Celebrating Holidays and diversity at AMA

The holidays can be full of joy and fun but between seeing toy ads on tv, in stores and the constant holiday talk, it can be overwhelming for young children (and parents too!) For children, the Montessori classroom can either add to this sense of overwhelm or provide a calming space to balance out the holiday rush found outside of the classroom.

At Applebee we follow the child, meaning we encourage your child’s natural curiosity towards the world, working to expand their view of the world. One may ask themselves, how does Montessori celebrate the holidays, when do we celebrate, what do we celebrate and why do we celebrate various holidays throughout the year. Read on to discover the answers to these questions and learn about the enriching power of the Montessori approach to holidays.

One can observe that in our society there are a few select holidays that are celebrated commercially. Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas come to mind, but other holidays such as Ramadan, Yom Kimpur, Kwanza, Chinese New year, or Bhodi Day often do not receive the same attention, but that is not true in Applebee classrooms. We love a celebration, and we love the chance to celebrate holidays that reflect the diversity of our student and staff population even more!

Non-Montessori classrooms often treat holidays as a one-day special event that can disrupt the classroom and the children’s routines. Feelings of fun, kindness and giving appear around the holiday but quickly take a back seat once the holiday has passed. In contrast, a Montessori environment keeps the spirit of fun, kindness and giving all year round, meaning it will become a part of the children’s everyday life. Additionally, instead of waiting all year for those few holidays, Montessori educators create opportunities and weave lessons into the everyday cultural studies we do, which include learning about the holidays, traditional food and dress, music, etc about countries all over the world on every continent. Approaching different cultures in this way allows children to have a greater appreciation for the diversity of the world and the values that are shared across cultures, as well as allowing the global holidays and cultural celebrations to fit seamlessly into the overall appreciation of different cultures.

Even birthdays are celebrated differently in a Montessori classroom. Celebration of Life is a beautiful Montessori ceremony that takes place on a child’s birthday. A candle is used to represent the sun and a globe is used to represent the Earth. The child carries the earth and walks around the sun once for each year of his life. The children sing a special song, and the teacher shares a photo and description of their accomplishments with each revolution around the sun. The children see the Celebration of Life as a recognition of their own accomplishments. This process is the child’s first experience for understanding the concepts of history, passage of time, and the relationship between the earth and sun.

This approach to learning and experiencing different cultures empowers students at AMA to develop a full and exciting understanding of all different types of people around them; an understanding that many children are simply not exposed to otherwise.

Your child deserves the best education, so schedule your personal tour today!