103/180 It's the Year of the Ox

 Lunar New Year, Valentine's Day, and Presidents' Day

 all fell within 4 days of each other this year.

And 100th Day was two days before.

Sometimes less is more.

Since I signed us up for my local district's Lunar New Year Art Festival

LD East Virtual Lunar New Year Festival

Room 27's CNY Presentation

I wanted to focus on that more.

Virtual teaching time limits what you can do

but I still want my students to experience as much as they can.

We did not give out Valentine's this year.

But we did dance, sing, and eat noodles.

The students learned a little about another culture,

my culture.

Once I taught a class with 11 different languages 

and many cultures.

It was wonderful,

and we shared and celebrated each other.

I teach at a school where this is mainly one, 

maybe two cultures.

We celebrate our students' families

and traditions,

but I also want my students

to know and appreciate cultures outside

of their community.

One year,

as we were learning about Dr. King,

an African American visitor walked passed our playground,

a few of our students ran to the fence

and greeted him by calling him Martin Luther King.

The man was not amused.

Our students were not being rude,

for them, 

he was someone who looked like Dr. King

and there were no other African American 

men or women in our school community.

I am the only Asian teacher at my school,

so I don't mind representing and sharing

myself, my family, and my culture.

It's important, 

especially in today's climate.

Diversity doesn't always exists in neighborhoods,

but they do in our world.

So we ate noodles for long life and health.

We wore red to celebrate the new year.

We ate oranges in hopes of bringing us more wealth,

And we also celebrate Valentine's Day too.

We have a long weekend,

but on Saturday,

I received a message from one of my families

with a photo...

Connections...

Happy New Year! May it be filled with peace, joy, luck, and good health.