Countryside’s Approach to Celebrations
Holidays
Many parents wonder how holidays are addressed in the classrooms at Countryside Montessori. Do we celebrate all cultures? Do we change our daily routines during the holidays? What extra activities do parents and children need to plan for? Do we celebrate birthdays?
All of these questions are completely natural—and we are happy to answer them. In a nutshell, our cultural celebrations mirror the Montessori philosophy of “following the child.” We invite your child’s curiosity and expand their view of the world. And we balance holiday celebrations with our goal of providing a nurturing, stable environment that reverences every student equally.
What We Celebrate
We celebrate everything at Countryside Montessori—Diwali, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, Ramadan, Christmas—any cultural holiday represented by the students we work with. If a holiday is meaningful to one of our students, we highlight it—which benefits the development of all our students.
When it comes to highlighting a cultural celebration, we weave the celebration into the general cultural studies we do—giving students a greater appreciation for the diversity of our world, as well as the values we share across cultures.
Birthday’s
Everyone wants to be remembered and cherished on the special day that they were born. The Montessori Celebration of Life is a lovely way to celebrate a child's birthday in a school setting.
Children love to hear about the journey from their birth to the present day. They want to hear stories, look at photos, and remember wonderful memories. They want to know how cherished they are, and how our life and world is better because they were born into your family and now belong to our classroom community. The Montessori Celebration of Life is the perfect way to do this.
“Real play develops initiative, problem-solving skills and many other positive traits, such as a can-do attitude, perseverance and emotional resilience. It’s vital for social skills, too. By playing together, youngsters learn to get along with other people. They discover how others’ minds work, developing empathy. And, as real play is driven by an innate desire to understand how the world works, it provides the foundation for academic learning. Real play is evolution’s way of helping children develop minds of their own – curious, problem- solving, adaptable, human minds.”
“Play is the work of the child.”
— Maria Montessori