The Chinese New Year seasonal pages will provide you with great resources for a number of topics related to this most important Chinese holiday. Ideas within this section include resources such as calendars, puppets, food, and more.
Your creativity can help other teachers.
Don't forget to include additional resources-documents, web sites, or a photo.
Chinese New Year or 'Spring Festival' traditionally begins on the first day of the year on the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th. The Chinese New Year is the second New Moon after the Winter Solstice. Each year is designated by one of twelve animals: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare/Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig.
Chinese New Year dates: January 23, 2012: Year of the Dragon February 10, 2013: Year of the Snake January 31, 2014: Year of the Horse
Chinese "Good Wishes" Posters Grades Various
This is a great activity to help lead into a Chinese New Year unit.
Materials:
* Red construction paper (any size, larger sizes are best)
* Black paint (liquid)
* Water
* Paint Brushes
* Simple Chinese characters with positive meanings (can be easily searched on the internet) [optional]
* Glitter - preferably gold [optional]
Water down the paint a little, so the texture is more like ink.
Have the students choose their favorite Chinese character. Or, if you prefer, students can write a positive message in English ("Happy New Year" and "Good Fortune" are good ones.) Either way, the style will look similar to Asian calligraphy. Have students paint their character or message onto the paper.
Once the paint is dry, have students 'trace' over their message with a thin line of school glue. The students, or you, can then sprinkle glitter over the glue. (This step can be left out if you prefer not to use glitter.)
Alternately: Instead of writing a message or a Chinese character, students could paint scenery in a Chinese style.
This is a great activity to help lead into a Chinese New Year unit.
Submitted by: Patricia Pruim - Iskut, BC, Canada
New Year's Party Grades K (Can be modified)
Organize a Chinese New Year's Party for your classroom. Includes books to read, foods to fix, and more.
Animals of the Chinese ZodiacGrades K-2
In this lesson plan, students will learn about the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac.
Celebrate Chinese New Year & MoreGrades Various
The New Year is a great time to motivate students to set new goals, expand their interests and develop an appreciation for others. As such, the Chinese New Year provides an excellent opportunity to create lessons that tie together standards in geography, art, reading, writing and social studies.
Celebrate the Chinese New YearGrades K-3
People Holding Hands® encourage children to celebrate the Chinese New Year with relevant props and reading materials that teach children about the celebration of the Chinese New Year.
Encourages appreciation of Chinese culture through celebration.
China
Printable worksheets, maps, crafts, and more.
Chinese Calendar
Find helpful information about this special holiday.
Chinese Inventions and the Chinese New YearGrade 2
Second graders discover several of many Chinese inventions. They learn about contributions the Chinese have made in fields of technology, science, textiles, games and toys, and the arts. Then students prepare for and celebrate the Chinese New Year, China's biggest celebration.
This is a three week unit.
Chinese New YearGrades 2-3
A lesson plan with great background information. You will need
3-5 class periods and it would be best if you could celebrate this during the actual Chinese New Year celebration time.
Chinese New Year Craft and HistoryGrades PreK-6
The FREE Asian/Chinese New Year activity craft and holiday history lesson teach children
about our celebrations and traditions. Download these two printable pages with illustrations and
instructions for the Chinese Lantern craft activity plus background information for a holiday lesson plan.
Chinese New Year Music IdeaGrades 2-4
Students are to learn the song Go A Tin , which means "lantern bright." Lanterns bring good luck for the New Year in the Chinese tradition.
Chinese/Lunar New Year
Here's the on-line access to the Chinese/Lunar New Year's Day so that you can now plan for many celebrations or a study unit around the New Year theme or Zodiac theme.
Happy Chinese New Year!
A scavenger hunt for students to complete. (It has not been updated for 2006, so you may have to do some modifications.)
Lions, Dragons, and Nian: Animals of the Chinese New YearGrades K-2
In this lesson, the students will learn about the major differences between eastern and western dragons and discover why the eastern dragons are associated with the Chinese New Year. They will hear a story about how the dragons came to rule over the major rivers of China. In the second lesson they will learn about the New Years parade and discover that firecrackers are set off to drive off evil spirits, particularly one called Nian.
This indicates resources located on The Teacher's Corner.
Chinese "Good Wishes" Posters Grades Various