In preparation for Chinese New Year, we're doing something NEW to story time: focusing on the culture and facts about one country (CHINA!)
Those of you who know me of old may remember my favorite class I ever taught was a 6th grade social studies course -- a survey of world history and culture. With all of history and all of Earth's people (and their habits) as your course work, how could you NOT have an amazing journey?
WELCOME SONG AND RULES
MYSTERY BAG: PANDA
WORD of the WEEK:
English: CHINA
Chinese 中国 (use Google translate -- it sounds like CHUNG-kuwa)
Spanish: CHINA (Pronounced CHEE-nah)
BOOK:
Two of Everything by Lily Toy Hong (Albert Whitman, 1993) Retelling of a folk tale where a magic pot multiplies everything-- even the people in the story.
Anything by Jon Muth would be a good choice-- Chinese and Japanese culture share some important elements and Muth's stories don't specify a country....
Electronic Resources:
* TIME for KIDS magazine online has a whole sub-site on China. Small kids will especially relate to the "Day in the Life" and "Native Lingo", which pronounces some key Chinese words.
PebbleGo has a wonderful visual introduction to this country: https://www.pebblego.com/content/socialstudies/article.html?a=8635 (subscription required)
Count to 10 with a video: this one is short, shows great graphics, and the teacher is clear and friendly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoKI-FUQRGw
Craft: we made Chinese FLAGS with red construction paper and pre-cut stars: this took some doing, a coloring page may work, if you don't have time to cut out 500 stars (100 kindergarten students * 5 days of lessons = tired hands!) Show students a model of the flag and have them replicate it as closely as they can.
We also made chinese BINGO, using words from the PebbleGo article and the animals of the Chinese zodiac. Winner got a Bookmark!
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