Celebrating Culturally Diverse Holidays in the Classroom
December is a great month to celebrate cultural diversity around the world, and even in your own classroom. Because most classrooms contain samplings of the myriad of cultures, faiths, backgrounds, experiences, and opportunities around the world, this is a great time to explore that diversity! Fostering inclusion and awareness of cultural differences is not only fun, it is beneficial to a student’s social and emotional well being.
I love to pick and choose activities from our Christmas and Holidays around the world products. We have a vast amount of choices, and these vary from year-to-year, because I always start with my students. I want to include materials that reflect their cultures and diverse experiences. For example, my classroom usually includes students who have immigrated from Mexico, so, I usually begin with “Christmas in Mexico.” I love to invite parents to help with the presentations of games, activities, foods and customs, as they are generally very eager to do so! Because our units supply all of the games, songs, and activities that I need to expand each cultural celebration, planning becomes very easy!
Don’t forget grandparents! Grandparents love to travel, so I always ask for extended family to join in the sharing. My students love to have their grandparents come in and talk about a country. For example, one child’s grandparents had been to Russia. They shared with the class photos, songs, activities, and even brought in some food. When we moved to our center activities, students were excited to read, write, play games, and make art about Russia, because they now had a personal connection!
I also make sure to include nonChristian celebrations as well. I have a niece that celebrates Diwali in grand style and she is able to talk about the celebrations with my students via Zoom — she lives in New York, across the entire nation from me. I love how Zoom has expanded the walls of our classroom!
By systematically integrating cultural diversity into your curriculum, you will familiarize your students with perspectives that differ from their own and expand their understanding of the world in which they live. And, you and your students will have a whole lot of fun!
Check out our thematic units below that will connect your students to the world while enjoying some cross-curricular thematic learning!
