At Newton, Hui Xin kindergarten we admire nature and the changes of the seasons. As the moon changes its shape throughout every month, so does our environment. Summer becomes Autumn, leaves turn orange, red and yellow and soon the fragrant Osmanthus trees will spread their wonderful aroma throughout the campus. The Mid-Autumn festival has arrived and we invite you to take a look inside, to see how our students celebrate this traditional event.
The campus has been dressed up for the joyous occasion and tells a story of tradition and of fairytales. At the lobby, golden moon cakes from the classes are hung high and a seasonal banner display the story of the jade rabbit and moon. The festive atmosphere has become a teacher in itself.
Teachers told stories of the legends "Houyi shoot the sun" and "Chang'e fly to the moon" and explained the origin of the holiday, where in ancient times people made sacrifices to the sun in Spring and to the moon in Autumn.
When did you last look up and see the full moon or feel it's evening glow through the windows in your home? Is it, as you remember it, still as bright, as magical? At the Mid-Autumn festival families get together to celebrate the moon and they typically eat moon cakes. The family holiday is the same as before in many ways, but the scenery is a little bit different. Air pollution and city lights can make it hard to see the moon and stars, but can be a reminder to teach us how very important it is that we take good care of our planet.
Suggestions from students, how to help Earth (and the moon).
XX: we can turn off the lights, just like on earth day.
XX: we should sort garbage and reduce waste.
XX: we should walk more and drive less.
XX: we can save paper and water.
Mid-Autumn Festival has many beautiful cultural symbols, such as the full moon, jade rabbit, colored lanterns and moon cakes. Our student expressed themselves creatively through a variety of Moon and Mid-Autumn art.
For our littlest ones, this was their first event at kindergarten and even though they just started school, they had a lot of fun following the teachers' lead and made moon cakes from clay, by rolling and pressing patterns into the surface of colorful "pretend" moon cakes. In Nursery our students used recycled paper and flower pots to make an interesting "Jade Rabbit" with pointy white ears. In K1 & K2 children collected Autumn leaves from the garden and made "Osmanthus bags", "Jade Rabbit art" and a "Bright Full Moon over the palace". We hope that these wonderful creative works of art will remind us of the natural beauty, the festival and our environment.
At campus we had tons of fun playing moon inspired games! Such as jumping as rabbits, moving moon cakes across obstacles and enjoying each other's friendship and company on this warm and magnificent day!
Children and teachers had a lot of fun and enjoyed dressing up in their finest traditional Chinese clothes or yellow/golden apparel on this special day. Together, we learned about each other and the past ancient times.
We hope to keep the bright view of our wonderful and magical moon for future generations and will keep teaching our students the importance of being environmentally friendly.
From everyone at Newton, Hui Xin kindergarten we wish you a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
