School Time: Chinese New Year Project

Gong xi fa cai! Happy year of the rat! My Chinese New Year activities were limited to helping out with a activity in Cosette's classroom. A group of us moms volunteered and we had a very fun mourning. 

I called upon Cosette's teacher in Singapore, who I am so lucky to still be in contact with (those teachers are the best!). I asked her what children in America should know about CNY. She gave me some great ideas and a cute video (ironically made by Panda Express) that gave a really good history behind all the CNY traditions. 

We decorated a lion head, practiced our Chinese calligraphy, had some traditional treats called love letters (they look like Pepperidge Farm Priouettes without any filling), hong boa (red envelopes) filled with chocolate coins, and have our very own lion dance. 

I put together the lion head, thank you Pintrest. I really enjoyed putting it together. The kids cut out red construction paper for the lion's fur. I got some paint pens, so that it was more like a calligraphy brush when practicing the Chinese characters. 

I was in charge of the kids doing the lion dance. I told them about how in Singapore we count down "1, 2, 3" and say "huata" to start the lion dance. Each table had their turn to do the lion dance around the class room. They got really good at yelling "huata". I had also borrowed some noise makers for the kids to shake while doing the lion dance around the room. As close to the real thing as we could get to in American classroom. 

The kids school does not have many opportunities to volunteer in the classroom. I am really glad we were asked and it is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate. 


I love these lion puppets another mom brought in.
Explaining out super awesome project.




Year of the rat hong bao. 

\
How does our lion compare to the puppet?
Angel baby.

"1! 2! 3! Huata!" 



The Mom's turn.

Rapha had his own lion dance at the playground later on.

 Video below we shared with the kids about the CNY history behind the traditions.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Traveling Half Way around the World

Image
We made it to Manila! We flew over the US and the Pacific Ocean to get here. Our total travel time was 55 hours. It was long but surprisingly not bad at all. Cosette was an angel and the Haneda Airport in Tokyo was like a hotel. If those two things had been any different attitude in writing would not be so positive. This odessy of a journey begun way before our first flight. Packing up our apartment for our subletters took a lot longer than we supposed it would. So instead of being refreshed and ready for the long trip over we were tried and I did not want to get out of bed. We got enough sleep to keep on going till our flight from NYC to San Fransicso where we tried to rest. That flight for me was the worst. Cosette did sleep but was up for a lot of it. The plane was cramped and Lyndon and I were seperated by the aile. Thankgoodness for kind and patient people who sat next to us. Playing at the San Fransico airport.   Our flight to Japan was awesome. We had a
Read more

Remote Learning Part 1

Image
Remote learning is over for now, thank goodness. We have been doing remote learning since March 20. We are experts at google classroom, zoom meetings, and google meets. It's been rough, but we did it!  This post is long and detailed about what each kid had to do everyday for school. It was intense. The kids did wonderfully. Their teachers are amazing! They worked around the clock to learn all the new technology, meeting with students individually. I received personal phone calls from them asking what they could do to help and also talking to my kids. I am so grateful for the teachers they had this year.  All three kids participated in remote learning. Each grade/teacher did something different. What they all had to do was answer and attendance question by noon, read for thirty minutes a day, and I-ready (an assessment program that helped determine where they were in math and reading).  Third Grade: Cosette's assignments were what she was doing in school. She completed two huge
Read more

Valentine's Day

Image
Happy Valentine's Day! This has become one of my favorite holidays in the last few years. This year especially I am really into it. It probably has to do with my sweet Lyndon who proposed to me on V-Day four years ago. Since then he has made Valentine's Day a fun and special day. He always surprises me with something fun. Usually we go eat some where fabulous and go see a ballet or opera. He likes to do something cultural on this speical day. This year I am getting into the spirit more. Cosette can do a lot more things. We made special Valentine's for our families and made yummy cookies. She kept sneaking cookie dough and eating it. She is my daughter.  The finished product waiting for Lyndon. I went to the Cake Boss Bakery last year to get Lyndon something for V-day and was inspired to make the dark chocolate bowls filled with chocolate covered strawberries. It was a lot easier that I anticipated. Oh, and that cloth on the table are the pajama pants
Read more