Lunar New Year

                   Choc Mung Nam Moi

                   Xian Nian Kuai Le

         Those are some phrases we can say to celebrate lunar new year. They both mean happy new year. ”choc mung nam moi” is Vietnamese and “Xian nian kuai le” is Mandarin Chinese. We learnt that lunar new year is a different calendar. They base the calendar on the moon. Today we flew around Asia to see many places that celebrate lunar new year. We buckled our seat belt in our imaginary plane and flew to Vietnam, Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore and Philippines. In Vietnam they celebrate Tet. They spend new years with friends and family. They have similar characters to Chinese and they mean the same thing. It’s also customary to wear red during the new year.

Our next destination is Korea. We found Korea on the map and flew there. It only took about 2 1/2 hours. So we counted 1, 1 1/2, 2, and 2 1/2. We’re there! Lunar new year in Korea is called Seollal. During Seollal they also visit friends and family. They can go to the temple and they often wear hanbok a traditional Korean clothes. They eat Korean pancakes and other traditional foods.

Our next destinations are places that celebrate Chinese new year. China, Taiwan, Singapore and Philippines share similar tradition for lunar new year. During Chinese new year it’s lucky to wear red. On new years eve it’s customary to have a large dinner at home with family. They also give our red envelopes filled with money. Now a days they even send red envelops through the phone! We practiced saying, “Xian nian kuai le. Gongxi facai” which means, “Happy new year and wish you happiness and prosperity.” Goh-san also had an amazing song to teach us. It goes:

“Xian nian hao, xian nian hao.

Women chang ge,

Women tiao wu,

Women chang ge,

Women tiao wu,

Women qingzhu,

Xian nain hao.”

Which translates to:

“New year goodness. New year goodness.

Let’s sing,

Let’s dance,

Let’s sing,

Let’s dance,

Let’s celebrate,

New year goodness.”

Thank you Goh-san for teaching us this song!

During the circle our friends shared with us what we made this morning! Jiaozi! They told us that they used vegetable, salt, ginger, garlic, negi (green onions), meat and sesame oil. Then they mashed it together and folded it and folded it. They made two kinds of jiaozi. One without meat or animal produces and another one with meat. Look at our wrapping!

Moving Our Bodies

It was raining outside so we played dodgeball indoors instead. We played several versions of dodgeball. First we talked about the rules and the honor system. In order to play we have to be honest when we are hit and we need to sit out ourselves without having the teachers tell us. We had twenty students today so that means we have to split up in groups of 10. After we figured that out we had to come up with the name of our team. One team was “Dodgeball” and the other team was “Spiderman Boy and Girl”. Now we can get started. The first variant we played regular dodgeball. If we were hit then we’re out. The second type we added a rule. If we catch a ball then one person that’s out can come back in. The third variant we played was point based. Half of us sat out and watched our friends play. If they hit an opponent from the opposite team then they get a point. Of course we practice good sportsmanship and congratulated our friends afterwards.

Free Play and Special Moments

We saw that the carpet was bumpy during circle time so we were asked if we can fix it together. It took sometime and lots of tried but the 20 of us  were able to make it flat eventually.

Hope you had a great day!

OXO,

Flowers Class Children