pre-2011 elementary school ideas

[Anonymous]

Could be useful...

-m@x

The Chinese Lunar New Year

Saturday, January 28, 2006; Posted: 10:03 p.m. EST (03:03 GMT)

(Reuters) -- Here are some key facts about the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, which began on Sunday:

# The Lunar New Year, also called the Spring Festival, is the most important holiday for ethnic Chinese and a time when many of China's 1.3 billion people traditionally head to their hometowns to be with family. New Year's Day usually falls on the day of the second new moon after the winter solstice.

# The New Year is celebrated with firecrackers, dragon dances and visits to friends and family. The 15-day New Year season ends with the Lantern Festival, when brightly colored lamps are strung up in parks around the country.

# According to the Chinese zodiac, which is based on a 12-year cycle with each year represented by an animal, January 29, 2006, marks the start of the year of the Dog, which will last for 385 days until February 17, 2007.

# Chinese soothsayers predict that the year augurs well for the global economy but drought and fires could be a problem. Chinese tradition also holds that 2006 will be a year of bad luck for those born under the sign of the Dog.

# Every year the rush of Chinese heading home for the Spring Festival sparks the biggest movement of people on earth, with an estimated 144 million traveling by train during the 40-day peak travel season which began on January 14.

Sources: Reuters, People's Daily Online http://www.english.people.com.cn

[Anonymous]

http://www.mandarintools.com/chinesename.html

This site takes factors such as your birth date, character traits, and given name to construct a Chinese name for you. The kids love it. It's part of an On-line Chinese Tools website that has everything from a Chinese/English Dictionary to a Currency Converter, Chinese Software, Flashcards, and calendars.

Worth a visit,
m@x[Edit by="gmzarou on Jan 29, 12:39:45 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

m@x,
Thanks for the information. I had posted a question in the Middle School thread about information and ideas about Chinese New Year. I am going to share the information with my students on Monday. Usually, I have calendars that mark the Chinese New Year, yet for some reason this year, none of my calendars had the date in it. We are discussing the Chinese Zodiac as well, lots of fun for 6th graders.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!
Felisa

[Anonymous]

I teach second grade and at our school we have Big Buddies program where 5th graders comes in to work with my second grade class. I decided to incorporate a lesson celebrating China through art, map skills, and writing. My students first made a Chinese Lantern with their buddy in order to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We spent time discussing the Chinese New Year as a class. When they completed their lantern, they received a map of China. Together they were able to color in the map and answer a number of questions using the map. The students gained map skills along with learning interesting facts about china. Students were able to identify cities and rivers in China and label their map accordingly.

[Anonymous]

I just taught my students how to write numbers 1-10 in Chinese. The students used a felt tip pen to resemble a calligraphy brush. The students spent time practicing each number. During math time my students paired up and created math problems with another child in the class. Each pair would roll a dice, whatever number the dice landed on, the student would write down that number in Chinese and also the number their partner rolled. Then the students would have to use those numbers to write an addition or subtraction fact to complete. The students enjoyed writing math problems with Chinese numbers.

[Anonymous]

I think the Chinese American Museum in LA would be good for a 1-2 hour feild trip. The facilities aren't too big so you wouldn't have to worry about losing any little ones. There is student work posted in the museum as well. It has a small family run business type of feel to it. There is enough art to keep the students interest and it would be easy to incorporate a lesson on Chinese American History.

Click here to view their website

" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.camla.org/images/garnier1.jpg

[Anonymous]

In my classroom we do a huge fairytale unit. After a bit of exploration at Barnes and Noble I found many Cinderella Stories from other countries and then the Chinese version of "Little Red Riding Hood" titled "Lon Po Po."

[Anonymous]

Comparing stories from different cultures is fun. I usually compare Cinderella, but this year I switched. I really liked the Peach Boy and discovered there is another story called the Inch Boy (both Japanese tales). I had students brainstorm about books that sounded similar, and then we read Tom Thumb and Thumbling. It was a nice change. I am currently searching for additional stories from other cultures about a small child who accomplishes something no one else thought they would have been able to do.

[Anonymous]

Kim,
I already have the lantern project on our web site but would love to add the math lesson. Can we write it up this week and get it loaded?

[Anonymous]

I've found a great resource if you are interested in teaching your students about symbolism in asian art. It contains a short list of symbols, their meanings, and a 6th grade lesson plan to use.

http://www.clevelandart.org/educef/asianodyssey/html/VirSymbMS.html

[Anonymous]

Along the lines of symbolism... here is another website that describes and explains the united states great seal.

http://www.greatseal.com/

[Anonymous]

Finally, the best site i've found yet... This one includes a list of 15 or so animals and what they represent in Asian works of art. I plan on using it as I create my website lessons.

http://www.asianartmall.com/refsymbols.htm

[Anonymous]

In second grade we introduce an Atlas to our students. We discuss different types of maps and how to read different maps. We focus on the importance of the map key. After we explored our class Atlas, I handed out a map of China to my students. The students designed a map key to show the major cities, rives, and country borders. The students were able to label all of these things independently with different symbols and colors. Then the students were asked to answer questions specifically about the map.

[Anonymous]

Yesterday my 1st Grade class went on a field trip to a farm. Always thinking of ways to connect Asia into the day-to-day classroom learning activities, I found information and worksheets on farm animals in China. The short printable book has pages for the kids to cut out, read and color. The Chinese characters are given for each animal name so the kids can practice their calligraphy. The little book is called Sheng Chu/Livestock. I think the kids will enjoy this. http://www.enchantedlearning.com

[Anonymous]

I was searching for some good website resources for Asian based curriculum lesson plans and information. I found one site: Asia EdNet and I think their site can be very useful in developing lesson plans or your curriculum. They have a discussion group, a website directory, and best of all learning activities! I think it could be used a as online lesson where kids would be required to access certain pages and then respond.

http://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/network/">Check out the Website Here!

http://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/network/

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