Dear Parents,
We had a great time celebrating the Chinese New Year. We started the unit by listening to stories about how New Years is celebrated in China. We also learned about their customs and traditions. Some of the stories we read were: The Dancing Dragon, by Marcia Vaughan, and My First Chinese New Year, by Karen Katz.
According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2017 is the year of the Red Fire Rooster which is celebrated starting from January 28, 2017 to February 15, 2017. Roosters rank 10th position in the Chinese Zodiac. People born in a year of the rooster are very observant, hardworking, resourceful, courageous, and talented. Roosters are very confident in themselves.
Chinese New Year is a time when families get together to celebrate. In the days coming up to the New Year every family buys presents, decorations, food, new clothes, and have their hair cut. Houses are cleaned from top to bottom. The aim is to sweep out any bad luck from the old year and clear the way for good luck. People greet each other by saying " Gung Hay Fat Choy"!, which means Happy New Year.
We prepared for the New Year's celebration by making red glittery fans. We also made red drums. The children painted plates and decorated them with Chinese stickers, gold glitter and bells. We added a dowel to each one of them to use as the handle. The drum was made to re-create a traditional Chinese instrument called Bolang Gu, or a pellet drum. The instrument is used in Chinese ritual music and is a child's toy as well.
On Friday, we had a fabulous school-wide celebration. Yuting read the children a story called Bringing in the New Year, by Grace Lin, and sang and danced to a New Year song. She also brought in lanterns, a traditional girl's outfit, and a Chinese calligraphy kit for the children to experience the Chinese culture.
Annie, Eleanor's mother, made made delicious vegetable dumplings and brought in tangerines and apples, which the children enjoyed at snack time.
The children learned how to say "Congratulations" and "Happy New Year" in Mandarin (gon chi) before receiving a red envelope with an ancient Chinese coin inside.
Thank you to Yuting and Annie for making the Chinese New Year celebration a wonderful fun and learning experience for the children.
Love,
Ms. Bonne and Ms. Barbara
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