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Chinese New Year
Carol Hartery's Free Activity Tools Books and Ideas
(Please note that I originally wrote this article in 2007 and updated it through 2010. Though the animal may change year to year, the basic ideas do not. )
Gung Hey Fat Choy! 2010 Welcomes the Tiger by Carol Hartery Gung Hey Fat Choy! Happy New Year! The Chinese New Year of the Tiger begins on February 14, 2010. Chinese New Year is a holiday that lasts 15 days. It begins on the first day of the lunar new year. Families gather together to show their love and support for each other. In preparation for the holiday, houses are cleaned to sweep away the old year. Homes are decorated with plants and flowers (symbols of rebirth) and scrolls that have good wishes inscribed on them. Oranges and tangerines are displayed to bring good luck and prosperity in the New Year. The color red is worn and used to decorate because red is a lucky color and symbolizes happiness. People buy new clothes and pay off their debts for a fresh start. Firecrackers are set off to scare away bad spirits and welcome the New Year. Parades are held so that the Chinese community can share its culture with others. According to the Massachusetts Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences for English Language Arts (strand 6) students should listen to a wide variety of age appropriate literature including books that relate to families and cultures. Strand 1.9 for grade one from the Massachusetts Social Studies Frameworks states we should, "Explain that Americans have a variety of different religious, community, and family celebrations and customs, and describe celebrations or customs held by members of the class and their families." The NAEYC Curriculum Strand 2.L.03 for Social Studies states that opportunities to build an understanding of diversity in culture be provided. With those strands in mind we have stocked our shelves with a great selection of Chinese New Year tales and Chinese tales. Look for the following stories in either of our stores: Chinese New Year by Lola Schaefer D is for Dragon Dance by YIng Chang Compestine The Dancing Dragon by Marcia Vaughan Dragon Dance by Joan Holub Dragon Parade by Steven A. Chin Cat and Rat, The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac by Ed Young Celebrating Chinese New Year by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes by Robert Wyndham Chinese New Year Dragon by Rachel Sing Cleversticks by Bernard Ashley D is for Dragon Dance by YIng Chang Compestine Dragon Dance by Joan Holub Dragon Parade by Steven A. Chin Lanterns and Firecrackers, A Chinese New Year Story by Jonny Zucker Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan's Chinese New Year by Kate Waters Paper Lanterns by Stefan Czernecki Sam and the Lucky Money by Karen Chinn Tangram Magician by Lisa Campbell Ernst Tangrams are believed to have originated in China. These 7 piece puzzles can be used to create an endless variety of shapes and are a great tool for children to use to explore geometric concepts. We sell class sets of tangrams. Some tangram stories you l want to share with your students include: Grandfather Tang's Story by Ann Tompert Three Pigs, One Wolf and Seven Magic Shapes by Grace Maccarone Chopsticks can be used for more than eating food! The Zoo Sticks that we carry can be used for all sorts of fine motor activities. Use these chopsticks to see how many bear counters you can put in a bowl in 30 seconds. Or they can be used to pick up buttons or other manipulatives as they are placed in a sorting tray. Decorate your classroom or home with some scrolls to help celebrate the New Year. Give each child a 12" x 18" red construction paper and 2 paper towel tubes. The tubes can be stapled or glued to the short sides of the paper. The child can print the words, "Gung Hay Fat Choy" on the red paper and then decorate the paper with scraps from your red collage box and other red materials such as milk caps, feathers, pompoms, and tissue paper. We carry large and small dragon shape note pads and some dragon puppets. We always stock red construction paper, red feathers, red pompoms, red glitter, red pipe cleaners, red tissue paper, and red paint to help your students create scrolls and other decorations for your classroom. You will find the song "Chinese New Year" on Jackie Silberg's "Touched by a Song" cd. Activities for that song and other songs on the cd are included on a flyer that is included inside the cd. Simple Version Cut a 12-cup egg carton in half the long way so that you have 2 strips of 6 cups each. Have a child completely paint the egg cup strip (original bottom of egg carton) with red paint. When the paint dries have the child create a dragon using glitter pompoms, sparkly pipe cleaners, shiny ribbons, glitter, wiggly eyes and other materials from your collage box.
Egg Carton Dragon Puppet Adult will need to prepare one egg carton for each student afterthe carton
has been painted. Lay an empty egg carton on the table so that it is completely open and flat and the original bottom of the carton is face up...see illustration. Have each child paint a carton. When the cartons are completely dry, cut between the middle egg cups so that you have 2 rows of 3 cups on each side. Continue cutting across so that you cut just the edge of what would have been the top of the egg carton. Do not cut the actual top of the egg carton. Close the egg carton. Fold the egg carton so that the top of the egg carton
ends
Good luck with this project! Carol
Enjoy!
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tltree
consultant extraordinaire, who presents teacher training and parent workshops on a variety of exciting topics in schools, at educational conferences & events across the country.
> Link to Carol Hartery's Teacher Training Workshops
Copyright ©2009 Ideas and pictures presented here are designed to be used by the classroom teacher within her/his class only; they may not be duplicated or distributed without the permission of tltree.com. To obtain permission, please email carol@tltree.com for guidelines regarding use of this material. |
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