Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Lunar New Year Lesson Plan.

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Lunar New Year, and supports the standard of explaining the significance of holidays and observances. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of creative projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Ask students: What New Year traditions do you have? What traditions have you learned about? 

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

  • Read aloud the description on the Lunar New Year topic page.
  • Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding. 
  • Assign Related Reading. Have students read one of the four articles. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Assign the Lunar New Year Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about the Lunar New Year while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs. 

  • Make-a-Movie: Create an advertisement about upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations and the meaning behind one or more of them.  
  • Make-a-Map: Make a concept map comparing and contrasting Lunar New Year traditions in different cultures.  
  • Creative Coding: Code a flag representing themes of Lunar New Year. 

More to Explore

Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of traditions and cultures with these topics: New Year’s and Winter Holidays.

Teacher Support Resources:

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments