Half Note Class Newsletter: Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Dear Parents,

We had a great time celebrating the Chinese New Year. We started the unit by listening to stories about how New Years is celebrated in China. We also learned about their customs and traditions. Some of the stories we read were: Bringing in the New Year, by Grace Lin, The Dancing Dragon, by Marcia Vaughan, and My First Chinese New Year, by Karen Katz.

According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2016 is the year of the Monkey starting from February 8, 2016 (called the Lunar New Year / Spring Festival of China) and lasting to January 27, 2017. Monkeys rank ninth position in the Chinese Zodiac. People under the sign of the monkey are wise, intelligent, confident, charismatic, loyal, inventive and have leadership skills.

Chinese New Year is a time when families get together to celebrate. In the days coming up to the New Year every family buys presents, decorations, food, new clothes, and have their hair cut. Houses are cleaned from top to bottom. The aim is to sweep out any bad luck from the old year and clear the way for good luck. People greet each other by saying "Gung Hay Fat Choy"!, which mean Happy New Year.

We prepared for the New Year's celebration by making red and gold fans. We also made red drums. The children painted plates and decorated them with Chinese stickers, gold glitter and bells. We added a dowel to each one of them to use as the handle. The drum was made to re-create a traditional Chinese instrument called the Bolang Gu, or a pellet drum. The instrument is used in Chinese ritual music as well as a child's toy.