Chinese New Year

In Reception for the last 2 weeks, we have been learning all about the celebrations and traditions to do with Chinese New Year. We have learnt the story of the zodiac animals and how each year was chosen based on a race. This year, 2020, is the year of the Rat. The children have been looking at how we celebrate New Year in England and how it is different to how the Chinese celebrate in their country. We have the same values, celebrating new beginnings and wishing good luck to everyone for the coming year, but the Chinese have far more celebrations than we do. 

The decorate their houses beautifully with different wall hangings and lanterns to bring good luck to their families They dress in their best clothes and always have big street parties. We have lots of fireworks, but the Chinese have a full light show with dancing and performances with dancing Dragons to show power and strength. We really liked their dances, so decided to do one of our own.  We have been very busy practicing it, it’s been so much fun. 

We were so excited to show our parents our hard work, but unfortunatly it poured with rain, so we invited them in to see our dance on the big screen. We also have been busy doing lots of Chinese New Year art, so we had lots to show them. We have made some lanterns, some lucky fish and some collage dragons. It was so lovely for the children to show their work, they have been so proud of what we have been doing. The video of each class dance is posted on Tapestry for anyone who couldn’t come and see. Well done Reception, and a very Happy New Year to you all!