Chinese Calligraphy

What a treat!  Today in GATE, 4th graders had the opportunity to learn about Chinese writing.  Mrs. Yu wore a beautiful Chinese dress with intricate metallic embroidery.  She looked beautiful!  A few years ago, Mrs. Yu brought me back a Chinese dress as a gift.  I decided to wear mine today, too!

Mrs. Yu showed the students how to properly hold the Chinese brush to create the characters.  She shared a video from Discovery Education that told about this history of Chinese calligraphy.   She brought ink, brushes, and papers with Chinese characters for the students to use for practice.

The neatest thing Mrs. Yu shared with us was her "chop."  This is a type of stamp that acts as an official signature on documents (like at a bank) or on art work.  To make the emblem, you press the chop into "1,000 year old ink." (Mrs. Yu has had hers for 26 years and it has not dried out!)  Then press the chop onto Chinese paper for the official mark.

The image above says, "Yu Lakur" with Mrs. Yu's initials at the top.  So neat!

My students and I learned many things today about Chinese calligraphy, the Chinese culture, and writing!   Mrs. Yu plans to come back again to answer questions that we previously sent her about China.  AES is so fortunate to have Mrs. Yu teaching our students about Chinese and opening their eyes, minds, and hearts to appreciate cultural similarities and differences.

Thank you, Mrs. Yu!   Mrs. Yu left us with two gorgeous banners that we will hang on either side of our door that say, "Happy Family" and "Smooth Sailing."  I like to think of our GATE class as a "Happy Family" and I wish us all "Smooth Sailing" for 2014!