Omaha Nesties
njh514
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
quick question to parents (a what if)
What if your child brought home a little crafty art project that said "Happy Ramadan." ??
Would it be different if they brought home other things that said, "Happy Hanukkah," "Happy Kwanzaa," and "Merry Christmas?" at the same time?
Just wanted to get the perspective of others. I've never taught anything about Ramadan but I've done the other three. I have several Muslim students and our social studies unit is called "People and Celebrations" but we have no actual curriculum. They mainly say, "teach people and celebrations from this date to this date during your integrated studies time." I'm totally fine with it but I understand that I'm not always a good representation of the general public.
Re: quick question to parents (a what if)
I'd be totally fine with to but I'm not always a good representation of the general public either. I'd be disappointed if he ONLY came home with a Merry Christmas project.
I think it's important to recognize all celebrations, especially when you have several Muslim students.
love is for every her, love is for every him, love is for everyone
I agree with Teri- a flier home ahead of time, mentioning that you will be teaching about/ celebrating all sorts of holidays would be good. I wouldn't have an issue with it, but it would be nice to know ahead of time.
In our situation, I would be confused if it were went home (from a catholic school). That said, we celebrate Hannukah in our house too:)
In Lincoln, Nebraska, I wouldn't do it. Not because I don't agree with you but because parents (sometimes influential ones) can get worked up about things.
Personally, in a public school I wouldn't touch any of those religions or even say Merry Christmas. Sad, huh?
Talk to principal and administration first to get their blessing.
photos by jennied photography
Alissa Jean
9.10.2004
I agree with the above. Personally, I would love if a teacher was educating my child about world religion and other culture's celebrations...however, I'm from a very liberal background/state and I had never heard anyone say "Merry Christmas" to a stranger in a retail store until I moved to NE....
Congrats on #2... not sure if you announced or not yet.
In past years, I've done a Holidays Around the World. At 4, they are SO obsessed with Santa and Christmas, that I kind of HAVE to talk about how other kids celebrate holidays in December. We talk about it all at their level, and I send a note home to parents that we are talking about these holidays. We also make a WINTER gift -- it doesn't say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. The last couple years, I've made "snowman soup" (hot chocolate) when we talk about winter traditions in Nebraska, and that's what we send home.
I'm not doing much with it this year -- I have several parents who have confided that they don't have Christmas. (Not because they don't believe in it but because they can't afford it) So, we're making calendars with finger prints to "celebrate" 2012.
Picture courtesy of Heidi Keene Photography
Everything I do is "secularized." We talk about Hanukkah being celebrated by Jewish people and that it's 8 days long because they only had a little oil but it lasted for 8 days. We talk about the food and that 1 candle is lit each night. No religious discussion.
Ramadan is centered around doing good for others. They don't eat when the sun is up. They use all of their time to be a good friend. They also make sure they don't tell any lies or gossip because those are not good.
Christmas is the one that's hard to secularize but they're usually so wound up that I can read rock star Santa and talk about giving as opposed to receiving and call it good.
Since they're so young, everything I do is very broad and most of the time I can get away with being overly basic and a bit vague.
"Funny" story. My first year here the 1st grade did a little program for Black History month. They sang a couple of little songs about MLL and had a little skit about getting to know people. Some parent sent a letter to the editor about how terrible it was that we were teaching black supremacy or something crazy like that. One of the teachers is AS and the other is married to a man who is AS and they have 3 kids who identify themselves as Aa. Apparently that one parent want comfortable with that. Luckily, that parent is gone.
Thanks for the input. I already had it all written up in a note about the unit. I do lots of those so it's no biggie. My principal is very supportive about cultural awareness. I'm sure he'll be on board but I'll be sure to run it by him. I'd rather these kids have a positive first experience with the Muslim religion especially since turning on the TV gives you a much different perspective. It might prevent some prejudices as they grow if they understand that the norm is not what they see on the news.
Ditto!