This week we are reading This Next New Year by Janet S. Wong. It tells the story of a young boy's growing excitement at celebrating the Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year. One thing he tells us is that many cultures celebrate Chinese New Year, not only Chinese people. Throughout the story the young boy prepares by helping to clean his house and himself. The idea being that one has to clean away all the dirt and mess of the previous year in order to allow good luck to come in for the new year. Most of all he vows to not speak any negative words like 'I cant' or 'Why me?' because he has dreams that he needs to come through. Some themes to discuss in this story are what things can we do to make this new year better than the last? What improvements or changes can we make in ourselves to achieve our dreams and goals. This year Chinese New Year will be celebrated on February 1st. What changes will you make?
