your big smiles and happiness bring to us so much love.

Mid-Autumn Festival is a chance for us to say Thank You to all Aurora families, teachers and staff who are accompanying this wonderful journey with us and our children on the way they grow up. Thank you for coming and sharing these meaningful moments.

HAPPY MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL

INTO THE MAGICAL LAND

The Magical Garden is a delightful adventure into the world of fairies and magic… You love adventure and want to let your imagination fly!

Your day began with the Magical Land of light and shadow. You were quite curious and enjoyed the shadows of fabrics, other tools, and even your own body. You touched and caught your shadows in surprise. Some of you were playing with the overhead projector, observing how it’s light impacts the environment: when you closed the lid, the room became dark, and when you opened it – you could see the shadows on the wall appear again. What wonderful cause and effect.

During the day, all of you dressed up in your favourite costumes and really enjoyed the party, finding the Fairy Houses, experimenting “Poison” Station with the witches, creating Magic Bubbles, Magic Soup and tasting delicious food.

Children, please keep this in your heart: the day you decide that your life is magical, suddenly there will be magic all around you!

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Magical Garden Party was inspired by International Fairy Tea Party. This is Aurora’s third year joining the day and it became a lovely part of our culture.

“International Fairy Tea Party is a day to share the learning power of play and imagination. It was originally held on the Friday closest to the equinox this has been extended to 3-4 days closest to the equinox (21st September) in order to be more inclusive. The aim is that all children around the world are united by the fact that they have the same number of daylight hours… even if they do not share the same cultures, language, resources etc – we will share the daylight and the imagination and the play.” – International Fairy Tea Party

MID-YEAR FESTIVAL – TẾT ĐOAN NGỌ

As a tradition, every year we celebrate the Mid-Year Festival (Tết Đoan Ngọ). The Mid-Year festival is held to catch insects, destroy pests that harm crops, and pray for a bountiful harvest. One of the must-have dishes at the festival is a Floating Rice Cake: made from glutinous rice flour filled with green bean paste, and served with a sweet soup… A delicious taste.

Aurora children were invited to join a workshop to make a special treat for this festival: Floating cake or Bánh Trôi Nước. And children were very excited for it. Colorful, soft rice dough and small balls of green bean were prepared for you by our kitchen. Some of you joined straight away to make colorful balls of floating cakes. Some of you were interested in the fruits and special traditional herbs with roots, stems, and leaves on the tables. You were rolling big and small balls and transporting them onto the tray that we took to the kitchen to boil.

Aurora hopes all children have had a lovely time on Tết Đoan Ngọ this year. We believe that environment and community play a crucial role in educating children. As we are living in Vietnam, we encourage children to discover and gain an understanding of the Vietnamese culture in a supportive and rich learning environment. Celebrating important festivals is what we love here.

NATSU MATSURI – JAPANESE SUMMER FESTIVAL

“Natsu Matsuri” means Summer Festival in Japanese. This is the annual tradition of Japanese people to celebrate the gods, seasons, and joy of life in the summer.

With the support of Japanese parents, Ms Kaori – our Japanese teachers, and all Aurora teachers and children, we had a wonderful festival filled with shuri-ken (throwing star), wanage (ring toss), and yo-yo tsuri (fishing) games, sushi and cho-chin (lantern) workshops, Japanese cuisine, kakigori (shaved ice) and a yukata photo booth. Our fabulous day has been wrapped up with the Bon-Odori dance.

CANDLE LIGHTS WILL SHINE

Dad is the light of gold

Mom is the light of blue

Baby is the light of rose

Three candle lights will shine

Shining a family

(Song: Three Candle Lights Will Shine – Phuong Thao, Ngoc Le)

In Vietnam, candlelight symbolizes warmth, happiness, and family members. Traditionally the role of the women in a family is known as the one who keeps the “home flame” with her eternal love and care. On this Women’s Day, Aurora International School of the Arts invited all mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and the special woman in children’s lives to attend our candle making workshop. During this workshop, mothers, and grandmothers explored how to make scented candles that they can cherish.

STORIES FROM DIFFERENT CULTURES

One of the beautiful things from Book week in particular has been the chance for children to engage with cultural tales from different parts of the world.

Our wonderful co-teachers put on a magnificent performance of ‘How The Tiger Got Its Stripes’. The story followed the Vietnamese legend of the farmer in the rice field and his buffalo, who was approached by a tiger and got stripes on its body. Children were an immensely engaged, curious, and respectful audience. During the week, the Japanese teacher also led an interactive reading of the origins of the Japanese zodiac, followed by an origami session to create a cat or rabbit. Children enjoyed the workshop and also learned the reason why cats were not on the Japanese zodiac.

IN THE PROCESS OF LEARNING, TEACHERS, PARENTS AND THE CHILD ARE VIEWED AS COLLABORATORS

During Book Week, Aurora parents were welcome to come and read books for children at school. When children kept saying “one more, please?” or “again!” at the end of a story, we knew they enjoyed the storytelling time.

At Aurora, parents are viewed as vital components and contributors to the School’s philosophy and are encouraged to involve themselves in every aspect of their child’s learning experiences. Parents are encouraged and recognized as the child’s first educators.

Thank you, parents, for spending your precious time coming in and sharing your stories with us during Book Week. We are happy to see books bring us together at Aurora.