Learning Talk...

Our class had a great discussion the other day.

We had talked about why the dragon is an important symbol to the Chinese people earlier in the week. We also explored why it would feature in Chinese celebrations. We examined the key features of the masks so we could make our masks look like the ones used in Chinese festivals. Have a look at the clever things we said...

Why is the dragon symbol important to the Chinese people?

Sam: It’s good luck.

Brooke: Dragon festivals!

Ella: The farmers thought if they danced with a dragon, the rain would fall on their plants.

Hanna: So it would make them grow!

Sam: They could be food plants so they could have food.

So we knew that the reason Chinese people consider the dragon lucky was from ancient times when it was connected to a successful harvest.

We wondered...

What did the farmers believe would happen if they didn’t do the dragon dance?

Hanna: No food maybe because it wouldn’t rain on the plants.

Brooke: It wouldn’t rain.

Sam: If they had no food they would be hungry ‘cos they would have nothing to eat.

Tom: The plants wouldn’t grow because their paddocks would be all dry.

We also talked about the fact that the dragon symbol now meant good luck generally, not just in farming communities. We remembered that during celebrations and festivals, the dragon symbol is used, too.

We started to think about the masks we want to create...

What are the key features of a dragon mask? What makes them all the same?

Jonty: Bright colours.

Joe: Big eyes.

Sophie: They all had horns.

Hanna: Spikes or fluff or fur.

Jasmine: Teeth!

Tom: They mostly had smiles.

Sam: They were scary.

We all went away and planned a mask making sure we had used all these things.

We had a terrific talk! It was great that Mrs Wilson had her computer out and that she is a fast typer to get our ideas recorded!

Go us!

Stay tuned for more updates on our dragon masks...