In Nursery, we looked at La Tomitina festival which is where once a year, people in Spain throw over ripe tomatoes at each other for 1 hour. We had a wide range of different tomatoes to chop, squish, mash, smell and taste. 

In Reception we found the festival of Tomatina really good fun! We made our own tomato art and learnt a Tomatina song! 

Year 1 

We have had a wonderful Spanish day learning all about the different  traditions of Spanish speaking countries and how we can celebrate different cultures. We have explored maps to locate Spain, enjoyed watching some traditional Flamenco dancing, listened to some Spanish music and looked at delicious types of food. We can even speak a little Spanish now! We have learned how to say some greetings and count from 1-10!

During our afternoon of activities we created our own passports which we had stamped when we completed a colouring picture of something traditional to Spain and created a fan, using the colours of the Spanish flag, to use in our own flamenco dance. 

Year 2 

Celebrating Spanish Day Through Animals and Culture!

This Spanish Day, we are celebrating in a fun and educational way by linking it to our recent Science topic – Animals! Over the past few weeks, we’ve been learning all about animals, including their groups, habitats, diets, and life cycles. Now, we’re taken it a step further by exploring the names of animals in Spanish!

Learning a new language helps us understand and appreciate different cultures. In Spain and many other Spanish-speaking countries, animals are a big part of everyday life, stories, and traditions. By learning animal names in Spanish, we are combining language learning with science in an exciting and memorable way.

Here are a few animals we've studied, now in Spanish:

• Dog – Perro

• Cat – Gato

• Frog – Rana

• Bird – Pájaro

• Lion – León

• Fish – Pez

• Elephant – Elefante

During our Spanish Day activities, we will play animal-themed games, sing songs, label pictures, and even create animal fact files using Spanish words. It's a great opportunity to practise vocabulary while reinforcing what we’ve learned in Science.

We have also explored the exciting Spanish festival La Tomatina, a famous tomato-throwing celebration held in the town of Buñol. We learned about how this fun and messy festival brings people together and reflects Spanish culture and tradition. We even had our own imaginative and safe version of La Tomatina in class!

To help us build even more Spanish skills, we’ve also been learning to count from 1 to 10 in Spanish – using movement and actions to make it fun and easy to remember! For example:

• Uno – 1 jump

• Dos – 2 claps

• Tres – 3 stomps
  ... all the way to diez!

So let’s celebrate Spanish Day by saying “¡Hola!” to new words, “¡Gracias!” for the chance to learn in new ways, and “¡Vamos!” as we explore language and culture through movement, Science, and fun!

Year 3

Year 3 had a fantastic Spanish day. They learned all about Spain and its customs, landmarks and food, then had a quiz to test their knowledge. They also learned all about the Tomatina Festival which takes place in Bunol in Spain every year. The children were both shocked and delighted to discover that 150,000 tomatoes are thrown in a food fight during the festival. Later, the children were split into 2 teams and they had a debate about whether the festival is viable or not. The team who were against the festival won. Some of their opinions were that it is a waste of food and that it costs a lot of money. Afterwards, the children learned a Flamenco dance and demonstrated some very impressive moves.

Year 4 

In year 4 we have watched a video all about La Tomatina and found out some information about this crazy festival. 

As a class, we split into 2 groups, ones that think the festival is good and should be continued and a group that thinks it's bad and should be stopped. 

We then had a formal debate with a judging panel who decided who the overall winner of the debate was! 

Year 6

We looked at the Day of the Dead and found out it is celebrated in Mexico. Year 6 are currently studying the Mayans so we learnt about their Death Masks and compared the 2. We then created a half Mayan/half Day of the Dead mask to show the differences. We listened to the Day of the Dead song and as a treat we got to watch the film, Coco.

Year 5

To celebrate Spanish Day, Year 5 learnt songs in Spanish such as Day of the Dead and a Roman song.  We also listened to some different Spanish singers and discussed their music.  Children researched Spain and completed a quiz as well as playing a Spanish gym game.  Children also made masks and learnt about some Spanish festivals.