How to make a paper lantern

1) Get a piece of paper

Place your piece of paper horizontally. (Long edge goes left to right, short edge goes up and down)

2) Cut a strip of the paper on the right edge

 

3) Fold the remaining piece of paper the hamburger way

 

4) Make a series of cuts (about a dozen or more) along the fold line. Don't cut all the way to the edge of the paper.

 

5) Unfold the paper. Glue or staple the short edges of the paper together.

 

6) Using the strip of paper you cut out earlier, make a handle by gluing the two sides of the strip of paper to your paper lantern.

 

7) You can repeat this procedure for other pieces of paper to make colorful lanterns

 

8) You can add detail or design if you wanted to:



 

Extra Information:

If you walk around China’s streets, your eyes are filled with red images especially at Chinese New Year. Chinese people really like the color red because the color represents deep meanings. People say red was worshiped as fire that sheltered the people with warmth and safety.

 

Chinese people make lots of paper lanterns normally at Chinese New Year, because Chinese New Year symbolizes the Chinese culture and means brightness, happiness and reunion.

Hello from WV

Hello Mr. Kochs students!

My name is Lindsay and I had the opportunity of having Mr. Koch twice as a teacher when I was in high school. After graduating high school I attended college at West Virginia University obtaining a degree to be a physical education teacher. Finding a job as a p.e teacher has been harder than I thought, but I wanted to continue to work with students which brings me to where I am today. Currently I am working as a full time substitute for Doddridge County, WV at an Elementary school as a reading resource teacher working with second grade students.
The students are learning about holidays around the world and countries before they go on winter break. The holidays they are learning about are St. Lucia Day (Sweden), Hanukkah (Israel), Feliz Navidad (Mexico), Melkm Ganna (Ethiopia) and Chinese New Year (China). Since I knew Mr. Koch was teaching in China now I thought it would be a great idea to reach out and ask about some personal experiences. I have had the opportunity to share some of your stories that were posted on this blog to students and they have really enjoyed them and have been excited about learning of other cultures. The students have been working hard on making many different projects for the various countries. I will take some pictures over the next week and post them to the blog so you all can see them.

Thank you all again for posting about CNY!

Dragon Dance

 



During Chinese new year the dragon dance is commonly performed. The purpose is to scare away evil spirits. The people believe that dragons represent long life, good luck and wisdom. During the dragon dance one person holds the pearl of wisdom. It's purpose is to guide the dragon.

Year of The Horse

On Friday, January 31st next year it is going to be the year of the horse! There is a cycle of 12 animals, one for each year. If you are born in the year of the horse, you are hardworking, independent and very smart! You are very determined to succeed.

Chinese new year envelopes

Giving money during Chinese New Year is considered lucky for both the giver and the receiver.

Those who give will also invite the flow of money during the entire year. Giving these envelopes also symbolize that the family luck is passed on to the children.

Chinese New Year:::Fireworks

Chinese New Year, is a famous holiday that is celebrated all over China. People use a lot of ways to celebrate this holiday, depending on which part of China they live at. One thing that a lot of people do at night is setting up fireworks and firecrackers. The loud noises caused by them were believed to scare away evil spirits. 

Chinese New year: Couplets

People stick up the Chinese calligraphy wrote on the red paper, this means to have a new great year full of happiness.

Chinese New year: Dumplings

This is a traditional food we eat during Chinese NewYear. It's called dumplings, in Chinese it's called jiao zi (饺子). Jiao zi is invented by a doctor name Zhang Zhong Jing （张仲景).

Jiao Zi is also eaten in a lot of different ways, for example you could boil it, you could fry it… There are a variety of ways of eating dumplings. Chinese people mostly like to eat dumplings with vinegar.

Chinese New year, Dragon Dance

Normally during Chinese new year, a typical thing to do is the Dragon Dance. The dragon is like a giant puppet, and it is watched by hundreds of people around the world.



The dragon can be  blue, green, red, or gold! The people controlling the dragon dress in the same color.

 

 

I'm a snake, It's a horse!

I was born in the year of the snake, and it will soon be the year of the horse. Check out this site to find out which zodiac you are or to find out more about the zodiacs.  http://www.topmarks.co.uk/ChineseNewYear/Zodiac

 

My first Chinese new year

It was my first Chinese new year. Me and my mom were eating salads inside our house and suddenly we heard this huge boom noise from outside. We thought their were bombs going off. We looked outside of our house and we saw so many fireworks going off, so we decided to watch the fireworks for a while. Then it got to a point where after 2 weeks the fireworks were the most annoying thing ever!



 

 

Chinese new year: Explained

Chinese new year is based on a lunar calendar. It is also sometimes called the Lunar new year. Chinese people celebrate the new year by setting off fire crackers and posting red pieces of paper with Chinese words on them. Chinese new year is also a time for family and friends. Relatives who are away from home often come back for a few days to spend    time with their family. The Chinese people will also use this time to honor deceased family members.

Loudness

Loudness

Fireworks explode

Dragons dancing through the streets

Little kids get treats

Chinese New Year Products

These are shoes in the design of the dragons. This design is found commonly during Chinese New Year.



These are masks and stuffed toys sold to children during CNY.

Crackle! Snap! Pop!

Crackle! Snap! Pop!
Every 15 minutes,
You hear a crackle and a pop,
Now you know its Chinese new year,
For everyone to hear.

Upside down “福”(fu)

“福”(fu) means lucky, happiness.

People put the word "福” upside down, to make “倒福”.

Switch the order of "倒福” to "福倒” because the word is upside down.

The word “倒”(dao) has the same pronunciation to the word “到”(dao), and “到” means come. “福到” together means lucky and happiness comes.

A Night at Chinese New Year- Sung

More on 年 (monster)

This monster has no permanent form and it is also scared of loud noises. That is why people on Chinese New Year use firecrackers and fireworks to scare away 年.

10 Days of Fire

I took this picture in the local village behind our school.  It was just a few days after last year's Chinese New Year and there were a lot of spent fireworks in piles all around.

Chinese New Year

1. "年年有余" nian nian you yu

2. "年年有鱼" nian nian you yu

The first phrase means that you would have surplus of food and money for every year.
The second phrase means that you would eat fish every year.
Those two phrases happen to have the same pronunciation, so it became a tradition to eat fish every Chinese New Year.