These overarching themes and lessons will appear in holidays across the board, which can help bring greater meaning to your lessons. Put a copy at each place setting. Some of the guidelines urge educators to: The complete guide and a more comprehensive list of recommendations is available at the First Amendment Center website. Holiday parties take away from classroom instruction. Giving students sugary foods when we are teaching them to eat healthy. Anti-Bias Education: The December Holidays from the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Materials: You will need Bibles, a new white bed sheet (large enough to serve as a tablecloth for the table where you will gather for your Seder), and several sets of fabric markers. Students get the same amount of instructional time. Discover practical tips and innovative ideas for preschool teachers in our award-winning magazine. Holidays can be a fun and exciting way to open doors to talking about different cultures and languages. Place a small pillow on each chair. Learn about and purchase the best books and resources to support young children's learning and development. Our public schools are again being asked to meet the challenges that come with a rapidly growing and diverse population. Jaimie Douaihy, a junior, spent her winter break catching up with her family. } Become an organizational or corporate partner to inspire early childhood education at the local and national level. Fourth-grade teacher Sarah Pemberton periodically uses 10 to 15 minutes set aside for in-class reading to teach her students about cultural, federal, and religious holidays and celebrations. else if(currentUrl.indexOf("/about-shrm/pages/shrm-mena.aspx") > -1) { Here are our tips on what to cover, how to incorporate the holidays into your educational lesson plans, and more! Celebrating Winter Holidays in the Classroom . It is hurtful to children and families to impose celebrating of the holidays of one group on all the children and staff, or to make the holiday traditions of some groups visible while others are invisible. School work, especially in junior high and high school, becomes a child's job. But, it can be tricky to know just what you can and cant discuss and which holidays you should include in your lessons. Play a vocabulary game with holiday words. Compromise: Opt for a faux tree. The Music Okay, look. Be sure the table is large enough for all class members to sit around. Please enable scripts and reload this page. Yet, conflicting celebrations may also have common ground. Edward makes sure to talk with the child that the next day. For the many families of other faiths, the activities are inseparable from the underlying meaning of the religious rituals themselves (after all, a Christmas tree is still a Christmas tree, and the Easter bunny is the Easter bunny). Louise Derman-Sparks Julie Olsen Edwards. Note: This article was originally written for the American Federation of Teachers. Celebrating your students cultures is a great way to embrace diversity, but its also a chance to honor the commonalities that bring us together. Perform a science experiment: test which fruits and vegetables dye Easter eggs best or. Fax: 888.834.1303, Found the perfect materials for your classroom? They can return to our website and order the items you selected. Teaching about a holiday requires that teachers make very clear that the class can enjoy learning about each others holidays while holding to their own familys beliefs and traditions. This is especially necessary in publicly funded programs where religious teaching is not allowed by law. The pros and cons of celebrating Halloween email Christians across the UK will have different opinions on whether or not to celebrate Halloween. Connect with professionals in your community at conferences, networking events, advocacy efforts, leadership opportunities and more! The three sections of the guide discuss rethinking the holidays, planning for change in teaching approaches, and aspects to consider when using holidays in the classroom. Serving and Supporting Immigrant Students, Bilingual & Dual-Language Education: Overview, Schools and Families: An Important Partnership, Supporting ELLs During COVID-19: Educator Voices, Family Literacy: Multilingual Video Series, Meaningful Multicultural Education in a Nation of Immigrants, The December Dilemma: Acknowledging Religious Holidays in the Classroom, The December Dilemma and English Language Learners, TESOL Resource Roundup: December Holidays, Teaching the Holidays: The December Dilemma. While Christmas in the Northern Hemisphere is a beautiful winter wonderland event, Christmas in Australia is usually upwards of 30 degrees celsius. Reasons to avoid Vietnam during Tet (lunar new year) Everything closes down. Pamela Rivers is a writer and English teacher who has been writing for over 20 years. For expats, holidays can mean liberation from pressures to celebrate with family in the usual ways . First Amendment Centers Finding Common Ground, Be open to answering questions from students, talk with students about mindfulness and reflection, explore how light and shadow work while celebrating Diwali. Personal decorations are fine as long as the decorations are kept to a minimum and are not in any way treading on the rights of othersand that includes ensuring that decorations dont create an unnavigable workspace, said Natalie Holder, an employment lawyer and founder and CEO of Quest The holidays can be used to explore how people of diverse backgrounds practice similar values. Up to 3 times higher prices of services. Focus on the historical and cultural impacts, not the religious influence. One can teach about the holidays from October all the way through May, beginning with the harvest and the holidays of Halloween and Diwali and ending with the rituals of Passover, Easter, and May Day. The United States officially codified the five-day week for all workers in 1932. Even some Christian families see these as pagan appropriations that trivialize one of their two most important holy days of the year. Some platforms are complicated, depend on other software programs to work, or just don't fit a teacher's instruction style. The challenge is to choose words that focus on the history of the special day and that also make clear the diversity of beliefs. Please note that all such forms and policies should be reviewed by your legal counsel for compliance with applicable law, and should be modified to suit your organizations culture, industry, and practices. They may pause or rewind lectures, read through the content repeatedly, make a note of their questions, or discuss the content with their peers, instructors, or tutors. The next day a birthday celebration for another child includes cupcakes from the birthday childs family. Copyright 2014, Bayard, Inc. All rights reserved. These are topics that require clarifying conversations. While everyone wants American students to be competitive, students need a break from the classroom occasionally. She is coauthor of several books, including Leading Anti-Bias Early Childhood Programs: A Guide for Change, Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, and Teaching/Learning Anti-Racism: A Developmental Approach. Cons of visiting Vietnam at Tet Festival. Fewer tourists at Tet festival. For example, when talking about Christmas, focus on giving and kindness rather than Santa or the religious implications of the special day. Less traffic in big cities. --Making the season about more than traditional cutout cookies and grab-bag gifts. Growing in popularity are American Indian/Alaska Native Heritage Month and Asian Pacific Heritage Month. $(document).ready(function () { Our nation is rich in many cultural and religious traditions, and celebrations focusing on specific groups have grown and become more popular in the last twenty years. A Society for Human Resource Management poll found that 65 percent of HR professionals said their organizations will have a 2015 end-of-year/holiday party open to all employees. The general rule of thumb is to do this carefully. Text 2: A magazine article about the pros and cons of children celebrating Valentine's Day. Email your shopping cart to your school/district contacts to request purchasing approval. Honoring the cultural diversity among the families you serve means recognizing that all have the right to their traditions and that the ECE program does not favor one category of families over another. Sponsor study about religion, not the practice of religion. You serve as Leader. Elizabethtown, PA 17022 Celebrating a holiday engages children in holiday activities as full-fledged participants, on the assumption that their families believe in the holidays purpose and meaning. Below, find out how Elf on the Shelf works and explore the possible pros and cons of bringing home a scout elf for your family this holiday season. Some platforms make many pedagogy processes simpler. Approximately two million people who work for the federal government would be given a paid day off, and . Answer (1 of 14): If you're into cold weather and winter sports (skiing, ice skating, sledding) it can be wonderful. This meal would be Jesus Last Supper, a celebration that has lasting significance for us today because it was during this meal that Jesus instituted the Eucharist. An educational opportunity. Consider the following holiday examples: A mother brings a special lunch to school for her childs birthday. You may think that celebrating holidays in the classroom solely comes in the form of reading a story or doing a craft. This article is protected by United States copyright and other intellectual property laws and may not be reproduced, rewritten, distributed, redisseminated, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast, directly or indirectly, in any medium without the prior written permission of Bayard, Inc. Given that research, test data, and anecdotal evidence repeatedly confirm that culture plays a significant role in teaching and learning, student diversity challenges us to explore ways to bridge cultural differences and develop culturally sensitive teaching practices that recognize and accept these differences. Since there is no official ruling on celebrating holidays in the classroom, check with your administration or fellow teachers before planning your lessons. There are no exceptions to this rule. Some of the most prominent are African-American History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and Women's History Month. All of these recommendations are in line with the standard that officially guides states and schools on this issue the "Lemon Test," named after the 1971 court case of Lemon v. Kurtzman. Kids who can't participate in the costume party can feel left out or uncomfortable. On the other hand, they can increase prep time for teachers and can present challenges to students. Teaching respect for diversity includes helping children understand that families have different ways of acting, and these may not be the same as the behaviors in their own family. Tell your students that they will have the opportunity to participate in a modern-day Seder in this session. At Spredfast, a social media management platform based in Austin, Texas, all kinds of occasions are celebrated, from birthdays to Cinco de Mayo to Hackweek, during which employees compete to come up with new products. Browse pros and cons of halloween resources on Teachers Pay Teachers, a marketplace trusted by millions of teachers for original educational resources. For example, for many Jewish people, Passover is a more significant holiday than Hanukkah, but Hanukkah is the Jewish holiday that teachers often cover since it occurs near Christmas. Student Journaling as a Tool for Teaching English Language Learners. 00:48. $("span.current-site").html("SHRM China "); That's because it's a misnomer to think that ADHD affects only their performance in school. More school time could increase student learning. celebrating cultural diversity in your classroom! That includes: During a discussion of the Seder ceremony, the teacher explains the meaning and tradition behind matzo. } $("span.current-site").html("SHRM MENA "); Include holiday premises in mathematical word problems. 2. At my school, this lines up with our four pillars: knowledge, community, effort, and kindness. * Place a bowl of water and a hand towel on the table as well, near the head of the table. Yet, most early childhood education programs now serve a wide range of families, many of which have configurations that differ from the one mother and one father family structure. Each community, under the supervision of the rabbi, developed its own Haggadah, which means guide or script. What do seem to be fairly consistent are the four questions that are at the heart of the ritual. We recognize the obvious cultural differences such as foods, heroes, holidays, arts, and clothing differences that, much like the tip of the iceberg, are clearly visible above the water. They also can build schoolfamily connections and community within a program. 520 East Bainbridge Street Julie Olsen Edwards,coauthor of Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, was on the faculty of Cabrillo Colleges early childhood education department for 45 years. Many parents and kids alike enjoy the fun and games of including this yearly ritual in their Christmas celebrations. How we teach about holidays is a reflection of how our community values expanding our knowledge about ourselves and our neighbors. Pro: Appreciate the money, time, and effort spent in decorating the tree as much as you can prior to Christmas Day, because after that, they are just a sad reminder that the holiday is over. To request permission for specific items, click on the reuse permissions button on the page where you find the item. People whose religions have holidays and observances in months other than December (such as the fall for the Hindu celebration of Diwali; or the Muslim celebration of Ramadan, which is celebrated in different months, depending on the year) may not want to attend a Christian season celebration. See Review the Story of Exodus at the end of this article for an activity that will help you and your students review the story of the Exodus in preparation for your classroom Seder meal. Expose students to a diversity of religious views and do not impose any particular view. Whether or not to include any holidays in your curriculum, and what activities to use if you do, requires thoughtful decision making. This article shows teachers how to bring rich cultural content into their teaching in a way that expands students' knowledge, interest, and respect for the group being featured. Learn about the rich Vietnamese culture. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. Be sure the table is large enough for all class members to sit around. Even within groups that honor the same holiday, how individual families celebrate will reflect both similarities and differences. If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. The officer is a Wiccan. It would be disrespectful to Jews for us to Christianize the Seder in order to focus on what happened at the Last Supper and the Eucharist. You will see things that spark your curiosity, make you wonder, and amaze you all at once. Please purchase a SHRM membership before saving bookmarks. You may be surprised at the number of teachers or administrators who can give you a firsthand account of the holiday in question. See this interview with Dr. Cynthia Lundgren for more great tips on culturally responsive instruction! For any reprint requests, please contact the author or publisher listed. When Catholics gather to celebrate the Eucharist, we acknowledge that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away our sins. Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings. Homepage illustrations 2009 by Rafael Lpez originally appeared in "Book Fiesta" by Pat Mora and used with permission from HarperCollins. document.head.append(temp_style); You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server. If your favorite part of celebrating the holidays is spending time with family and friends, your holiday wedding will feel extraordinarily sentimental. However, during the present-day global era, the role of traditions in schools has become an increasingly complex issue. Caution: Eliminate the nuts if there are students with allergies. Become a leader in your professional association. Acknowledging or celebrating holidays in early childhood programs can bring pleasure to many families, staff, and children and can be useful in building connections between school and families. On the one hand, they help teachers save valuable class time while boosting student engagement. The Christmas holidays allows many UK schools to have a 2 week break, but many students seem be in holiday mode way before the last day of term. Have an approach that is academic and not devotional. Why Should Students Learn About Holidays? Learn about NAEYCs informed positions on significant issues affecting young childrens education and development. Support access to high-quality early childhood education programs and opportunities and resources for educators. Some of the reasons have to do with cultural sensitivity. No matter what you choose to shed light on the subject (a lesson plan, ongoing unit study, field trip, cultural fair, special performance presentation, etc. To curb the spread of the virus, school districts around the country offered a variety of educational possibilities, from in-person school with masks to full online school to a delayed start to the academic year to a hybrid model that offered some days in a physical classroom and other days virtually. Popular Searches:DAP;Coping with COVID-19;E-books;Anti-Bias Education;Online Store. PROS: Video is engaging and fun, it triggers more senses and can enhance learning. There are other differences but, hopefully, the integrity and spirit of the celebration have been maintained and will enable your students to enter respectfully into the experience. 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