Our Lunar New Year celebration was a huge success. In honor of the holiday, we made some Asian inspired crafts. We created paper lanterns, Chinese dragons, and Asian fans. We got to use lots of glitter and that makes everything beautiful and festive!

We had a special snack of chocolate fortune cookies! We were all very excited to hear what our fortunes were. Most of us took them home in special places in our backpacks.

We read stories about traditions in Asia. We learned that China, Korea, and Vietnam all celebrate Lunar New Year and that they have many traditions that are the same! We learned that in China some people say “Gung Hay Fat Choy” which means “wishing you great happiness and prosperity.” We learned how to say hello in Vietnamese “Sin Chow” (xin chao.) We learned that bowing is common in many countries.

We are also learning that many cultural celebrations involve cleaning house, getting together with family, cooking and eating special foods, getting dressed up, lights, candles, fireworks, and the joy of traditions.

We went on an awesome dragon parade. We took some of our beautiful dragons and lanterns along with some of Mrs. Kolotos’s real Vietnamese lanterns and her Cambodian gong and we processed through the whole lower school, the middle school and the administration offices. It was fun to show off all we had created.

We learned that it is customary in many countries for children to be given red envelopes with money in them. In Korea the children have to bow in front of the elders before they get the envelope.  Mrs. Kolotos had red envelopes for us, but in keeping with tradition, we bowed as we exchanged them with her and Mrs. Hawkins. We thought it was great, if we got envelopes of money! At the end of the day Mrs. Kolotos gave us all little doll magnets that she brought back from Vietnam.

What an awesome way to learn about another culture! Happy New Year!