ELC News 

MaryAnn Leembruggen, ELC Teacher

Celebrating diversity of culture in the ELC with Chinese New Year

This year, we celebrated Chinese New Year (the Year of Tiger) on the first days of our ELC term.

Instead of coming in to the Centre to share experiences, our families were encouraged to contribute in other ways; from sending in photos and reflections to bringing in special New Year items from family celebrations. ELC children then proudly shared their experiences with the group. 

We used literature and technology to provide links to celebrations happening in our community, adding to the richness of learning. Dramatic play experiences, puppets and music also offered opportunities to share ideas through language and explore different ways of writing and speaking.

Each group enjoyed expressing their own creative ideas using differing visual arts materials. Small fingers worked hard to build fine motor skills through making lanterns, and tigers took on many forms. 

We thank our families for their contributions, adding greater depth of understanding for all the children. Learning about Chinese New Year promotes respect and awareness of connections, similarities and differences within our ELC and celebrates diversity of culture and tradition within our wider community.