Introduction: 05/11/21.

This week in the Wolves, we started to explore our new topic and what it meant. We did this by firstly understanding what a Winter Festival is. This required defining Winter (a cold season where the days are shorter and it is therefore darker for longer) and then defining 'festival' (a joyful celebration, often involving food, games and performances). We could therefore conclude that a winter festival was a celebration of something during the winter months.

With this knowledge, we worked in pairs to think of as many winter festivals as we could and realised that we don't actually know that many. How can we be sure of what is involved in winter festivals in general if we don't know more? This lead us to wonder what we needed to do in order to get a better understanding so that we could put on the best winter festival ever.

We worked together to come up with the steps to success that we would need to follow in order to put on a great winter festival of our own. We decided that a good first step would be to research winter festivals and why the traditions are what they are. Our second step would need to be planning out our own, before our third step where we would need to practice what we decide to do (e.g. performances, food, etc.). This would then leave us with the last step of setting everything up to be ready.

I can't wait for us to begin with Step 1 next week.

Step 2: 12/11/21.

This week in the Wolves we started to do some preliminary research around different Winter Festivals around the world. Using this, we were able to discover all of the similarities between these festival traditions and started to unpack why this might be.

We determined that most festivals revolve around fire and light in some way and that perhaps this was due to it being a dark and cold time of year. Food also seemed to be a common theme, we determined that this was possibly due to the fact that hot food can keep us warm in winter and it also gives us energy and sustenance to power through the cold months. We also found that a lot of festivals had performances, possibly to bring joy to people in the glum, dark season. Finally we learnt that there is also a lot of gift giving, which could also be around the idea of spreading joy during the dark times.

Using these as themes, we made a plan for our own winter festival. We firstly decided on what we could do for gifts and donations. We realised that there are charities that support people and animals that don't have as much as we do. We decided perhaps we could support those in need through selling items at our winter festival with donations going toward a worthy cause. When looking through 5 different local charities, we voted (14/15) to support the RSPCA.

We then decided to think about what type of performance we could put on, thinking we could perhaps do a dance, play or telling a story. With a vote that was fairly even, we decided that we would perform a story with some play and dance elements. Now to think of the story to tell!

In future weeks we are going to be thinking more about the food we can make and learn about some other Winter Festivals in more detail, as well as how we can incorporate light more. Next week though, our focus will be how we can bring joy through a stellar performance.

Step 3: 19/11/21.

This week our project focus has been around the performance for the Winter Festival. As a class we brainstormed many ideas about different stories to tell, ranging from Chickens making friends to Snow Monsters ruining festivals. Using these winter tales, we combined them to create an eclectic story for us all to share.

We then reviewed the script that was put together before using green pens to edit sections we thought should be different and identify roles we would like to play. Using this revised version, we did our first table read to iron out kinks and make further revisions in order to create a performance that will be very memorable. We were fortunate enough to also have Chloe, our resident Otters Learning Associate and performer, come in to give us some tips and tricks on how to use our voice when imitating characters and performing.

With our act in good shape, we are excited for next week where we can learn about different cultural celebrations in more detail with some very special guest speakers. We will then use this knowledge to continue developing our own festival.

Step 1/3: 26/11/21.

This week in the Wolves, we have been working hard to rehearse our lines for our spoken performance. In addition, we were so incredibly lucky to have three amazing guest speaker come in to teach us about the winter festivals that they celebrate.

We had Ruth come in on Monday to talk about Christmas and detail the story of the nativity, helping us understand the story in more detail through making Christingles. We learnt about Diwali on Tuesday with Radhika, through learning about the gods, seeing and trying on elements of the celebratory dress, and eat some of the food they share. Then on Wednesday we learnt about Loy Kratong with Naiyana, including the traditions they use to celebrate, such as releasing Krathongs for letting go of mistakes and worries and we tried their customary food.

We are so incredibly lucky to have had these hands on experiences and be able to use the knowledge we have learnt from them to plan out the food we will serve.

Step 2/3: 3/12/21.

This week, we looked at how we are tracking to create a winter festival. The festivals we had learnt about included performances, gifts/ donations, fire/ light, and food. With a good start on most of these areas, it was time to tackle the food.

Using the knowledge gained from our amazing guest speakers last week, we started to think about flavours we could use in our festival food. Our design goals were to create food that was accessible to everyone (vegan and gluten free), as well as tasty to a large number of people so that we could raise more money for the RSPCA through selling it.

After coming up with some interesting flavours we decided on a few combinations we could put together to create bliss balls. With the ideas proposed, we voted on the top 4 that we would then use to create our delicacies.

After deciding on this, we had yet another amazing guest speaker come in to inspire us further with very interesting facts about Chinese New Year that we can use when it comes to decorating. For now though, it was time for making.

We were so careful in our hygiene practices and identifying the importance, as well as measuring and following recipes exactly. We cannot wait for you to taste or delectable treats.

Step 3/4: 10/12/21.

What a week! Our wonderful Wolves showed great focus and determination to get our den 'festival ready' this week. We made signs, more food, practised our performance and finalised our costumes, all ready for the big day.

In addition to this, we also had an amazing visit from the RSPCA to let us know exactly where our donations would be going. Not only did we learn all about how they look after animals, we were also given an animal (toy) of our own to adopt as well! We were all so glad that we chose this charity to support for the winter festival event.

Then it was show time! We pushed through our nerves and delivered a stellar performance that made the teachers incredibly proud! It was such a pleasure to see all of our families and friends coming together to support us in our act. We are so thankful for the energy and love shown for all of our hard-working pack.