Chinese New Year and the Dancing Dragons

Let's face it, kids don't just want to read about Chinese New Year, they want to feel it in their bones.

...which is why I spend the day creating Chinese New Year Dancing Dragons!

It's a cultural lesson.  We learn about the customs and read my mini-book about Chinese New Year.

Then we color, cut and put the dragon shapes in order from largest to smallest and construct the dragons--that's the math part.

Then I teach the arm motions that make the dragons "fly."

And the best part:  I get videos of Chinese New Year parades from YouTube.  I convert them to MP4s so we can watch them on our Smartboard--since the Department of Ed filters out direct YouTube videos.

..and we parade, and dance, and laugh, and the dancing dragons fly.  And I see the biggest smiles that I see all year. 

Maybe it's the Chinese drums, or the flute or the crashing cymbals.  Maybe it's your whole body moving to get those dragons airborne...or the sound of the fluttering dragon tails. 

It's magical; and I'll always say, "You haven't lived till you've danced with a Chinese New Year Dragon!"