There are so many beautiful Lunar New Year books to choose from. This week some of our favourites included Legend of the Chinese Dragon, Cat and Rat - The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac and Hiss! Boom! Pop! - Celebrating Chinese New Year. The class was especially captivated by Cat and Rat, the legend of the Chinese zodiac. The Emperor calls for a race between all the animals. The first twelve to cross the finish line will earn a spot on the Chinese Zodiac. The cat and the rat didn't think they would be able to outperform their fierce competition from the likes of the tiger, horse and other large beasts. They scheme up a plan to outwit the others by climbing aboard the buffalo's back to cross the river. As the competition intensifies, one friend betrays the other and only one ends up crossing the finish line in the top twelve.
Hiss! Boom! Pop! shares the traditions of Chinese New Year through beautiful calligraphy and Chinese brush painting. Each page highlights a different tradition such as the Lion Dance, Firecrackers, Lucky Money, Fruit, etc.
To celebrate Lunar New Year the class made cityscapes decorated with red and yellow lanterns. They used strips of recycled Chinese newsprint and gold tissue paper to create the buildings. Then, they added windows and doors using black markers. Plastic bottle caps dipped in red and yellow paint created the round lanterns. Gold glitter was sprinkled onto the wet paint. The final details were added the following day once the paint had dried to complete the lanterns. Don't they look amazing?!
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| lantern stamping |
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| sharpie time |
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| creative windows |
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| lantern details |
