Christmas Around the World - Trillium Montessori

This month in our class we have been celebrating holidays around the world. We began in America with Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, comparing the similarities and differences between the two.

We then departed for a ‘holiday globe trot’, some of which was inspired by A Year of Many Firsts, while also weaving in the heritage of our own community members. Each day we traveled with ‘Scott’ (our fictional character who trotted the globe for us). He shared interesting facts and customs of various countries from around the world leaving us notes and fact sheets in our travel suitcase.

Over the two-week period we visited Russia, France, Italy, Holland, Sweden, Mexico, Australia, Germany, and Finland (where our very own Ms. Anna was born) through books, video, songs and crafts. Discovering artifacts from each destination quickly became a favorite activity of our class each day. We learned about the gift givers in each country and how children celebrate. La Befana, Father Frost, Lucia girls, Star boys and Joulupukki all became common words to hear around our class. Our focus was to share the concrete experiences of children in each country.

Mexico: Las Posadas

A little Poinsettia gluing work!
(We love using empty nail polish bottles for glue!)

Sweden: St Lucia Day

Lucia Girls and Star Boys

Finland

We all loved learning about Joulupukki (Santa) and the elf hat!

Italy

The Legend of Old Befana by Tomie dePaola was a great book for the book corner this month!

Children place a little note inside the napkin of a family member, letting them know how they will help them in the coming year.

France

The children made pomanders, potpourri and votive candle jars as gifts for their families. We found these mason jars for a dollar a piece at the Dollar Tree.