I love it when I can tie my curriculum into the real world! Yesterday was the first day of the Chinese New Year, based on the Lunar calendar. In third grade, our students study global communities, so I decided to create a unit based on music and the Chinese New Year.
We began by reading the book D is for Dragon by Ying Chang Compestine (Author) and YongShen Xuan (illustrator).
My students enjoyed the bright colors, and it gave us an opportunity to discuss some of the traditions surrounding this holiday.
Then, we learned the song "Gong Xi Fa Cai" which is in the textbook Spotlight on Music, Grade 3. You can find a link to the song here. I have a few students who speak Chinese, so this gave them an opportunity to share their knowledge with their classmates, and we had fun learning the song.
I followed this song up with another activity, focusing on Chinese Ribbon Dancing. First, we watched this video:
Then, we learned to play the "Chinese Ribbon Dance" song from Artie Almeida's Mallet Madness on barred instruments. On another day, we reviewed the Chinese Ribbon Dance on barred instruments, then we got out the ribbons! (I have 8' ribbon streamers from West Music. They are not nearly as beautiful and the silk Chinese streamers, but they worked for us...) We spent quite a bit of time exploring shapes with our ribbons, and then determined a sequence that we would follow. Finally, we split up into two groups: an instrument group and a ribbon group...then of course, we switched! In the future, we will spend a little time improvising patterns on barred instruments, using the rhythm from Artie's song.
So, how do *you* celebrate Chinese New Year in your classroom?
