2) Students learn about Chinese lanterns as a folk art and their role in Chinese New Year celebrations and other community events by reading support material provided by City Lore, participating in guided in-class discussions, and through viewing examples of traditional Chinese lanterns. A Chinese guest was invited to share examples of lanterns and memories of their use in Chinese festivals. Students can practice their interviewing skills by asking the guest questions. See Background for information on Chinese lanterns and Teaching Tools for resources.

3) Students practice listening and interviewing skills by listening to each other's stories about family and community traditions. They brainstorm questions to ask their relatives about family stories and traditions and write these in their City Lore Journals. See the listening exercise in Teaching Tools for more information.

4)Students share stories and images they have learned from their interviews with parents and relatives.

5) Students take the stories and images they have drawn from their memories and interviews and make preliminary sketches for the four panels of their lanterns. The emphasis for students is that this is a rough draft.

After this session, one student wrote in her City Lore Journal: "Today I learned that sketching is for thinking of what you want to draw and when you make a mistake, you can do it over."

6) Students cut 4, 8" X 8" pieces of rice or parchment paper and begin drawing designs in pencil. Remind them to leave an inch on all sides to fold over the frame of their lanterns. For younger children you may want to have the paper already cut to the right size.

7) Students paint their images on the rice paper panels using thinned acrylic paints.

8) Students cut 4, 8" X 8" pieces of the bamboo sticks and tie them together with the cotton string, leaving a one inch overlap, to form a cube that is 6" X 6" X 6". The two extra sticks are crossed and tied and attached to the corners of the top of the lantern with string. George reinforces the tied joints with hot glue.

9) Students attach their painted panels to the lantern frame by folding the edges over frame and gluing. Before folding cut one inch off each corner of the paper to permit folding over the frame while leaving the corners free.

10) Students make tassels with yarn and plastic beads and tying the tassels in a loop over each corner of the lantern.

11) Finishing touches. Trim extra wood and string from the corners of the lantern and cut and attach strips of cloth tape or ribbon to the edges of the frame. Students with riddles that were not included on their panels may attach them to the cross piece on the top of the lantern so that they hang below the lantern.

12) Students write their artist's statement in their City Lore Journals. Their artist statements describe the materials, ideas, and the process they used to create their piece. See Teaching Tools for an example of an artist's statement.

13) Students share their completed work with their classmates. George talks to students about the importance of showing your art to others and about responding to others' work with respectful and constructive comments and questions. Each student presents his or her lantern to the class, describing the images used and the artistic choices made. Then George opens the floor to all students to ask the artist questions. At the end, all students share their thoughts about the residency experience.

14) Culminating Activity — Hold a "Lantern Festival" where students parade their lanterns to Chinese music before sitting down to eat. In China, this is a time to eat filled glutinous rice dumplings, called yáan hsiao, like the festival itself. The round dumplings symbolize family unity and completeness. If these dumplings are not available in your area, then serve other round foods, or, in the spirit of the residency, have students bring in round foods from their own cultures. Have the presentation and documentation teams present their work to their class and invited guests.