Celebrating the Chinese New Year

Happy New Year
Art/Writing January 28 is the start of Chinese New Year this year. It will be the year of the Rooster. Have students create some lanterns, decorate your classroom with poems on red paper, and give students "lucky money" in red envelopes. Have students research what the rooster signifies, then have them write fortune cookie notes of good luck for one another, fold in triangular shapes, mix in a box and distribute.

Here is an informative site about Chinese New Year. What celebrations are being planned in your area or in the closest city? Ask Chinese families in your community how you might learn about and participate in their festivities.

Celebrate the Chinese New Year
This Chinese New Year lesson features an outstanding skit, art projects, and encourages appreciation of Chinese culture through celebration.

Chinese Fireworks
Social Studies/Science Gunpowder was actually discovered by accident by the Chinese, but its use is popular during Chinese New Year celebrations, when fireworks will light the sky in many areas. Use this experiment to help explain the scientific event. Fill an empty film canister halfway with water. Drop in one Alka-Seltzer tablet and immediately put on the lid. Turn the canister upside down on a table (clear the table beforehand of anything that might get wet) and stand back. Have the students design a study using differing amounts of water and differing amount of Alka-Seltzer.

Animals of the Chinese Zodiac
After completing this lesson, students will know what a symbol is and understand that the Chinese calendar is divided into cycles of 12-years, in which each year is represented by an animal. They will also become familiar with the story explaining the choice of the 12 zodiac animals and understand that each animal of the calendar symbolizes certain character traits and learn about their own signs within the Chinese zodiac.

Chinese Inventions and the Chinese New Year
Here your students can learn about the contributions the Chinese have made in the fields of technology, science, textiles, games and toys, and the arts.