Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Lunar New Year with kindergarteners


This afternoon, I went to Nico's kindergarten class to give a little presentation on Lunar New Year. It was so much fun!

When I talked to Mrs. Miracle about the idea last week, she was really enthusiastic. She even mentioned me in her weekly newsletter! Nico was so excited about me coming to his class that he talked about it all week long.

When I arrived at his class today, the students were all sitting quietly listening to Mrs. Miracle. I sat next to her and Nico asked if he could help me. He sat in a little chair next to me and read the book "Dragon Dance" to his class. Then, I read "Red is a Dragon" to them. Nico was so happy and proud, especially when Mrs. Miracle let him call on his classmates who had questions for me. We talked about the lunar calendar, Chinese New Year traditions and the significance of the color red. We talked about the Chinese Zodiac animals and that this year is the Year of the Rat (or mouse). We talked a LOT about dragons too - everyone seemed to be interested in dragons. Then, Nico helped pass out lucky red envelopes with play money to all of his classmates and taught his class to say "goodbye" in Chinese as I left the room.

It was the first time I had visited Nico's class for something like this and now that I've done it, I am looking forward to getting more involved in his school activities. It was such a heartwarming, affirming experience.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Isn't it fun to be the cool mom?! I was the "dinosaur lady" on career day, and Jake was equally proud. Let us savor these moments. In a few years they will be embarassed that they even have mothers :(

Meg said...

The teacher's name is Ms. Miracle?? Seriously?

That's kind of awesome. Think of all the great stories he'll have later in life.