A recent article in our local paper referenced a study from Brunel University in West London, England, released in 2005, that studied the shopping behaviors of men and women in some 14 different countries. It appears that what we may have all observed or experienced during this holiday shopping season does, in fact, mirror the [...]
Categories: Holidays and Traditions |
Tags: gender differences, gender roles, gender stereotypes | 
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Holiday traditions are developing some new wrinkles as the wrinkles of the generation that carried the torch for their forbearers become more evident with age.
Case in point—a colleague who is the principal in one of the district’s elementary schools where I now serve as curriculum director related this tale to me. She happened to be [...]
Categories: Holidays and Traditions |
Tags: car trips with children, communication, family, family ties, Holidays and Traditions, travel with children | Post a Comment »
Opening an Advent Calendar is a tradition in our household and yesterday, December 1st, was the day to begin taking turns for 5-year-old Lily and 10-year-old Isaiah. Our family calendar consists of 24 little boxes surrounding an empty manger. Each box has a number on it and contains a little magnetic surprise—a star or lamb, [...]
Categories: Diversity, Holidays and Traditions |
Tags: celebrating Chanukah, celebrating Christmas, celebrating Hanukah, celebrating holidays with children, celebrating Kwanza, social-emotional development | Post a Comment »
An activity I always enjoyed facilitating in my classrooms as a teacher was the “Thank You” Circle. As a principal, I also led these circles with teachers and staff at staff meetings. The activity comes to mind in this season of thanksgiving.
We often appreciate what others do for us, but in our busy lives we [...]
Categories: Holidays and Traditions |
Tags: classroom traditions, showing appreciation | 2 Comments »
My five-year-old granddaughter Lily showed me the Thankful Tree at her preschool when I picked her up the other day, and by the time we got home she wanted to make one for her home, too. Out into the field we went with her wagon collecting a small branch, leaves, pinecones, tall grasses, an old [...]
Categories: Holidays and Traditions, The School Year |
Tags: classroom traditions, showing appreciation | 2 Comments »
This week we have a chance to pause, perhaps . . .
The great paradox of holidays is that
amidst all the busy it can be too easy to miss
some small delight that might matter more.
Making time for momentary wonder
feels to me like kneading bread,
making something rise
for the heart to notice.
Happy Holidays,
Chip
JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
[...]
Categories: Holidays and Traditions |
Tags: time for reflection | Post a Comment »
Teach Our Children Well: Essential Strategies for the Urban Classroom, by Helen Maniates and Betty Doerr with Margaret Goldman (Heinemann 2001) is a wonderful rediscovered treasure sent my way recently–one that’s well worth spending a few hours with over the holidays. I guarantee you’ll come away with at least half a dozen sparkling new ideas [...]
Categories: Books, Holidays and Traditions, The Responsive Classroom® approach |
Tags: Responsive Classroom approach, Responsive Classroom practices, teaching strategies | Post a Comment »
As our developmental book swap continues, I keep getting diverted by great books about appealing themes–first poetry, then music, and now the holidays. But I can’t help recommending two books for Hanukkah, two for Christmas, and one for Kwanzaa before turning back to favorite books for five- and six-year-olds–after a break for a grown-up book [...]
Categories: Books, Holidays and Traditions |
Tags: Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem, children's holiday books, Clyde Watson, Father Fox's Christmas Rhymes, Father Fox's Pennyrhymes, favorite books for children, favorite children's books, Good to Eat: A Chanukah Story, Hanukkah! Roni Schotter, It's Kwanzaa Time! A Lift-the-Flap Story, Latkes, Marylin Hafner, Maya Angelou, Naomi Howland, reading with children, Synthia Saint James, Wendy Watson | 2 Comments »
Though Thanksgiving is a week past and even those delicious leftover sandwiches are now a fading memory, I wanted to share a wonderful Thanksgiving story as part of our continuing “developmental book swap.” In searching for books that as accurately as possible tell something about the “first” Thanksgiving in New England, some from the vantage [...]
Categories: Books, Holidays and Traditions |
Tags: celebrating holidays with children, Diversity, Holidays and Traditions, Thanksgiving | 2 Comments »
Every school has its wonderful traditions and ceremonies in the last days of school, with children moving to new grades, receiving awards and recognitions, reading essays remembering their years in elementary school, singing favorite songs, and finding other unique ways to say goodbye to each other and the institution and community that has nurtured them.
Our [...]
Categories: Holidays and Traditions, The School Year |
Tags: end of the school year, goodbye traditions, last days of school, recognizing student achievement, singing with children | 2 Comments »
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