I’m so excited for Chinese New Year! It begins on January 26 and it will be 4707, the Year of the Ox. We throw a Chinese New Year party in my classroom every year. It’s lots of fun. Here’s what we do:

• Talk about China and Chinese New Year: Did you know that families clean their homes to sweep away any bad luck before the New Year?
  
  
• Decorate: We hang red and gold decorations—including ones that look like firecrackers and paper lanterns, which are traditional symbols of Chinese New Year.
  
  
• Wear red: I get a new red dress every year and wear it to the party. It’s fun when other kids in my class wear red that day, too (red is lucky!).
  
  
• Make crafts and play games: I love making lucky money envelopes. You can make your own and then play KIWI’s game, Lucky Number Eight.
  
  
• Eat traditional foods: We eat oranges for prosperity and Long Life Noodles for health. Click here for a recipe as well as a cool dragon mask.
  
  
• Read books: One of my favorite books is Cat and Rat: The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac, by Ed Young. It tells the story of the 12 animals who were picked by the emperor for the Chinese Zodiac. I also love The Dancing Dragon, by Marcia K. Vaughn. This explains what families do for Chinese New Year, plus it folds out to show a big dragon.

My teacher saves the best part for the end of the party—we play music and dance around the classroom inside a big dragon costume. Everyone gets a turn to be the head or to dance in the tail of the dragon.

Click on these links to make money envelopes and a dragon mask, and play a game based on Chinese numerology.

Gong Xi Fa Cai! (Happy New Year!)

   (This is my name in Chinese)