I had so much fun prepping and planning our week of global learning! No matter how engaging the week's activities were, by Friday they were still ready and raring for a break. I look forward to a few days spent with family and friends to rejuvenate my mind and come back with some new perspectives.
As you all know, we've been looking at where in the world our families come from. All the students got up in front of the class and told us where their family was from. When we were all done, we stepped back and looked at what we had created. It was a beautiful masterpiece of threads woven back and forth showing all the different cultures we have in our classroom. So cool!
We started learning about festivals of lights this week! I hope your kindergarteners came home telling you all about these wonderful holidays, but in case they missed a few details (or a lot of details) here's a closer look at Diwali and Kwanzaa!
Diwali is a festival of lights that takes place in India. This festival is to honor and remember King Rama and princess Sita who are very important figures in Hindu religion. Although there are various interpretations of the story behind Diwali, the common thread of good trumping evil still remains.
Diyas are the source of light that plays such an important part in this festival. Traditional Diyas are made out of clay and hold burning oil inside. Hundreds of these lamps are lit to light the way for King Rama and Princess Sita's return. As a safer alternative to burning oil, we used wax candles as our source of light. The students made one Diya in our classroom using air-dry clay and then made a second with Ms. Meg in art! The second one's are not dry yet, so we will have to send round two home after break.
For the festival, people decorate their homes by drawing patterns outside their door, which are known as Rangoli. These designs are places outside the door in hopes that the goddess of wealth (Lakshmi) will come and visit their homes. These patterns are made with an outline of white chalk and then filled with colored sand or flower petals. In art class the students made their own Rangoli sand paintings that are still drying. In class we colored in patterns, paying close attention to the symmetry in the artwork.
Diwali is a time to clean out your home and fill it with lots of flowers. The hindus believe the flowers bring them good luck going into the new year. To bring some good luck into all of your homes, we made paper flowers!
Kwanzaa is a festival of lights celebrated in the United States to honor African American culture. This holiday is celebrated on Dec. 26th and lasts for 7 days. This festival began as a celebration of the first harvest.
The kinara has seven candles that are lit during each of the seven days of Kwanzaa. Each candle is a symbol of one of the 7 Kwanzaa principles, which are centered around unity and togetherness. The kinara is the centerpiece to the holiday's decor.
Many of the harvest vegetables and the kinara are placed on a special mat called a Mkeka. This mat is usually woven and placed on the center of the Kwanzaa presentation table. Our Mkeka mats were woven from construction paper using the colors of Kwanzaa (red, green, and black).
Since this holiday celebrates the first harvest and unity among the African American people, we made corn necklaces that represent the unity within our families. Each "ear" or corn represents a member in our family. Each ear has 10 kernels or seeds on it to help us practice counting by 10's!
To end our week, we had the kindergarten potluck to celebrate the different cultures we have in our rooms. Thank you, thank you, to everyone who participated and helped out during the feast. Exposing students to new foods and watching them fill their plates incredible foods a was an amazing site. Before the feast we read the book, Yoko to help us get excited about trying new foods. This was a great way to talk to the students about a variety of different foods and how to be respectful when trying those foods. Families, I apploud your hard work in making the feast such a great experience for our kids!