8th Grade Peer Leaders Spark Joy and Creativity in Sixth Grade FLEX Classes for Lunar New Year

Stories of Asian culture were shared by the eighth grade Peer Leadership group with sixth grade FLEX classes in celebration of Lunar New Year. In January, the 8th grade group visited the Caramoor Center for the Arts in Katonah where they engaged with Asian culture through music and by viewing and discussing Asian artworks. It was here that the Peer Leadership group was inspired to take the information back to present to their younger classmates.

The eighth grade students’ interactive lectures included photos and descriptions about the impressive collection of Asian artwork and decor at Caramoor, as well as Asian history and culture that they researched back at school.  Lively discussions took place in many classrooms including a discussion about yin and yang between the dedicated ENL 8th grade Peer Leaders and the ENL sixth grade students.  

The sixth graders also had the opportunity to create Asian crafts learning origami and making dragon puppets, while other classes sketched and collaborated to write and perform their own Asian- inspired Year of the Rabbit stories. Some of the tales were silly, while others were serious and delivered a moral such as ‘Don’t abuse power’ and ‘Be nice to people even if you are bigger than them’ - ideal words in this Year of the Rabbit.