Campus Voices
Lower School
There was something mystical and magical about Chinese New Year this year, especially at Neville Place Assisted Living Home in Cambridge. One of BB&N’s kindergarten classes went there to show off the Chinese dragon the students had made for the occasion. Nineteen kindergartners walking around a large room, all of them under one long piece of fabric, is quite a sight to see! The residents were delighted with the dragon dance and the song the students sang. The warm and welcoming staff at Neville Place gave our class red envelopes and clementines. But the best part of our visit was the students’ interactions with the residents.
Our kindergarten class, co-taught by me and Deanne Peterson, began a study of Chinese New Year with several children’s books. One book was called The Dragon New Year: A Chinese Legend. It told a Chinese folk tale about a sea dragon named “New Year,” whom people fled from in fear on New Year’s Day. A wise man named Buddha made a plan to scare the dragon away with light and loud noise, since the dragon was used to the dark and quiet bottom of the ocean. According to the folk tale, we now have Chinese New Year parades with dragon and lion dances, loud noises, and fireworks to scare the dragon away.
The children were very excited to make their own dragon (whom they lovingly named “New Year”). We started with a cardboard box to use as the head and then attached a long piece of shiny red fabric for the dragon’s body. During math, in our study of geometric shapes, students cut out triangle and oval ‘scales’ from construction paper and taped them onto the fabric. Some students volunteered to paint the cardboard head green and a few more students decided to add construction paper ‘fire’ to the dragon’s mouth.
We put on Chinese dragon dance music from our music teacher, Ada Snider, and pulled names out of a hat to see who would hold the head, taking turns of course. We were now ready to go to Neville Place, home for one of our students’ grandparents, to share our dragon dance and a dragon song as well.
We went to Neville Place on a snowy Thursday, February 7th, the first day of the Chinese New Year. I read a story to the students and residents. The story was called This Next New Year; it is about a boy who is looking forward to a fresh start this year. The boy in the story explained that it is “my second chance, and I have so many dreams I’m ready now to make come true.” Given the smiles on the residents’ faces and the energy radiating from the children as the story was read, I was certain this was an uplifting message we could all believe in.
Next, the students sang a dragon song and then got ready for the big moment: our dragon dance. We placed the head on the first student in line and draped the rest of the body over the students. The students circled and danced around the room to the music, coming close to each table of residents along the way. The residents clapped, laughed, and smiled. After two big circles, we took the dragon off of the students and they had a chance to talk with the residents. The question that the students asked the residents was: “What was your favorite thing to do in kindergarten?” A lot of the residents answered “recess and lunch,” which is similar to what our students say when we ask them the same question.
All in all, a lot of great connections were made and the students, teachers, and residents had a wonderful time. They will forever remember their Chinese New Year. (CLICK HERE to see a photo of the KPM class visit to Neville Place.)
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