“This is my favorite day of the year,” said CV Starr third grade teacher Corinne Phillips. “I love getting to meet all of the new kids and watching them have fun while they’re learning.”
Phillips was referring to CV Starr’s annual Chinese New Year lesson, when third graders rotate to different classes, learning all about China and the Chinese New Year celebration.
Wearing red for good luck, students excitedly wound their way through the hall to five different stations. They spent about twenty minutes in each room, learning about China and the New Year celebration while making masks, lanterns, Chinese flags, rats and playing with tangrams.
Students’ excitement was palpable. Passersby could hear their laughter and excitement from the hallway and their smiles lit up the classrooms as they colored and glued and showed off their creations with pride.
Students thoroughly enjoyed the creative aspect of the lesson, even when it got a little bit difficult.
“This is hard,” one student said, while staring in deep concentration at the tangram puzzle in front of him. “I’m getting so frustrated.” Moments later, his face lit up. After a little bit of perseverance and critical thinking, he had solved the puzzle.
Perseverance and critical thinking were just two of the skills at play that the district’s Strategic Coherence Plan highlights as essential for a Brewster graduate. Also utilized were skills like communication and adaptability as students left the comfort and familiarity of the classrooms they’re used to and moved into different spaces with different teachers.