Over the past several weeks, Preschool 1 has been learning so much about different celebrations and observances within our classroom. It all began in the week leading up to National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, observed on September 30th of each year. Simone introduced the children to the Indigenous culture by reading stories and sharing videos about what Indigenous people have endured through history. We had several conversations that lasted several weeks and we learned about some of the hardships that were experienced by Indigenous children, such as being taken away from their Mom’s and Dad’s and having their hair cut when they didn’t want to. The children really seemed to understand the importance of this day, and often showed their comprehension by sharing the phrase “all children matter”.
In October, we learned about Diwali - the festival of lights! We read several stories and learned so much about why and how Diwali is celebrated. Some of the children even brought personal photos and family stories from their own homes to share with everyone. Natalie and Nicole even wore their sarees to RisingOaks one day to show them off! We learned that Diwali is a 5-day celebration with each day representing something different. Over the span of the 5-day period, families will clean their homes, decorate with beautiful sand creations called diyas, and light up their houses with candles and string lights to welcome the goddess Lakshmi.
Halloween was a fun celebration to learn about. The children shared so much excitement with each other about their costumes that they got to wear and how much candy they collected while trick-or-treating. We had a Halloween party in the classroom with our costumes, making Halloween crafts and participating in different activities such as apple bobbing, pumpkin carving and a pumpkin bean bag toss!
The last celebration we learned about was Remembrance Day! Simone wrote a song for the children to help explain what Remembrance Day is, and why we celebrate it. We learned that Remembrance Day is a day to remember all of the Canadian Veterans that fought and assisted during the war to help fight for a better country for us to live in. We learned lots about the meaning of the poppy flower and displayed our creative abilities by recreating poppies in different ways. We enhanced fine motor skills by using pipettes to paint poppies, and used markers to colour poppies as well! The children were eager to wear and share their poppies over a few days.
