Tomorrow(4/24) is Easter of Year2011.

For this holiday, I picked out several books about the topic of chicks and rabbits for storytelling.

At first I planned to hold an Easter Event for this holiday. However, things always ended up with a helpless situation.One reason is the problem of myself---I don't have enough time to prepare for this event because I'm too exhausted after daily workload and also short of assistance to carry on this project. And the other reason is the storytelling time is not long enough(only 1.5 hours) for running a complete holiday event because  I really have many ideas and extensive activities for this holiday.

So, under this kind of situation, I gave up my plan and did regular story telling activities this time. But I didn't let the idea of holding a holiday event go so I actually discussed with my partner Carla for the possibility of holding a holiday or topic event in Wensan branch this year. Carla is an very experienced volunteer teacher at Wensan and she held several holiday events before.So she gave me many useful and interesting suggestions and what she thought great to do. After discussion, both of us decided to make a try on a "Thanksgiving Event" in November and scheduled the next meeting some other day after summer vacation(because we both are very busy before September, so do  other volunteer partners) .

I am really excited and looking forward to this future plan's coming true.

I'm glad to have Carla and other 4 great English volunteer partners in Wensan.

And furthermore, I really want to say THANK YOU to our sweetest librarian friend,美慧,who always offer us generous help during our service time.

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100.4/23

Today we have funny and happy stories and interesting games to share with the kids.

The 2 stories below are very interesting stories, and both of them have live and colorful pictures inside.The chickens are so cute and vivid. 

The stories I prepare for today are "The problem with chickens"  and

"Tippy-toe chick, go!"

The problem with chickens

McMillan, Bruce

Houghton Mifflin,2005  813.6 M167

When women in an Icelandic village buy chickens to lay eggs for them to use, the chickens follow them, adopting human ways and forgetting their barnyard roots, until the ladies hatch a clever plan.

Tippy-toe chick, go!
    Shannon, George.

Greenwillow Books,2003     TPL:813.6 S528

Ruff-Ruff-Ruff-Ruff-Ruff!  There is a big grumpy dog blocking the way to the garden! What can Hen and her three chicks do? The sweet itty-bitty beans and potato bugs (this family's favorite treat) are in the garden. And Hen and her chicks are Hungry.Hen, Big Chick, and Middle Chick are no match for Dog. And Little Chick? Well, Little Chick is too little. Or is she? When you are small, you can also be brave and fast and resourceful, and -- as Little Chick discovers -- sometimes your family depends on you!

These are some other funny books about this topic

 Carla's story

To Market, To Market

An old lady went to the market and buy different animals home,but the animals made a big mess. At last the old lady was hungry and tired and she went to the market again to buy some vegetables for making a pot of soup. It's a good story which teaches children about names of animals and vegetables. 

Easter games and activities

Easter Introduction

Easter chant and tangram activity

Happy Easter Chant

Let’s Chant Together…

Rabbit, rabbit, carrot eater.

He says there is nothing sweeter

Than a carrot every day.

Munch and crunch and run away.

Chick, chick, rice eater.

Rabbit, rabbit, carrot eater.

She says there is nothing sweeter

Than rice every day,

Munch and crunch and run away.

Color the tangram pattern, cut out of it and make your own bunny 

Paperwork 2

Here is the arts and craft of making an Easter bunny I found on the internet.

It uses simple paper-folding skills to make a standing bag(the bunn's body)for holding an egg. 

Egg Hunting Game: hide some paper eggs(write numbers on each of egg in advance:1-1candy;2-2candies..)around the classroom corner, under the desk, behind the curtain, on the chair...,and let the kids to find the eggs. When the game is over, every kid can count how many eggs he/she gets and exchange candies with the teacher)   

On-line Easter Games and Tangram games sharing with the parents: Parents can play and practice with their children at home.

Tangram

http://tangram.hkheadline.com/index.asp

Easter Games

http://www.primarygames.com/holidays/easter/games.htm

Why do people give Easter eggs on Easter?

自十二世紀起，歐洲許多國家人民開始有互相贈送復活蛋的習俗。平民間互送的復活蛋非常的樸素，僅僅將煮熟的水煮蛋塗成紅色並讓神父祝聖過。有錢人的復活蛋可就不同了，用多彩的顏料為蛋殼做美麗的雕飾，讓復活蛋看起來更是喜氣洋洋。到了文藝復興時期la Renaissance，復活蛋的習俗更正式進入了法國皇室中，普通的雞蛋更被黃金蛋取代，並加有珍貴的寶石做裝飾。自十六世紀起，復活蛋裡也開始藏有小驚喜。在歐洲，有人認為互贈復活蛋的傳統乃與四旬齋Careme（復活節前40天）的守齋息息相關。也有人認為，蛋乃意味著春天的到來及新生命的誕生，並象徵著耶穌從死裡復活走出石墓。 

Easter 

聖經記載耶穌基督為救贖世人，甘願犧牲自己被釘死在十字架上，而復活節就是紀念耶穌死後第三天復活的神跡。這個節日是基督教中最重要和最有意義的紀念日，因為他們認為耶穌死後復活，比衪誕生更有意義。

Date of Easter

 每年復活節假期的日期都是不固定的。根據西方傳統，於每年三月二十一日後的第一個滿月，再向後推算的第一個星期日即為復活節，約在三月二十二日到四月二十五日間。

2011年的復活節在4月24日喔~~~

計算方法

復活節是基督教徒為紀念耶穌基督替世人贖罪，被釘死在十字架上，死後第三天復活升天的日子。復活節在基督徒心目中不但是象徵著耶穌基督拯救世人，更加代表著一個新的開始，是一個非常重要的日子。復活節並不是每年都在同一天，不過一定會在三月二十二日至四月二十五日之間。計算復活節日期的方法：首先將當年的年份加一，然後把答案除以十九，找出餘數，並在下面的表格裏查看這餘數的相對日期，這相對日期之後的第一個星期日便是復活節的日子了！例如西元2000年，把2000加1便是2001，把2001除以19，答案便是105餘6，在下面的表格裏，6的相對日期是4月18日，那麼4月18日之後的第一個星期日，即是4月23日便是復活節了！

5 symbols of Easter

復活蛋  

1.     蛋象徵春天新生命的開始，更象徵耶穌復活走出石墓 

2.     教徒習慣把蛋塗成紅色，請神父祝聖，然後將蛋送給朋友作為禮物。 

3.     祝聖蛋的經文是祈求上帝使之成為健康的食品，並為慶祝耶穌的復活、懷著感激之情去食用。這是便是復活蛋的起源。

復活兔  

依據歐洲古老的傳說，野兔是一種終日不閉眼的動物，牠們能在黑夜裡觀看四周其他的動物。因此，野兔就代表著那黑夜中一輪皎潔的明月。再加上計算復活節是以春天月圓為基準，於是就將春天繁殖力強的野兔視為復活節的象徵。

羔羊  

在歐洲許多國家，復活主日均以羔羊肉為主餐，是為了讓人紀念摩西藉著羔羊的血，引領以色列人出埃及，而羔羊又是耶穌的代表 —— 意即祂是上帝聖潔的羔羊，藉祂在十字架上所留的血，使人類的罪得以洗淨，脫離魔鬼的奴役。

祝聖麵包（活糧）  

蛋和羔羊的祝聖，其實還有其他食品，例如奶油、乳酩、麵包等的祝聖。在歐洲許多國家，人們都有烤製復活節麵包的習慣，麵包上劃有耶穌基督的字樣、或十字架、或羔羊的圖樣。

百合花  

百合花在復活節前後開放，近代被用作復活節的標誌。花的球莖在地下腐爛後孕育出新的生命，比喻死亡之後復活。

慶祝活動  

1.跳躍三次 - 中世紀時期，基督徒會依據古老的傳說，在復活節日出之時歡喜地跳躍三次，來榮耀耶穌的復活，而穿雲而出的光芒就 如天使般的歡舞。

2.賞日出的光輝 - 歐洲的民眾在復活節清晨時，會聚集在曠野或山頂觀賞日出的光輝，在破曉之時鳴砲和敲鐘，上昇的太陽象徵耶穌復活，樂隊和聖詠團會以歌聲來慶祝。至今奧地利阿爾卑斯山區仍保留了這種清晨致敬的習慣。

3.從早到晚敲鐘 - 斯拉夫民族也保留其古老的復活節習俗，教堂從早到晚都要以短暫的間隔持續敲鐘，來提醒信徒這是一年中最偉大的日子之一。

4.彩蛋 - 在羅馬尼亞，基督徒上教堂前，會先在家裡大掃除、穿新衣、沐浴，這樣做是為了表示一個新的開始。在四旬期 ( 復活節前 40 天 ) 之後，各家的餐桌都會放滿美食和彩蛋，來增加節慶的氣氛。最高興的莫過於小孩子了，他們可以在草叢中尋找禮物和彩蛋呢！他們相信找到最多復活蛋的人，在新一年會喜樂平安。

 5.「碰蛋」遊戲 - 英國很多的地方都會在復活節時舉行「碰蛋」遊戲，兩人互相碰擊手中的蛋，誰的蛋先破便算輸了。另外，在美國每年都有許多父母帶著孩子在白宮的草坪上，享受滾雞蛋的樂趣。