Ni hao,
This time last
year our entire building was in a frenzy, learning about China, it’s culture,
it’s craft, it’s tradition, and it’s language. All of this in effort to welcome
our special guest Principal Lee, all the way from Shijiazhuang Ning Yuan Primary School in Heibei Province, in China.
 |
| That is when my students in grades 3-5 made this beauty, which now adorns out school cafeteria. *photo by M Brophy |
In planning for
his arrival I made these fun dragon puppets with my kindergartners
and I just
had to do it again this year.
 |
| Dragon eggs sparkle like the finest jewels in all the world. But don't think a little dragon is going to poke it's head out of this egg... It takes 1,500 years for the dragon to develop. It starts as a snake, then grows to a fish, and then finally a little dragon that grows and grows. |
This link has a
great PowerPoint that you can read if you want to know more about Chinese
Dragons and their story.
I start out
telling the legend of the dragon by showing this egg. Students have fun
guessing what it is and where it came from.
While learning a
bit about another culture and making great art my kindergartners are also
learning about the ancient tradition of story telling. They better skills in
cutting and gluing and learn the “Art Magic Trick” (you know, where you fold
the paper, draw a shape, cut it out, and ooohhh aHHH! It makes 2!). I like to
make a big deal out of it. We also learn the fine art of following directions
and a whole lot about SHAPES!!!!
