By Kevin Chou, Shelyn Elementary Teacher
Shelyn Elementary hosted their annual schoolwide Lunar New Year Parade on January 22
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to welcome the Year of the Rat. The celebration began with the ceremonial lighting of a firecracker (now electronic for safety!) by Superintendent Dr. Julie Mitchell and Board of Education Clerk Lynne Ebenkamp, as it is said the ancient legendary creature named Nian (year) is scared of the color red and loud noises.
Many students dressed in beautiful traditional Chinese New Year clothes and marched with handcrafted items such as paper lanterns or headbands. Mrs. Gallego’s First Grade class created a showy red dragon using recycled red plastic cups (pictured above). Upper grade students also raised up and swayed their dragon heads in a wavy motion to bring joy and good fortune wishes to every attendee.
“Aside from studying Chinese language, authentic cultural experiences are an important part our students must experience,”
said Sarah Opatkiewicz, Principal of Shelyn Elementary.
“This year, we were so lucky and thankful to receive community support such as from the ShoaLin Kung Fu Chan Academy that performed traditional ShaoLin Kung Fu during the celebration. It is through hosting a parade like this that helps enrich and deepen our students’ understanding about this ancient language and its culture.”
Shelyn Elementary is the first school in the District to offer a Mandarin Chinese Dual Language Immersion Program. The program launched last year and expands one grade level every year, where students learn to read, write and speak in English and Chinese beginning in Kindergarten. Students who will turn 5 years of age on or before September 1, 2020 can enroll now for Kindergarten and for the Mandarin Chinese Program for the 2020-2021 school year. Shelyn also offers a weekly Mandarin Chinese enrichment class for students in the non-dual program to provide an opportunity for learning conversational Mandarin Chinese and exposing them to Chinese cultural experiences.
For more information please contact Shelyn Elementary Principal Sarah Opatkiewicz at (909)444-0584 or visit
www. shelynschool.org