Family Traditions

When I was high school one of my best friends was Jewish, and I am not. One year her parents invited me to her Passover Sedar. I got to sit at the table, participate in the rituals and her parents and grandparents explained the meaning behind much of what they are doing so I wouldn’t be confused at any point. Though I can’t remember the specifics of the meaning behind each ritual, I do remember the overall experience very well. That experience helped me grow as a person because I better understood a Jewish tradition, and it helped me become closer to my friend because I knew more about her and her family traditions.

In public schools these days most teachers are being encouraged (or forced) to help religion out of the classroom. Since religion and holidays are so closely connected, this often means that holiday traditions are left out of the classroom. In my district, parents have been known to immediately complain if students are “taught” about religion, complete any kind of project having to do with a religious holiday or are given small “religious” items such as a drediel or a candy cane. I believe this attitude does a huge disservice to our children, whether they celebrate the holidays of the majority or the minority.

This year I have many students who are different in my classroom, whether it is because of their special needs diagnosis, religious difference or a different culture and/or language in their home. I truly think it is a missed opportunity to simply pretend we are all the same and not begin to understand our family differences during classroom time. While some parents may provide learning experiences of this nature at home, most students go home on the weekend and have play dates with friends who speak the same home language or spend the entire Sunday at church with people of the same religion.

So, in December this year I decided to have my students; complete Holiday Traditions collages. In my letter to families explaining the project, I told families to keep in mind the following ideas in completing their collages…

Names of family members

Holidays we celebrate

Yummy foods

Stories we read

Decorations

Friends and family visits

Games we play

Clothes we wear

Songs we sing

Gifts we give

Trips we take

I also showed parents my example in which I focused on my family’s winter holiday traditions. I assigned each child a day (4-5 child per day) to bring their project to school and then each child had the opportunity to present their collage to the class. This activity allowed children to learn more about their friends and created a fantastic bulletin board in the hall.

Not only was this a great opportunity for kids to practice speaking in front of the class and learn more about each other, but the kids also LOVED it. They were so excited to share their traditions and we got in some great conversations about different cultures and traditions. One of my children described in detail a special holiday in China kind of like our “Thanksgiving.” The kids had so many questions about what foods she got to eat!

If you’d like to use the letter I sent to parents: Dear Parents, You’ll have to made a few changes for your classroom though

Stay tuned for my next post about Holiday Traditions Journals.

How do you address the holidays with your students?

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