FOR THE Love of Reading
chinese new year activities
1. Wear Red Clothes
Red is symbolic of wealth and good fortune in China, making the color synonymous with Lunar New Year. Encourage your students to wear red for good fortune in the new year. Red is also seen as a weapon to scare away monsters.
2. Do Some Cleaning
This may not be the most exciting Chinese New Year classroom activity, but cleaning is an important part of Chinese traditions. Families clean their homes leading up to the New Year as a way to “sweep away” bad luck from the past year and start fresh. Keep in mind that cleaning on the actual day is discouraged for fear that you will sweep or wash away your good luck!
3. Play Dominoes
On New Year’s Eve, children stay up late playing games. The Chinese invented dominoes back in the 12th century, which makes dominoes a fitting game for the holiday. Have your students use dominoes to make patterns, solve basic math problems, or create chain reactions to teach the domino effect.
4. Eat Dumplings and Mandarin Oranges
Food and feasting are a major part of the traditions. In particular, the Chinese eat dumplings to symbolize moving away from the old and welcoming the new. Similarly, oranges are eaten because their golden color represents wealth.
5. Hold a Lantern Festival or Dragon Dance
The 15th day of Lunar New Year culminates in a Lantern Festival, which is often a public parade including paper lanterns and a dancing paper dragon. Challenge your class to get creative by making their own paper lanterns and dragons for your party.
6. Talk about Symbolism
As you can see, much of this holiday is steeped in symbolism, with names, colors, and myths all contributing to various meanings. Another way to approach symbolism is through the 12 Chinese zodiac animals. 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit, and each zodiac sign plays a huge part in the year ahead. Have students research the meaning behind the zodiac animal from their birth year. Chances are your class will be split between two birth years, so to cover all 12 animals in the zodiac, you may need to assign beyond birth years.
7. Discuss Other Cultures and Holidays
While Lunar New Year is celebrated by more than a billion people worldwide, chances are high that this could be your elementary and middle school students’ first time actually celebrating. To introduce the holiday, try posing some of these questions to your class for a discussion or short writing assignment.
How is Lunar New Year celebrated in your community? How has it been celebrated by people in the past? How are these traditions similar? How are they different?
What traditions and holidays are celebrated in your community?
What are some other holidays that are celebrated in the world but not by your family or community?
Some other culturally significant holidays you can discuss include: Holi, Ramadan, Guy Fawkes Night, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Bodhi Day, Día de los Muertos, and Bastille Day.
8. Read books
Check out this virtual library for read alouds and informational videos.
9. Schedule a LIVE Online Field Trip
Click here and submit your field trip request 4 weeks in advance…so NOW! Visit the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art. What is Lunar New Year, and how is the celebration similar to and different from celebrations marking January 1? Experience the entertainment, foods, symbols, and other customs of Lunar New Year. During this virtual field trip, students will explore works of art; other possible activities include participating in an interactive storytelling session, completing a simple art project, or watching video clips of Lunar New Year festivities. Ring in the Year of the Rabbit!
FOR THE Love of Reading Cont.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Do's and Dont's of MLK Day from Learning for Justice.
Listen to Chandra read the letter D is for Dream from the book Peace, Love, Action! Everyday Acts of Goodness by Tanya Zabinski.
- Reach out and we’d love to come lead an interactive read aloud or writing activity to go along with MLK Jr. Day. I have dozens of picture books that lend themselves to great conversations and writing prompts. Email cziegler@maresa.org.
Listen to MLK’s I have a dream speech and have an open discussion followed by quiet writing time about their dreams for the world. My favorite story about this activity is one year a little kindergarten sweetheart told me his dream was that I would be his mom. Gosh I just love kids. Let us nurture their innate love and hope by talking about ways to spread peace and love in our schools and communities.
I have a dream editable template for K-3.
Celebrate his life and work with this Google slides writing FREEBIE! This is for 4th-5th grade.
Engaging Families
get outdoors!
Encourage families to read the book Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. Then, take their kids out for a walk to go owling! Afterwards, they can warm up with hot cocoa or tea and draw/write about their experience. It's such a great mentor text to use to help students become stronger writers. Show them through this wonderful story how to stretch out a small moment, how to use literary language, and much more.
Engaging communities
Peace pole project
A Peace Pole is an internationally-recognized symbol of the hopes and dreams of the entire human family for peace to prevail on Earth. Check out this website for some inspiration as a jumping off point. The possibilities are endless. How can you and your students collaborate with other classrooms, schools, community businesses, parks, or local gathering places? Peace poles are a great way to start. But what about desktop peace poles? School peace poles? A peace pole park where people can sit and relax? How about starting peace pals (instead of pen pals) to collaborate and share ideas? Working together to generate steps to solve problems peacefully and posting them next to the peace pole on playgrounds? Read the book I am Peace by Susan Verde for additional inspiration! Perhaps your class can create their own adaptations.
professional development
free comprehensive History Webinars
Begin Online Next Week
January 5, 2023
LANSING – The next series of webinars offering educators greater depth of knowledge for social studies instruction in a variety of important historical movements begins next week, noted the Michigan Department of Education (MDE).
Opening the 2023 Comprehensive History Instruction webinar series will be a three-part, free, online webinar series from 4-5 p.m. on consecutive Wednesdays in January – January 11, 18, 25, 2023 – that highlight the Civil War Amendments Up to the Civil Rights Movement.
“The amendments to the U.S. Constitution following the Civil War are pivotal in the progress of our nation,” said State Superintendent Dr. Michael Rice. “As members of a diverse state, nation, and world, school staff and students need to know our rich, complex history. We begin this year’s series with these powerful webinars and encourage Michigan educators and school leaders to sign up and deepen their knowledge to share with our state’s young people. As searing as some of our history is, we have a responsibility to teach it all to our children.”
The webinar content aligns with multiple grade levels of Michigan’s K-12 social studies standards, approved by Michigan’s State Board of Education in 2019. The Teaching Comprehensive History webinars can be helpful learning for educators in all roles and responsibilities. Continuing education credits are available for educators who attend the various webinars. Michigan educators can register for the webinar series by visiting the conference registration page:
Registration is ongoing and limited; register as soon as possible
This webinar series will help educators learn more about historical movements, events, and peoples that are part of the rich, diverse history of our country and world. Presenters will help educators learn more about movements in and aspects of history about which many educators may have had little if any background.
This year’s series of free virtual webinars will explore the following topics (all times are in the Eastern Time Zone):
- Civil War Amendments Up to the Civil Rights Movement
January 11, 18, and 25, 2023, 4-5 p.m.
- Civil Rights Movement: National and Michigan Views
February 8, 15, and 22, 2023, 4-5 p.m.
- Equal Rights Movement
March 15, 22, and 29, 2023, 4-5 p.m.
- Intersection of Civil Rights Movement and Equal Rights Movement
April 19, 2023, 4-5 p.m.
- Disability Rights Movement
April 26 and May 3, 2023, 4-5 p.m.
- Labor Rights Movement
May 10, 17, and 24, 2023, 4-5 p.m.
- Social Studies Classroom Practice and Pedagogy
June 7, 2023, 4:00–5:30 p.m.
The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) identifies teaching comprehensive history as an important effort supporting Michigan’s Top 10 Strategic Education Plan. An essential part of MDE’s efforts to improve comprehensive history instruction is to support teachers with opportunities to expand their knowledge to educate students.
In April 2022, MDE launched its comprehensive history instruction webinar series to assist educators in learning about historical movements, events, and peoples that are part of the rich, diverse history of our country and world. Previous webinars included: Remembering the Holocaust; Maawndoonganan: Using the Indigenous-Developed Social Studies Resource Guide to Teach To and About First Peoples; Asian Americans and the United States: Immigration and Citizenship Movements; and Public Resources for Teaching Comprehensive History.
The webinar series is produced in collaboration with institutions of higher education, cultural centers, and the 12 federally recognized tribes of Michigan that form the Confederation of Michigan Tribal Education Departments to assist educators with teaching and learning about comprehensive history through thematic instruction. Supporter education organizations of the comprehensive history instruction series include the following:
- Michigan Council for the Social Studies
- Michigan Council for History Education
- Michigan Education Association
- AFT Michigan
- Michigan Elementary & Middle School Principals Association
- Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals
- Michigan Association of Superintendents & Administrators
- Michigan Alliance for Student Opportunity
- Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators
- Michigan Association for Media in Education
- Library of Michigan
- Michigan Library Association
- Michigan Academic Library Association
Go! Go! Gaby!
Interactive Presentations
Can you believe we will soon be celebrating 100 days of school? I'm sharing a Google Slides/Pear Deck you can use in your class. The Pear Deck add-on allows you to create interactive presentations by adding features like drag-and-drop, drawing, or writing for your students to participate.
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