Vancouver Montessori School Parent Handbook: Holidays

Holidays

Many holidays are DEEPLY ROOTED in imagination and fantasy—reindeer pulling sleighs, Santa's bringing gifts down a chimney, rabbits laying eggs, etc. The child under 6 is still learning about the real world and the nature of the things found in it. Young children believe all that you tell them.

For these reasons, in keeping with Montessori Philosophy, we do not celebrate holidays in the traditional manner. We observe the changing of the seasons and focus on the true nature of life and its history.

Halloween

Halloween can be a frightening holiday for young children. Three and four year olds are particularly affected by it. They do not understand that a real person is behind the mask and the emphasis on skeletons and ghosts and wicked witches usually give rise to many anxieties in their minds.

A child spends the first 5 years of life learning about and ordering the chaos in the world. What are all these sights and sounds? What is the nature, habitat and behavior of all things. A child has limited experience. Even the commonest sights and sounds are wondrous. The young child believes all that s/he sees to be true. S/he does not yet understand or process imagination. The child relies on his/her senses to dictate a response to new things. As a protection, frightful sights warn the child of danger. How confused the child must feel if we, whom s/he deeply trusts, says lightly, "It's O.K. it's only pretend." Dr. Maria Montessori said, "It is we who imagine, not they; they believe, they do not imagine. The child believes all that we tell them and accepts it as truth."

At Vancouver Montessori School, rather than celebrating this day as a holiday, we focus on the changing seasons. We celebrate the beauty of autumn colors, the crispness in the air, the crunchiness of fallen leaves from deciduous trees. The guides may present lessons such as leaf rubbings in the art expression area, and use dried leaves and gourds to decorate the classrooms.

Guides may also introduce a skeleton into the classroom work. The children may have the opportunity to learn the proper names for the bones in the human body. This work helps neutralize some of the fear that may flow from the Halloween use of skeletons, with the very deliberate connotation of unnatural death.

Christmas

Classroom activities may include making snowflakes, chains, stringing cranberries and popcorn for hungry birds, pine cone, nut and evergreen bough arranging.

Valentine's Day

It is within the natural laws of development of young children to imitate the adult. By doing so, s/he acquires the culture of the world s/he lives in. One of the traditions in our culture is the celebration of holidays. If your family celebrates holidays, your child will wish to participate.

Valentine's Day is unique in that gifts or cards are shared only within special or close relationships. While 3 to 6 year olds generally do not develop especially close relationships between themselves, it does occur occasionally. Your child surely will have developed close family relationships.

If it is the tradition in your family to share Valentine's Day cards you may wish to provide your child with a box of raw materials; scissors, paste, colored construction paper, fabric scraps, paper doilies, feathers, etc. Form the shape of the card for the child and s/he can decorate it. You can do the writing if the child does not yet write, or it can just be a decorated card with no writing. Usually a young child will make 2 or 3 cards. That will probably be enough for the child's needs. You could suggest they be for a parent, grandparent or special friend at school.

If your child wishes to send a card to a special school friend, check the roster for the address and assist with the mailing of the card. Children love to get mail. Many children at school do not read or write yet. Not all children get an equal number of cards. If these special cards are mailed to children's homes, children's feelings will be protected. Please do not send Valentine's cards to school for children.