Today started with morning prayers which Mrs Richardson led, then it was down for breakfast. This morning we had a fried egg 🍳 with toast and a drink of water. When we had finished we were surprised to see that it was raining but this didn’t last long. After packing our bags with the resources we needed for school it was a quick dash to CRS. We made a quick video call to Mr Hallam’s class before our driver took  us to Scott Lane. The traffic was incredibly busy this morning with lots of horns beeping. 
Rev Adam Dickens joined us to today at school, he is the chaplain at Derby University and Derby Cathedral.
 

The children were really please to see us all again and presented us with a rose each and the teacher put a bindi on our forehead as we were their special guests.

Mrs Hodgson talked to the class about our friendship across the world and explained that our Kolkata companions had made friendship bracelets for them all.  We talked about the colours in our flag, red, white and blue and the colours of the Indian flag. Each colour in their flag means something. Orange represents dal, white for rice and green for vegetables. The blue wheel in the middle of the flag represents peace. 

The children listened really well and set to work making a friendship band that we are bring home.

After we had finished we needed to stretch and move our bodies, so we joined in with head, shoulders, knees and toes. The children are getting really good at this new song now and you will be able to hear them on the video. 
 

It was then time for maths, singing ten green bottles. The children love to stand at the front and pretend to fall off the wall, we also ordered the numbers and recognised them out of order. 
We were also taught how to count up to 5 in Bengali and you can try to using the separate video. 
 

It was then time for tiffin and the teachers wanted us to say our school grace before they began. Lunch today was a bread roll and a sweet called rasgulla. 
​​​​​​Can you find out what a rasgulla looks like and made off?
 

After lunch we played a circle game to help conversational skills, followed by some exercise. We didn’t have any resources for PE so Mrs Richardson chalked different activities and pathways for the children to follow on the floor. The children loved it and their faces had the biggest smiles on them.

We then had a tour of the fee paying infant and junior school. It was very similar to our school with computers and colourful displays of work. 
 

We jumped back in our car to grab a quick lunch before heading to Kumartuli Pottery district. This was amazing! The skilled crafts people were busy making statues of Saraswati, the goddess of education. The festival will be celebrated on the 14th February so it was a hive of activity. The statues are made in different parts for example one person will puddle the clay, others will tie together straw with string and attach it to cane and sticks to form the body shape, others will add the rough layer of clay (which is taken from the Ganges) and then others add detail, paint and decorations. The statues come in all sizes.

When the festival is over all the statues, and there are thousands, get taken to the Ganges and pushed in so that the clay returns to its starting place. 

When you watch the video look out for a super hero who is good at swinging from place to place.

We had another quick turn around before heading out for our evening meal and this time we had a dosa, it was delicious. Look it up to find out what it looks like.
 

We arrived back at about 8.10pm and did a final video call to Mrs Gallen in Nursery. The children were just having snack but it was lovely to see them all. 
 

Another busy but amazing day!