Our Chinese New Year 09

This year we decided to celebrate Chinese New Year with Josie's preschool class. Because of snow days, our celebration was delayed until today. I will say, right here at the start, that teachers are not paid enough. After just an hour of directing the class in making Chinese Lanterns - I was beat!

We started with circle time. I read this book to the class:


(sorry for the flash glare!)

This book does a beautiful job of explaining the preparations and traditions of the Chinese New Year. It details the traditional foods associated with the holiday and their meanings. The pictures are colorful and large. Excellent for preschoolers.

Once I read the book, we moved to tables and made our Chinese lanterns. We started by decorating the paper with Chinese stamps of bamboo leave; symbols for happiness, wealth, and love; cherry blossoms; and fans. Then we used our safety scissors to cut the paper, glued the edges together and stapled on the handles.

Once the lanterns were done, I showed the kids what was inside their "Chinese take-out gift box". We gave them a tangerine (for a sweet life); a Chinese Noise maker (to wake up the dragon so he could bring on the Spring rains); a traditional 'red envelope' with a gold $1 coin inside (for wealth/prosperity); some Haw Flakes (a Chinese pressed fruit wafer/candy and two pieces of 'Good Luck' candy.

The kids were thrilled when they found out they got candy AND money. Bonus day, no doubt! We then posed for a photo while shouting "Gung Hay Fat Choy!"



Here's a final shot of Josie showing off her beautiful New Years dress:



Happy New Year!