As part of their social studies unit on China, Washington Street School’s third grade classes celebrated Lunar New Year with a day full of learning and hands-on activities on Feb. 11.
Students rotated through each classroom to explore the holiday and its rich traditions. Along the way, they crafted red paper lanterns, listened to a read-aloud of “The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac” by Emily Hiles, and learned about the meaning of red envelopes before decorating their own. They also created paper fortune cookies and explored the meaning of the Year of the Horse by drawing horses and practicing how to write the Chinese characters for “fire” and “horse.” This year is the Year of the Fire Horse, a rare occurrence that happens only once every 60 years, when the Horse zodiac sign aligns with the Fire element in the Chinese calendar.
