Today Shirley Cai came to visit the Manatees to talk about the upcoming Lunar New Year! Lunar New Year marks the beginning of a new year in the lunar calendar and celebrates the coming of spring (also known as Spring Festival). This year, the celebrations start next Wednesday, January 29th—Year of the Snake.

The days leading to the new year are about making room for new beginnings and welcoming prosperity, cleaning and brightening the home so that when the new year arrives you can honor ancestral roots and deities, and enjoy special meals with family and friends. A few traditions are receiving red money envelopes from family members and celebrating with fireworks, lanterns, a candles.

Shirley Cai shared some of the special traditions that her family celebrates during the Lunar New Year, in particular making decorations for the home, called Fei Chun.

Shirley brought in some Fei Chun with special new year messages in Cantonese for the Manatees to trace using gold paint.

On Lunar New Year, it's tradition to give the gift of a bright, beautiful red envelope 紅包 or hóngbāo to your friends and family. These are filled with money and it symbolizes good wishes and luck for the new year ahead.

Shirley shared red envelopes with the Manatees to fill with special treasures like beads, stickers and sea shells.

Thank you, Shirley Cai, for teaching us about your family’s Lunar New Year traditions!

Earlier in the week, Adelaide and Kayla shared with the Manatees a couple of clips of their favorite musicals on Broadway—Wicked and Aladdin. They talked about the different roles that people take to make a big performance happen, like actors and tech crew.

Adelaide has been talking a lot about spotlights with the Manatees. As we continue learning about the different aspects of performance and theater, we will start giving each Manatee a chance in the spotlight.

The week of February 3rd-7th, we will host a “Story Share”, where we invite every Manatee to share with us their favorite story during assembly. The story can come from a book, play, song, rhyme etc. The aim is for the Manatees to bring a special literature piece from home to share with the class. From there, the Manatee teachers will gain a better understanding of the stories that connect home and school life.

More details next week!

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