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Creekside Students Travel the Globe

Creekside Students Travel the Globe

Every day for weeks leading up to winter break, Creekside kindergarteners get out their suitcases, strap their seat belts on, and fly to a new place to learn about its holiday traditions.

It all starts with a take home project where students and their families create a page about the holidays they celebrate and the traditions they do. These pages are then compiled into a class book and each day a few students get to share their page about their personal traditions. The teachers also make a fact sheet about each holiday and put them into each student’s “suitcase.”

Each day the students open their suitcases and travel somewhere new. Teachers pull out a globe to help students understand where these celebrations began or where they are usually celebrated. “It is also a great time to connect real world experiences as many of my students have never flown in an airplane especially due to COVID-19, so we learned about airports and airplane safety one day too,” said Creekside teacher Lizzie Cavender.

The students fill out the fact sheet about the holiday and then get a little passport stamp for visiting the country. The class then does a craft that is connected to the holiday’s symbols. 

“This year I have a student who taught us a lot about Diwali and even brought in photos from their celebrations,” said Cavender. “My class was very engaged and excited to learn from the student, so I loved watching them make their Diyas (candle holders). They were so engaged and my student was so proud!”

Other popular crafts include making mkeka mats for Kwanzaa, wreaths with poinsettias for Las Posadas in Mexico, and dreidels for Hanukkah. 

“Although many students in America celebrate Christmas, it is important to begin to create the foundation that not everyone celebrates the same holidays,” said Cavender. “The students learn about how even if they do celebrate the same holidays, their traditions may be different. We discuss how our uniqueness makes us special and creates our amazing community.” 

The most common thing Cavender hears from her students is “I do that too!” when learning about a new holiday. Many of the holiday traditions include food or some sort of meal so her students love to compare and contrast their traditions with the ones we are learning.

Fellow kindergarten teacher Mandy Benjamin agrees. “I absolutely love to do this each year with the kids. It’s part of our curriculum about heritage and customs, but we dive a bit deeper. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate our diversity and learn about others.” 

Benjamin developed the Holidays Around the World unit several years ago and adapts it each year as needed. Her class even receives post cards from kids from different countries and then learns about their traditions.  

Over in first grade, Kayla Stine’s class learns about a new holiday during their morning meeting each week for six weeks. During the week they watch videos, read books and do crafts to learn more about the traditions associated with the holiday. Stine’s favorite part of the learning process is when students get to take over as “teacher” for the holidays they celebrate with their families. 

Stine integrates curriculum standards throughout the Holidays Around the World unit. For example, the class does a “picture it on a 100’s chart” for each holiday. Students practice quickly finding ten more, ten less, one more, one less, even, and odd numbers while decoding a mystery picture. 

“I love teaching about holidays like Diwali, Lunar New Year, and Eid al-Fitr because I often have 2-3 students who celebrate these holidays with their families,” said Stine. “This is typically the first time they’ve heard the holiday talked about and honored at school. It’s amazing to see their faces light up and hear them share their traditions with their friends.” Learning about fellow students’ traditions also helps build the classroom community. 

The students love the holiday unit just as much as Stine does. They love making personal connections and learning about their classmates' traditions. 

“I really like learning games that people play during holidays like dreidel for Hanukkah” - Stevie

“I liked learning about Chinese New Year because we learned about food I eat with mom!” - Summer 

The holiday unit doesn’t stop at winter break for Stine’s students. After the break, her first graders get to put their research skills to the test by choosing a holiday and learning even more about it. They are given the opportunity to share their learning using different modalities such as creating posters, developing a Google slide presentation, writing a play or making a comic book.