Waking the Dragon

I didn't get to post yesterday... we have been busy and visiting with my sister has been a treat!! She really has been a lot of fun and has brought in such a wonderful Chinese New Year's experience!!
We Woke the Dragon yesterday... we read Dragon Dance again and made some comparisons about the dragons that were in the book and the ones we made. We talked about how the Dragon brings the Spring Rains to all the Farm Fields. We then had to Wake Up that Dragon (even though we really didn't want anymore rain here in NC :) ) We got out all our Musical Instruments and started making lots of noise!!!

Then while we all made some noise... a Dragon Magically appeared near Aunt Jackie!!

He shimmied and danced around the room

My Niece was used to the Dragon, so he didn't scare her at all... but some of our friends were a little apprehensive

After the Dragon went back to his resting spot, we made Chinese Lanterns from Red and Yellow Paper

Aunt Jackie even helped us make a Banner or Spring Couplet stating... Good Luck and Good Fortune... The kids were interested in the writing and traced it when Aunt Jackie was done. We then used Gold Glitter Glue to highlight the characters.

My Niece helping Little Miss M with her Chinese Lantern

Yes, Little Miss M needs to be right in the middle... I know she thinks she can do ANYTHING those big kids can do!!!

Our drying Banners. After they dried I punched holes at the top and tied on gold yarn to make a hanger for the kids to hang in their room, from a door knob, or on their doors.

We were going to send home our Chinese Lanterns right away, but they came out so beautiful we decided to hang them here in the playroom so we can see them all week!!!

We had a really great day... and I loved having my Sister and Niece here to help us. They really brought a beautiful and accurate account of the Chinese New Year that I have never been able to pull off before :)

Dancing Lion

Today we continued our celebration of Chinese New Year!!

We read The Dancing Dragon, by Marcia Vaughan and Red is Dragon, by Roseanne Thong today. My Niece brought out a Dancing Lion marionette that she introduced to the children when we got to the Dancing Lion part in the Dancing Dragon book. She made the Lion swing and sway, which the children loved. We talked about how this Lion doesn't look like an actual Lion we made think of, but made observations about way that the Lions were similar.

After we finished our reading, we decided that it was time for our Chinese New Year Parade. Aunt Jackie taught us a special New Year song in English and Chinese to the tune of O My Darling Clementine. Then the Sleeping Dragon, who had awakened to dance with the children, led the parade around the house. The children got out their instruments again, and off we went singing Happy New Year in Chinese and English. Our Parade was led not only by the very special dragon, but our own very special Birthday Girl, the Little Princess.

On Parade!!!

After our Parade we gave those kids who were apprehensive yesterday a chance to look at and touch the Dragon. The kids really enjoyed touching and getting hugs from him.

Syd getting her hug!!!

Aunt Jackie has a Very Special book about her trip to China, to bring her daughter home. She shared some special photos of Chinese New Year that she had taken herself while in China. We got to see photos of Real Chinese Banners and Lanterns hanging in the homes in China.

She talked about how special the color Red is in China, especially at the New Year.

After seeing Aunt Jackie's special photos we read Red is Dragon, by Roseanne Thong. It talked about all sorts of colors and had some beautiful pictures. For 2 of our centers we set out colored paper for a color collage and set up the easel with Red, Blue & Yellow so the kids could combine the colors to make anything they wanted. Both centers were very popular.





Our time with Aunt Jackie and my Niece is coming to an end. They leave on Friday and we will miss them. It is so nice to have someone new at Childcare who shares the same love of children. We were able to come up with some great activities, learn about new things and have a lot of fun doing it!!! I will miss them a lot!!!!

Chinese New Year

Today we welcomed Aunt Jackie and Maia to Daycare for a little visit. My sister Jackie and her daughter came all the way from NY to visit with us and teach us a little about Chinese New Year. Maia was born in China and they were a wealth of information for us. They had songs to sing and an array of such wonderful books to look through!!

We started our day by getting to know Maia during some free play time!! Always fun! Circle Time came next where we did our usual morning activities and then read Dragon Dance By Joan Holub. It was a great introductory book on Chinese New Year geared toward the preschool age. It was fun reading, and learning Gung Hay Fat Choy... which means "Wishing You Good Fortune and a Prosperous New Year" The kids had fun pronouncing the words.

Then we decided it would be a great idea to sweep, dust and mop away the old year and start fresh. So we got out our Cleaning Up supplies and dusted shelves, toys, swept the floors, and fixed the pictures on the wall. We then finished up our morning with the making of a dragon puppet that we will use in a parade later in the week.

I think the kids got an idea of Chinese New Year and they loved playing with Maia!! She is 7 after all and was a lot of fun to play with. She was able to add an element to the play that isn't always there... novelty, different ideas, momentum, conversation, and modeling. They had a wonderful time getting to know one another.

We went to Monster Jam on Saturday, and my camera has been missing since. I know it came home, so it is only a matter of time before it shows up. Hopefully I will get some photos of our day tomorrow and can add some of the special shots we got at Monster Jam... which is not only loud, but a lot of fun as well!!!