"Good Luck, Keep Healthy & Have a Great Chinese New Year!"

Dressed in red to honor the Chinese New Year celebration, we boarded the school bus and headed to Molly Woo's Asian Bistro. 

With a special thanks to Mrs. Thitoff and the staff at Molly Woo's, we were so lucky to have an insider's peek at what a restaurant looks like behind the scenes. The staff at Molly Woo's opened their doors just for us so we could learn about the Chinese New Year and the Chinese culture. 

Chef Michael told us about growing up in Hong Kong and how his family celebrated the Chinese New Year. 

Here are some things we learned:
-The story of the 3-Headed Dragon and how the Chinese New Year began.
-The Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days and follow the Lunar Calendar. 
-During the Chinese New Year, children get red envelopes with money in them to bring good luck, wealth and success in school. 
-Before the Chinese New Year begins, Chef Michael and his family would clean their house which meant "out with the old, in with the new"!
-Chef Michael also taught us how to eat with chopsticks. 

We had a behind-the-scenes look at Molly Woo's kitchen. 

We learned how the food is cut and prepared before it is cooked. 




Chef Max told us about different Asian dishes the restaurant prepares. He gave us a cooking demonstration and showed us how to clean the wok! Max said that when Chef Max set the wok on fire that it looked like an "engine to a rocket ship"! 

We couldn't believe how fast Chef Max prepared the dishes...in less than 1 minute! We even tasted some of the dishes in the kitchen. Our favorites were Pineapple Chicken and Lo Mein Noodles. 

We learned that an important part of the Asian culture is to share dishes. So, we did just that and shared the delicious Asian dishes that Chef Max prepared. Almost everyone tried the food and loved it! It was "heavenly" as Olivia T. said! 

Lauren and Will celebrated their birthdays at Molly Woo's with humongous pieces of chocolate cake. They were nice enough to share with the rest of their friends!

And finally, following the Chinese New Year tradition, Mrs. Thitoff handed each of us red envelopes. We placed a penny inside, made a wish and fed it into the mouth of the dragon to bring us good wishes, good health and fortune for the New Year. 

In the classroom, we are are taking our interest in China a step further. Within the next few weeks we are going to become investigators to find information on Chinese culture, traditions and family life.

A Sweet Celebration

Yesterday the children were full of excitement with Valentine's in hand! Beautifully decorated boxes arrived to our classroom and the children waited patiently for our Valentine's Day celebration in the afternoon.

The students first hand-delivered Valentine's into each others boxes.

We took the time to read each of the Valentine's that filled our boxes.

We had quite a spread thanks to the wonderful parents.

So we filled our bellies with lots of candy & sweets...

Played games...

Decorated Valentine's...

& filled our bellies some more!

The students had such an awesome day celebrating Valentine's Day in our own special way!

Next week, the children will become researchers and soon-to-be experts on Chinese culture and traditions. We are excited to dive into this inquiry project with the students and see where it takes us.

This (short) Week's Ask Me

• What do you know about the Chinese New Year?
• Tell me about the book, The Rooster and The Antlers. What is the legend about the Chinese Zodiac?
• What was your favorite part of the Valentine’s Day celebration?
• Which classroom did you go to for Fun Thursday? Tell me about the story you heard. What do you know about the Winter Olympics?

"Same is boring."

The students have had a busy start to the new year and their hard work is evident in our classroom environment. At the beginning of January, mother nature brought us a winter blast one snowy Thursday afternoon. We spent the afternoon outside observing the snowflakes up-close on frozen black construction paper. From this, several authentic activities emerged.

The students sketched snowy scenes in their Science journals from our school hallways. They wrote How-To and Shape poems using words that we brainstormed describing the snow. We used photographs that were taken from that day to write captions describing the pictures. We also used our creative skills to make our own unique, six-pointed snowflakes out of diffusing paper and water colors after learning about snowflakes from Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin.  

Finally, an interactive writing piece was created from the student's words about that day. The writing reads: 

"It was an ordinary day and we were at math. We looked out the window, there were snowflakes falling to the ground. Then we went to lunch. After lunch the snow was falling harder and harder. It was covering everything! It was a winter wonderland! All of us went outside to observe snowflakes and we used black paper and magnifying glasses to take a closer look." 

Last week, the students read the book The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Pinkwater. 

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Big Orange Splot tells the story of a town where every house on neat street looks exactly the same until a big orange paint splot falls onto the roof of one of the houses. This orange splot encourages the man to paint his house to look like his dream house. The idea spreads and soon, every house on neat street has its own unique identity. 

The book spurred conversation about what it means to be an individual. The students had so many thoughtful opinions that they shared during the discussion. Most of the students voiced that it's important to be proud of who you are and why it's ok that we are all different. Here are some of the student's responses: 

• "Same is boring."
• "Spice it up a little."
• "You can have your own ideas."
• "Follow your dreams."
• "Nobody can be better than you."
• "Be yourself."

The students decided to create their own neighborhood reflecting each of their individual identities. The children illustrated their dream houses using black construction paper and oil pastels. The unique neighborhood is now displayed proudly in our classroom. 

 "Our street is us and we are it. 
Our street is where we like to be, and it looks like all our dreams." 
Daniel Pinkwater