Chinese New Year!

I was off on Monday and Tuesday was a snow day! I walked in on Wednesday and friends were chaining together a “dragon” using tape and construction paper. We read Jackson’s wonderful book “Dragons Love Tacos” during circle time and were able to do some fun “fire breath,” a breathing exercise we do sometimes when we have yoga! Then, Ashley gave us a demonstration on how to use a barrel of monkeys. We had some Montessori work time, and headed outside. While outside, we made several discoveries of ice around the playground, and used this opportunity to talked about water in different forms. In the afternoon, we had Spanish time with Ms. Daphne.

Thursday, we had a wonderful circle time where we discussed celebrating the Chinese New Year at the upcoming potluck. Austin from the baby room came for a visit, and showed off his traditional Chinese clothing. After circle time, we put our smocks on and got busy painting to prepare for the celebration. We used red paint and horse figurines on large paper to make “horse tracks” in honor of the year of the horse. We told a story about horses running through the forest and leaving their tracks for us to see, adding an interesting dimension to their creations. In the afternoon, we had “te” with Ms. Daphne. She spoke only in Spanish, and we pretended to poor hot tea in cups. We used spoons to mix, and used our breath to blow on the tea. This made for a really engaging interactive lesson in Spanish.  At the end of the day, we read books and Ashley flew a panda bear kite. Simply watching a kite fly with a child can give your child a sense of calm and inner peace.

Friday started out with the lovely color red. Friends were decked out with red to help celebrate the Chinese New Year. We went in to do some coloring on the Chinese symbol for “Family.” We talked about how every family has different traditions, and celebrating together can help us feel a sense of togetherness that makes us happy. While we were outside in the morning, friends watched teachers do their best to try to fly Dax’s dragon shaped kite, but we just couldn’t get it up there! So Ash brought out her awesome panda bear kite later in the day.  In the afternoon, we went out to the deck to celebrate primary friend, Jasper’s birthday on the deck. Then Chef Mike came to demonstrate how to cook fried rice in an electric wok! We were all so impressed to see how patiently, the toddler and primary classes could stay engaged with the demonstration. We had fried rice for snack. Then, we went outside and found balloons every where. Parents started arriving and the celebration ensued.

Love,
Jackie