A Chinese New Year celebration served as the culminating activity in an Ancient Asian Civilizations unit.

Students began by reading a book about Chinese Zodiac symbols that are utilized to name the years.

They then learned more about each symbol, including figuring out what the symbol was the year they were born.

“I was so excited last year when I saw this subject matter for the first time as part of our new CKLA (core knowledge language arts) curriculum because I traveled extensively throughout the Pacific Rim for the career that I had before I became a teacher,” Kristine Conn, who taught the class, said.

This photo shows a second grade students at Sheffield Area Elementary School taking part in the same unit that finished with capstone activities that highlighted the Chinese New Year.

“I was very lucky to have traveled to Hong Kong during Chinese New Year, which is such a beautiful and traditional time for Asian cultures. When I saw that we got to teach about these cultures, their traditions and holidays, I was very excited to share my own personal experiences with the students,” Conn added.

In addition to the classwork, students decorated the hallway with traditional red Chinese lanterns and dragons.

Conn also presented a video of how the holiday is celebrated as well as personal photos from when she was there.

“I really enjoyed showing these students about a country that is on the opposite side of the globe because many of them may not ever get the chance to travel so extensively,” Conn said.

“It was so much fun to see them just absorb all this information that is so new to them. They love to hear about a country that is twelve hours ahead of their own time, that takes sixteen hours to fly to from our closest international airport, and has an incredible population of over one billion people. They truly were just enthralled.”

Principal Kylie Harris said sharing this story is important from her perspective so that the community can see “the amazing things popping up in our classrooms each day at SAES and the many ways that our teachers make learning fun and exciting for our children.”