Confucius Institute Visitors

Last Friday were very luck to have some visitors from the University of Iowa's Confucius Institute.   They gave a great presentation to our students about Chinese new years and showed students how to do some traditional paper folding crafts.

Students had a great opportunity to show off for the speakers from the Confucius Institute.

Here students were learning how to make Chinese lanterns

Students fed the dragon during its visit!

Great Night at Foreign Language Club

We had a FANTASTIC night at our foreign language club!  Check out these photos from our Chinese New Year Party.

Bring in Spring with some traditional paper cutting.

It's always great to be able to have fun with student and parents from among all the schools.  There is no better way to learn about all the great things that go on at Mid Prairie!

It wouldn't be a New Year's party without food.  Here Spanish teacher Mrs. Freeman shows folks how to make their own crab rangoons.

Not everybody can use chopsticks.  Luckily mom is there to lend a helping hand.

Here is one of our first graders adding a little bit of ZAZ to his New Year's picture.

Simply Fabulous!!!

How often do you get to do Chinese with your parents?

Even parents love a chance to learn Chinese.

Thursday is Lanuage Club Night!!

Chinese New Year

Washington Township and Wellman Elementary kindergarten students are learning about animals, especially those in the Chinese Zodiac.  We just celebrated Chinese New Year, with this year being the Year of the Dragon.  There were many activities associated with this special holiday, including watching short videos from around the world, with a special emphasis on Chinese families, and singing songs such as "Gongxi Gongxi!"  The students practiced using chopsticks with small marshmallows and Cheerios, and the students were "picking it up" really quickly!

For the 1st through 5th grades at WT and WE, there were also a number of activities for Chinese New Year, a movie about this most important holiday, the students learned a song, and they also had a quiz and a contest!  You can see the 12 signs of the Chinese Zodiac in the pictures below.

Tying it together

     Sometimes you have to work for it a little, but other times you have a great opportunity to tie a few different disciplines or ideas up into one lesson.  As our students have been finishing their Chinese New Year unit we took a look at the Tangram.  For those who don't know the Tangram is a seven piece puzzle that has roots in ancient China.  It was great to be able to reinforce some basic shapes from previous units as well as math concepts that the kids have learned.  They tried to put the pieces back into a square shape and then manipulated the pieces to create different shapes from chickens to sail boats.  It was a nice way way to tie culture, history, and math all into one fun activity.

Getting Ready for the Year of the Dragon

This Chinese New Year commemorates the year of the Dragon.  So in honor of this event we have been doing lots of activities around the school.  Everyone is decorating their folders as they learn the various animals associated with Chinese New Year.  We have started a New Years bulletin board where the students put up their hopes for the upcoming year.   

The foreign language teaching staff has also been very busy getting things organized for our first language club meeting of the new year.  If will be on February 2nd a Kalona Elementary.  This year we will be doing traditional Chinese paper cutting, and making crab ran-goons.  I hope we can keep up the strong turn out we have been having this year.  It is great to see all the students and community who come to our events.

Welcome Back!!

I hope that everyone had a happy and safe holiday.  Here at Mid Prairie we will be kicking of the  school term by beginning our unit on the Chinese New Year.  Although the Chinese New Year doesn't happen until later this month we will start learning about the animals used in the Chinese Lunar calendar, as well as seeing how the Chinese New Year compares to new years traditions all over the world.  We also have a Chinese Language night this month on the 28th.  It is going to be a busy month but I wouldn't have it any other way!
Take care,