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How to Teach Kids to Be Kind

5 June //
Posted in For Parents, Teaching Resources //
Tags : activities for children, character education
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How to Teach Kids to Be Kind
Every day, stories about bad guys fill the news, but it’s the stories of kindness that really stand out. Whether it’s a fast food employee helping a customer or a group of students checking on a Grandma in the Window, these stories show the importance of being kind. Unfortunately, especially when people are stressed or tensions are high, showing kindness isn’t the norm. Harvard’s Making Caring Common project found that 80 percent of middle and high school students thought achievement and happiness were more important than caring for others. Teachers and parents can help turn those numbers around by teaching kids to be kind. Kindness might not solve all of the world’s problems, but it’s a good place to start.

Modeling Kindness

The first step in teaching kids to be kind is to model kindness. That means it’s time to end the “Mommy Wars”, set aside the political differences, stop pointing out what everyone else is doing wrong, and start focusing on what they’re doing right. You can model kindness by: How to Teach Kids to Be Kind

Saying please and thank you
Regularly telling others what you appreciate about them
Speaking to others in a pleasant tone, even if they upset you
Treating others, including children, with respect
Pitching in when you see a need (without complaining)
Giving random compliments to others
Keeping your negative thoughts to yourself
Doing unto others as you would have them do unto you

Kids tend to model the behaviors of the adults around them. If they see you regularly being kind, they will begin to exhibit kindness in their own lives. Of course, no one’s perfect. There will be moments when you tell someone off, hurt someone’s feelings, or fail to help someone in need. Taking the time to apologize when you were less than kind can also help kids learn a lesson about the importance of kindness.

Offering Positive Praise

Just like adults, kids need validation. They want to know that they’re appreciated and that they’re doing the right things. According to Greater Good in Action, kids actually have a propensity towards being kind. Parents and teachers can encourage kids to act on that propensity. Instead of focusing on what kids are always doing wrong, take some time to focus on what they’re doing right, particularly when it comes to kindness. Say things like:

“You are a very helpful person.”
“I appreciated it when you said ‘Please’ before you asked me for…”
“It was a great idea to…”
“Thanks. That was very kind of you.”
“I like the way that you thought about others.”

Don’t praise kids every time they act kindly, otherwise they are likely to act a certain way just to receive the praise. Instead, try to point out a few positive moments every week to let kids know you appreciate how kind and helpful they are.

When kids decide not to act kindly, focus more on how it made the other person feel rather than criticizing or punishing the kids. For example, “Did you notice that James looked sad when you called him a name?” or “When you ask me for something without saying please, it makes me feel unimportant.”

Thinking about Kindness

While many kids are born with an innate desire to be kind, parents and teachers still need to plant seeds of kindness in their minds. Talk to kids about what they think it means to be kind. Ask them to share memories of acts of kindness. You can open the conversation with these writing prompts, which also make great discussion questions.

Providing Opportunities to Be Kind

Of course the greatest way to teach kids to be kind is to give them plenty of opportunities to show kindness. These can be big acts of kindness, such as collecting money for charity or taking bags of food to a food pantry, or smaller acts of kindness, such as picking up trash on the playground or giving a friend a hug when they are sad.

Some ways kids can show kindness every day include:

Holding the door open for others
Smiling at people who make eye contact with them
Keeping a gratitude journal and regularly writing what they are thankful for
Writing thank you notes to others
Complimenting others
Waving hello when they see someone they know
Calling family members they do not see often
Writing notes or drawing pictures for family and friends
Asking if they can help when they see someone tackling a big job
Offering to let a classmate go first
Saying please and thank you
Doing their chores without being asked
Doing things they see that need done without being asked
Throwing away trash they find on the ground
Saying “I love you”
Taking some time to pet and talk to their pets
Check on elderly neighbors

Some big ways to encourage kids to be kind include:

Donating some of their clothes or toys to charity
Serving a meal at a homeless shelter
Visiting a nursing home or sending cards and flowers to the residents
Using allowance money to buy something for someone in need
Paying for someone’s meal at a restaurant (with allowance money or your help)
Offering to do chores or yard work for an elderly or disabled neighbor
Donating books to a preschool or library
Cleaning up litter in the park or around the school
Sending cards and care packages to deployed servicemen and women
Collecting money for a favorite charity
Donating food or toys to a local animal shelter
Participating in a 5K run or walk for charity
Speaking out against bullying as part of an anti-bullying campaign
Volunteering to tutor another student
Making your neighbors gifts for the holidays or on their birthdays

If you encourage kids to show kindness when they are young, they are more likely to grow up to be kind adults. If you want to take the conversation on kindness a step further, check out Edutopia’s Eight Steps Toward a Kinder World. Remember, kindness matters.

Celebrating Memorial Day – No Greater Gift

25 May //
Posted in For Parents, Teaching Resources //
Tags : american heroes, memorial day, teacher resources
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Teach your students about the ultimate sacrifice

The meaning of the most solemn of civic holidays is sometimes lost, as many Americans view Memorial Day weekend as simply the unofficial start of the summer season. There may be a vague awareness of Memorial Day’s meaning among the general populace, but for families which have a military tradition the day can be deeply personal. We’ll take a look at the origin of this day of remembrance, examine how it is celebrated, and profile some of the courageous people who have given their lives for their country.

What is Memorial Day?

Memorial Day is always observed on the last Monday in May. It commemorates all men and women who have died while giving military service to the United States. Memorial Day should not be confused with Veterans Day, which is a celebration of all U.S. military veterans every November, or with Armed Forces Day (celebrated the third Saturday in May) which honors men and women currently serving in the military.

The History of Memorial Day

While some trace the idea of a “memorial” day back to President Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address dedicating the Gettysburg National Cemetery in 1863, an actual Memorial Day holiday began in 1868, just a few years after the end of the Civil War. The holiday, originally called Decoration Day, was established by a group of Union veterans as a day to decorate with flowers the graves of fallen soldiers.

In an 1868 Decoration Day address at Arlington Cemetery, then-congressman and future U.S. president James Garfield said, “I am oppressed with a sense of the impropriety of uttering words on this occasion.” This sentiment still captures the true meaning of Memorial Day today.

In 1873, New York became the first state to recognize Memorial Day as an official holiday. By the late 19th century, many more cities observed Memorial Day, and a number of states had declared it a legal holiday. In 1971, an act of Congress made Memorial Day a national holiday. In 2000, Congress passed the National Moment of Remembrance Act, encouraging Americans to observe a moment of silence at 3 p.m. local time to remember those who have died while serving.

Memorial Day Traditions

Americans observe Memorial Day in many ways. Parades, speeches, ceremonies and concerts are held around the country.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The solemn holiday is formally observed each year at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. when the president gives a speech at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This monument contains remains of unidentified soldiers and stands as an iconic memorial to all those killed in service. The tomb, a white, marble sarcophagus has stood atop a hill overlooking the capital since 1921. The Tomb is also a place of mourning and a site for reflection on military service.

Military Cemeteries

Arlington National Cemetery is the most-well known final resting place for America’s fallen heroes. Approximately 400,000 veterans and their eligible dependents are interred there including service members from each of America’s major wars, from the War of Independence through today’s conflicts. The cemetery also holds the grave of two U.S. presidents (Taft and Kennedy). An eternal flame marks the place of Kennedy’s grave. More than 16 million people visited the site in its first three years.

There are over 150 “national” cemeteries in the U.S. These include the aforementioned Gettysburg, one of the 14 national cemeteries established by Lincoln in 1862. Other famous national graveyards are Golden Gate National Cemetery and Antietam National Cemetery which contains nearly 5,000 graves (over 1800 are unidentified). Antietam is the deadliest one-day battle in American military history with more than 22,000 casualties. In this battle a nurse known as the “Angel of the Battlefield”, Clara Barton, brought badly needed supplies to doctors at the scene.

Since many American soldiers and sailors died in foreign lands, there are many military cemeteries on foreign soil. Notably, St. James American Cemetery in Brittany, France contains the remains of over 4,000 World War II American soldiers, many who were killed on D-Day. The Manilla American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines is the final resting place for more than 17,000 U.S. personnel who lost their lives during World War II. Many were killed in New Guinea, or during the Battle of the Philippines (1941–42) or the Allied recapture of the islands. Buried there are the five Sullivan Brothers, who perished when their ship was sunk in 1942.

Parades and Ceremonies

Memorial Day observances include parades, presentations of the colors, speeches, and gun salutes. These events are often organized by groups such as Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, American Gold Star Mothers, and Daughters of the American Revolution. The presentation of colors is a ceremony presenting the American flag and flags of the armed services (referred to as the “colors”). A color guard, consisting of honor guards and flag bearers, presents the colors while a sergeant-at-arms dictates the orders during the ceremony.

There’s a protocol for displaying the American flag on Memorial Day. The stars and stripes should be hoisted quickly up to full staff at sunrise, then lowered to half-staff until noon, and then returned to the top of the staff. And, as always, any other flag displayed with Old Glory should be given a lower place.

Gun salutes have long been associated with Memorial Day as a way to honor the fallen. A three-volley salute – representing duty, honor, and country – is performed by a rifle party which fires blanks into the air three times in unison. A 21-gun salute is typically performed with cannons rather than rifles, and, although reserved for the funeral of a sitting or former president, is sometimes given on Memorial Day.

Other Memorial Day traditions include pilgrimages by veterans and their families to military cemeteries and sites such as the World War II Memorial and Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. During the 3 p.m. moment of silence on Memorial Day, Amtrak conductors sound one long whistle in honor of those who have died in service. Memorial Day is often chosen for special dedications of monuments. Fittingly, in 1922, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated by then-Supreme Court Chief Justice William Taft on Memorial Day.

Hall of Heroes

What follows are just a few of the people who have paid the ultimate price on the battlefield. Each received the nation’s highest award for military valor in action: the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Frank Luke

Lieut. Luke was a daredevil WWI fighter pilot who targeted heavily defended German observation balloons. In just thirty hours of flight time over ten missions in nine days of combat, Luke shot down fourteen enemy balloons and four aircraft. On his final mission on Sept. 29, 1918, his plane went down in a field near a small village in France. He posthumously received a Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery.

Joe Gandara

Pvt. Gandara received the Congressional Medal of Honor “for his heroic actions on June 9, 1944, in Amfreville, France. His detachment came under devastating enemy fire from a strong German force, pinning the men to the ground for a period of four hours. Gandara advanced voluntarily and alone toward the enemy position and destroyed three hostile machine-guns before he was fatally wounded.”*

Alfred Nietzel

Sgt. Nietzel was awarded the Medal of Honor “for his valorous actions in Heistern, Germany, Nov. 18, 1944. When an enemy assault threatened to overrun his unit’s position, Nietzel selflessly covered for the retreating members of his squad, expending all his ammunition and holding his post until he was killed by an enemy hand grenade.”*

Leonard Kravitz

Army Pfc. Kravitz was “recognized for his actions in Yangpyong, Korea, March 6-7, 1951. While occupying defensive positions, Kravitz’s unit was overrun by enemy combatants and forced to withdraw. Kravitz voluntarily remained at a machine-gun position to provide suppressive fire for the retreating troops. This forced the enemy to concentrate their attack on his own position. Kravitz ultimately did not survive the attack, but his actions saved his entire platoon.”*

Joe Baldonado

Army Cpl. Baldonado “distinguished himself on Nov. 25, 1950, while serving as a machine-gunner in the vicinity of Kangdong, Korea. Baldonado’s platoon was occupying Hill 171 when the enemy attacked, attempting to take their position. Baldonado held an exposed position, cutting down wave after wave of enemy troops even as they targeted attacks on his position. During the final assault by the enemy, a grenade landed near Baldanado’s gun, killing him instantly.”*

Oscar P. Austin

During the early morning hours of February 23, 1969, Marine Pfc. Austin’s observation post was attacked by a large North Vietnamese Army force. One of his wounded companions had fallen unconscious in a position dangerously exposed to enemy fire. Austin didn’t hesitate to leave the relative security of his position and, with complete disregard for his own safety, raced across the bullet-swept terrain to help. As he neared his fellow Marine, Austin saw an enemy grenade land nearby. Instantly, he leaped between the injured man and the grenade, absorbing its detonation. Ignoring his painful injuries, Austin turned to examine the wounded man when he saw an NVA soldier aiming a weapon at the unconscious Marine. Austin threw himself between his friend and the enemy soldier, and by doing this, was mortally wounded. He gallantly gave his life for his comrade and his country.

Robert Miller

On January 25, 2008, following an engagement with insurgents in Afghanistan, Army “Staff Sergeant Miller led a small squad forward to conduct a battle damage assessment. As the group neared the small, steep, narrow valley that the enemy had inhabited, a large, well-coordinated insurgent force initiated a near ambush, assaulting from elevated positions with ample cover. Exposed and with little available cover, the patrol was totally vulnerable to enemy rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapon fire. As point man, Staff Sergeant Miller was at the front of the patrol, cut off from supporting elements, and less than 20 meters from enemy forces. Nonetheless, with total disregard for his own safety, he called for his men to quickly move back to covered positions as he charged the enemy over exposed ground and under overwhelming enemy fire in order to provide protective fire for his team. While maneuvering to engage the enemy, Staff Sergeant Miller was shot in his upper torso. Ignoring the wound, he continued to push the fight, moving to draw fire from over one hundred enemy fighters upon himself. He then again charged forward through an open area in order to allow his teammates to safely reach cover. After killing at least 10 insurgents, wounding dozens more, and repeatedly exposing himself to withering enemy fire while moving from position to position, Staff Sergeant Miller was mortally wounded by enemy fire.”†

*From remarks made by President Barack Obama at a Congressional Medal of Honor ceremony on 3/18/2014

†From remarks made by President Barack Obama at a Congressional Medal of Honor ceremony on 10/6/2010

Resources for Teaching about Memorial Day

Help Teaching has created these educational resources:

Memorial Day Compound Words (G1)
Memorial Day Celebration Vocabulary (G2)
Memorial Day Fiction (G3)
Abraham Lincoln (G3)
Flag Nickname Scramble (G4)
The History of Memorial Day (G5)
Memorial Day Vocabulary Match (G5)
Sullivan Brothers (WWII)
D-Day lesson and worksheet (G8)
Memorial Day Bingo
Memorial Day Word Search
Gettysburg Address worksheet (G5)
Gettysburg Address lesson and worksheet (G8)
Memorial Day (G9)
Arlington National Cemetery (G6)
All Quiet on the Western Front (G9)
United States Armed Forces lesson and worksheet (G3)

KidsKonnect.com offers these resources:

BusyTeacher.org has these free resources:

In today’s culture which touts professional athletes and celebrities as heroes, it is important to instill in children and youth the significance of Memorial Day to America’s history and civic life. Let’s teach them what true heroism is.

Celebrating Mother’s Day

6 May //
Posted in For Parents, Teaching Resources //
Tags : anna jarvis, mother's day
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After Christmas and Halloween, Mother’s Day is perhaps the most popular holiday on the calendar. It is observed in different forms and on different days throughout the world. In the United States, Canada, Australia, much of western Europe, Japan, China, the Philippines, South Africa, and India, Mother’s Day is always the second Sunday in May. It’s a day set aside to honor and/or remember one’s mother.

“A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world.”
—Anna Jarvis, founder of Mother’s Day

(Read on to discover the meaning behind this unusual quote about this holiday.)

When did Mother’s Day Begin?

Although the ancient Greeks and Romans held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, the modern idea of Mother’s Day did not begin until about 175 years ago. Just before the American Civil War, Ann Reeves Jarvis helped start “Mothers’ Day Work Clubs” to teach women how to care for their children properly. After the war, she organized “Mothers’ Friendship Day,” when mothers would meet with former Union and Confederate soldiers to promote reconciliation. Another forerunner of Mother’s Day was promoted by the abolitionist and suffragette Julia Ward Howe, who in 1870 wrote the “Mother’s Day Proclamation,” asking mothers to unite in promoting world peace.

Anna Jarvis

It wasn’t until the daughter of Ann Reeves Jarvis, Anna Jarvis, took up the cause of promoting a Mother’s Day specifically to honor mothers that the idea became a national movement. In 1908 Jarvis held a memorial ceremony to honor her mother’s memory in Grafton, West Virginia. Jarvis had cared for her mother as her mother’s health had declined. The idea for a day set aside to honor mothers quickly caught on until President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day an official U.S. holiday in 1914.

Mother’s Day quickly spread in popularity, and Jarvis just as quickly saw the rapid commercialization of the holiday as the exploitation of what was intended to be a special day of reverence for one’s mother. Oddly, she spent more of her life trying to eradicate the holiday than she did trying to create it.

Jarvis railed against the florist, card, and candy industries cashing in on Mother’s Day. She called for a boycott against florists who raised the price of the symbol of Mother’s Day – the white carnation – every May. At one point in the 1920s, her threat to sue the New York Mother’s Day Committee, which included the state’s governor and the city’s mayor, over plans for a large Mother’s Day celebration resulted in the event being canceled. When she crashed the American War Mothers convention, Jarvis was charged with disorderly conduct.

Mothering Sunday

It should be noted that in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, the origins of the holiday known as “Mothering Sunday” had nothing to do with honoring one’s mother, although nowadays in those countries, Mothering Sunday has become the equivalent of Mother’s Day.

Mothering Sunday is always held on the fourth Sunday of Lent, and that should give you a clue as to its genesis as a religious holiday. This Mid-Lent Sunday – or Laetare Sunday – also known as Refreshment Sunday, is a day to take a break from the penitential Lenten fasting. The day’s relation to mothering comes from the Scripture passages read during the Mass as far back as the 8th century. Since the 16th century, it had been a custom for families to attend a church service together in the nearest important church or cathedral – their “Mother” church.

Mother’s Day traditions

In North America, Mother’s Day traditionally involves presenting moms with flowers, cards, and other gifts. Taking mom out to dinner is also very popular, and most restaurants that day will be mobbed with diners. Reservations are a must!

Americans spend upwards of 25 billion dollars each year on the holiday, second only to the combined spending during the Christmas/New Year/Hanukkah/Thanksgiving season. (Mother’s Day even tops Valentine’s Day in spending!). Families also celebrate by giving mothers a day off from activities like cooking or other household chores. Mothers and other women will be honored at worship services on Mother’s Day weekend. The honoring of mothers is not limited to just biological mothers, but anyone who has stepped up to raise children that may or may not be their own.

Flowers

Flowers are a popular gift for mom as bouquets, and potted blooms account for more than two-thirds of all Mother’s Day gifts. Even though it was the white carnation that originally became popular, red carnations are also considered the official Mother’s Day flower. More importantly, a bouquet of mom’s favorite variety of flowers is the one she most would like to receive. The more than fifteen thousand retail florists in the United States will sell about 2.8 billion stems of cut flowers for Mother’s Day. That’s 69% of all annual flower sales. Most of the flowers are brought in from Columbia, which accounts for 78% of imports.

Another American Mother’s Day tradition is the wearing of flowers. It is said that wearing red or pink flowers shows that one’s mother is still alive. If a person wears a white flower, it means that mother has passed away. Some people place white carnations on the grave of their mother.

Cards and calls

The greeting card industry relies heavily on Mother’s Day sales to survive. Some 113 million cards are sent each year on the holiday. Surely, though, mom’s most memorable and cherished cards are those made by hand by her young children.

Phone calls to mom are also a popular thing to do on Mother’s Day. There is nothing like hearing one’s child’s own voice on the other end of the line, especially if that child lives far away. Likewise, video chats are more popular now than ever.

Mother’s Day or Mothers’ Day?

When Anna Jarvis campaigned for a national holiday honoring mothers, she made special note of the correct placement of the possessive apostrophe. She felt strongly that the holiday should be a personal celebration of one’s mother, thus she preferred the singular possessive Mother’s to the plural possessive Mothers’. Sometimes the holiday is spelled without an apostrophe.

Mother’s Day around the World

As you might imagine, Mother’s Day is celebrated around the world in various ways on various days with various customs.

Asia

In Thailand, for example, Mother’s Day is always celebrated in August on the birthday of Sirikit, the Queen mother of Thailand. Mother’s Day in Nepal is based on the Bikram Sambat Nepali calendar, which follows the positions of the sun, moon and planets, thus this holiday lands in April or May. Mother’s Day is known in Nepal as Aama ko Mukh Herne Din (“day to see mother’s face”). For those whose mothers have died, people visit the legendary natural pond Mata-Tirtha outside of Kathmandu, where they believe they will see their mother’s face when they peer into the pond.

Eastern Europe

Most eastern European countries celebrate Mother’s Day on March 8, which is also International Women’s Day. This may be due to Soviet-era influence on the region. Vladimir Lenin, founder of Russia’s Communist Party, declared Woman’s Day an official Soviet holiday in 1917. Today, however, Russia’s official Mother’s Day holiday is the last Sunday in November as established by President Yeltsin in 1998. Since November is a very cold month in Russia, fresh-cut flowers are hard to come by, so Russians resort to the more hardy chrysanthemum as a floral gift for mom.

In Albania, people observe Mother’s Day on March 8, and is generally celebrated in many of the same ways as it would be around the world. One Albanian tradition is to give a simple gift of a mimosa sprig to mom.

Western Europe

In Germany, they celebrate Muttertag in May. However, the German tradition began in an unusual way when it was first celebrated in 1922 as a way to raise the country’s low birth rate. It was officially declared a German holiday by Hitler in 1933 when childbearing women were honored as heroes. Today, Germans honor their mothers similarly to how the rest of Europe does.

In Spain, Mother’s Day takes place on December 8, the Roman Catholic Feast of the Immaculate Conception. This celebrates what Christians believe was the day when Mary, the mother of Jesus, became with child through the Holy Spirit of God.

Arab lands

A day honoring moms was introduced in Egypt by journalist Mostafa Amin who convinced Egyptian president Gamal Nasser to create a national Mother’s Day in 1956. Ironically, when Amin was jailed for espionage several years later, the holiday was changed to “Family Day.” Many citizens protested, and the government changed it back to Mother’s Day.

Egypt (and most Arab countries) celebrate Mother’s Day on March 21st (vernal equinox). The date harkens back to the time of the pharaohs when the goddess Isis, a symbol of motherhood, was revered with boats full of flowers floating down the Nile to mark the coming of spring.

In Dubai, Mothers are treated to a special day of dining out, gourmet baking, flowered baskets, and perhaps even a day at a spa! Prestigious department stores such as Bloomingdale’s and Harvey Nichols offer special pampering packages.

Africa

Mother’s Day in Ethiopia comes in the fall, when people gather to sing songs and feast as part of Antrosht, a multi-day celebration honoring motherhood. The children bring ingredients to make a traditional hash. Girls bring butter, cheese, vegetables and spices, and the boys bring a bull or lamb. As the mother prepares the meat hash, she and her daughter(s) put butter on their faces and chests as part of the ritual.

Mother’s Day is not an official public holiday in Kenya, but most people still observe it every second Sunday of May. Like elsewhere, it is typical to make a card for Mom and to write a poem or other special message inside. Many people also do the chores for their mother on Mother’s Day, take her out to dinner, or go on a family picnic. The most common gift ideas for Mum in Kenya include flowers, clothing, jewelry, and handmade gifts like decorations.

Mother’s Day is a unique day in Nigerian churches when everybody puts on their dancing shoes for a musical atmosphere in the worship service. The special moment is when the children are called upon to recite a Mother’s Day poem to their mothers, and each presents them with a gift.

Latin America

Mother’s Day in Mexico is always celebrated on May 10. Children write cards, deliver flowers, and give gifts to mothers. Children also help with housework, churches have special masses, and music, food, and family gatherings are all traditional ways to honor Mexican mothers.

In Costa Rica, Mother’s Day is a national holiday observed on August 15, which is the Roman Catholic holy day celebrating the Assumption of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Costa Rican mothers are treated like true royalty, receiving gifts as large as appliances. Some families may even raise a pig to be cooked that day.

Peruvians also honor their mothers in August, and they celebrate Mother Earth, or Pachamama, a goddess revered by Andean indigenous peoples. In Inca mythology, Pachamama is a fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting.

In Bolivia, Dia de la Madre is the most celebrated holiday besides Christmas. Mother’s Day is always May 27, a day that memorializes Bolivian women who resisted the Spanish Army in 1812. Hundreds of women, children and elders were slaughtered. After they gained independence from Spain, Bolivia declared May 27 as the “Day of the heroines of Coronillas” after the place where the women were killed.

Resources for Mother’s Day

Help Teaching offers these educational resources:

KidsKonnect.com has Mother’s Day Facts & Worksheets.

BusyTeacher.org offers a bouquet of resources here.

A Different Way to Mark the Coming of Spring

29 April //
Posted in For Parents, Teaching Resources //
Tags : ideas, spring, teacher tips
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Most people are familiar with the two major spring festivals in the west: Easter and Passover, but there are several other lesser-known spring celebrations, which come from pagan tradition. We will take a look at some of the pagan festivals, which although ancient – and a bit off the beaten path – are still held today.

Ancient Pagan Festivals

Many of these festivals stem from ancient fertility rites, so caution must be used, as some celebrations in antiquity involved sexual rituals. Thus, content should be closely reviewed before presenting to students.

Beltane

Beltane means “fires of Bel” in Gaelic (Bel was a Celtic god). It is a fire festival that celebrates spring and the fertility of the coming growing season. Springtime is the beginning of the agricultural calendar, and farmers would be hoping for a fruitful year for their families and crops.

Rituals of Beltane often included courting between young men and women who would collect blossoms in the forest and light fires in the evening. These rituals and pagan festivals would often lead to marriages in the coming summer or autumn. Fire was thought to cleanse, purify and increase fertility, so it played a central role in Beltane. To ensure the fertility of the herd, cattle were often paraded between two fires.

Although agriculture is no longer the center of contemporary life, some modern pagans celebrate Beltane as a way to cultivate the “fertility” of an individual’s creativity. Fertile minds are needed for our work, our families, and our health. Celebrants today will leap over fire to bring good fortune, happiness, and fertility to mind, body, and spirit.

Every year on the last night of April, thousands of people come together in Edinburgh, Scotland, for a huge celebration to mark Beltane. A procession led by the May Queen (fertility) and the Green Man (growth) marks the change of seasons. Winter concludes when the Green Man’s winter attire is removed to reveal his spring costume. A dance takes place as the Green Man and the May Queen are married.

Floralia

The Roman pagan fertility-focused festival of Floralia occurred for six days beginning April 28, and this seems to be the likely origin of some of the things we associate with May Day. Roman poets Ovid and Juvenal mention the wearing of bright colors, lots of drinking, and sexual permissiveness during this celebration dedicated to Flora, the goddess of flowers. Romans marked Floralia with a set of athletic games and theatrical productions known as the Ludi Florales. After the performances, the celebration continued in the Circus Maximus, where animals were set free and beans scattered to ensure fertility.

Walpurgisnacht

An old Germanic festival also involving bonfires, which later merged with the feast of the eighth-century German Saint Walpurga became known as Walpurgisnacht (or Hexennacht, meaning “Witches’ Night”).

According to tradition, on the eve of May Day, all witches and warlocks would fly in from all around Germany on broomsticks or goats, and come together on the Brocken, the highest peak of the Harz Mountains. Here they would await the arrival of spring with bonfires and dancing. In reality, though, the gathering was probably not made up of witches, but rather ordinary pagan people who were forced to secretly practice their ancient rituals because church law forbade them to do so. The lofty Brocken was often shrouded in cloud cover, making it a good place for clandestine meetings.

Festivals co-opted by the Roman Church

By the Middle Ages, what had once been the fertility rituals Floralia and Beltane had been subsumed into the Roman Church calendar and converted into the Christian celebration of Whitsun, or Pentecost. The Welsh tale of Geraint begins with a description of the Welsh kings’ Whitsun feast, one of the three times feasts of the year, along with Christmas and Easter, when vassals were gifted with new clothes. Although disputed, it is thought by some that the word Easter was derived from Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility.

Bringing in the May

May Day (May 1) celebrates the return of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, with origins in the fertility rites of ancient agrarian societies of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. May Day falls exactly 6 months from All Saints Day (November 1). This ancient festival survives today, including decorating a May tree or maypole, around which people dance. May 1 has also become linked with political action in association with International Workers Day.

In most places, people would “bring in the May” by gathering flowers and branches to make garlands or wreaths. The English poet and author Geoffrey Chaucer mentions woodbine (a honeysuckle shrub) and hawthorn (a flowering shrub of the rose family) in The Knight’s Tale, while birch was more common in Wales and sycamore in Cornwall. The flowers were given as prizes or gifts to friends and neighbors. The quaint custom of washing one’s face in the morning dew of May Day was supposed to bring youth and radiance to one’s complexion.

The most lasting May Day image is the painted and ribboned-trimmed maypole which was displayed prominently on the village green. Despite the earliest recorded mention of this pagan festivals in a mid-fourteenth century Welsh poem, it seems to have English, rather than Celtic, roots. There are many theories as to the maypole’s original significance, but there is no definitive explanation.

May Day rituals go back a long time but were not enjoyed by everyone. In the 1600’s the fun-loving festivity of May Day was frowned upon by the Puritans, who banned dancing and merry-making in England.

May Day Rituals

In the fifteenth century, pantomimes of Robin Hood stories became a popular part of May Day celebrations, as did Morris dancing. This form of English folk dance is based on rhythmic footwork and the performance of choreographed steps by a group of dancers wearing bells on their shins. The dancers may also brandish sticks, swords, and handkerchiefs.

The ‘Obby ‘Oss Festival takes place in the town of Padstow in Cornwall on May Day. The main activities revolve around the two Obby Osses (hobby horses), which resemble a one-man pantomime horse. The horses’ main task is to cavort around the town in search of maidens followed by a team of dancers, dressed in white, playing accordions and banging drums.

The beginning of May, and the association of spring in general with fertility and courtship, was popularized by the medieval French troubadours. A famous song from the twelfth century known as Kalenda maya (“Calends (first) of May”) celebrates the unrequited love of a knight for a lady:

Gracious lady,

everyone praises and proclaims

your worth, which gives such pleasure;

and he who forgets you,

prizes life but a trifle

and so I adore you, distinguished lady.

Teaching Resources

Help Teaching offers related educational resources

KidsKonnect.com has

Image source: Freepik.com

7 Things to Remember When Working with Kids with Autism

6 April //
Posted in For Parents, Teaching Resources //
Tags : autism, classroom management, parent resources, teaching resources
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April is Autism Awareness Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness about autism within the community. Learn more about working with kids with autism.

As autism rates have risen over the years, so has awareness. However, as parents of children with autism know, a lot of myths and misunderstandings still exist. Whether you’re a teacher, a principal, or someone who works in another capacity in the schools, it’s important that you avoid the myths and develop an accurate understanding of what autism is and what it looks like to work with kids with autism.

1. Autism is a Spectrum

Perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of autism is that kids with autism are on a spectrum. There’s a world of difference between kids with high-functioning autism versus low-functioning autism. Before assuming anything about a child with autism, learn where they are on the spectrum and what particular aspects of autism they demonstrate the most.

Are they socially awkward?
Do they have trouble understanding non-literal language?
Do they lack basic communication skills?
Do they have tics?
Is it difficult for them to make eye contact?
Do they express emotions inappropriately?

Not all children with autism will express all of these traits and some will express all of them and more.

2. Autism does not Signal a Lack of Intelligence

Many parents have sat through IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meetings where they listened to professionals discuss their child’s lack of intelligence. For example, in a recent initial IEP meeting for a newly-diagnosed child with autism, the Child Study Team leader said, “We’ll give him a series of tests to see where he is, but I’m sure he’ll be low.” This assumption was made simply because the child had been diagnosed with autism. Imagine how surprised she was to learn that not only did the student not score low, but he was working above grade-level in multiple subject areas.

Kids with autism may struggle academically, but often their struggles do not signal a lack of intelligence. Rather, they signal their struggle to adapt to the educational system. In many cases, kids with autism solve problems and communicate differently than what is expected. Sometimes teachers and other educational professionals think they got the answer wrong, when really they just thought about it differently.

3. Autism Often Confuses Other Kids

7 Things to Remember When Working with Kids WIth Autism Sesame Street App

Several years ago, Sesame Street introduced its first autistic character, Julia. While Julia represents a character to whom many children with autism relate, she also serves as a tool to help teach other kids how to interact with kids who have autism. Kids don’t always know how to act around kids who are different or who don’t do what’s expected. Teachers can use models like Julia and other activities to help kids understand what autism is and how to interact with their peers who have autism. After all, everyone has differences. Some of those differences are just more noticeable than others. Learn more on this topic in “Educating Children about Autism in an Inclusive Classroom” from the University of Prince Edward Island.

4. Autism is Unpredictable

One thing about working with kids with autism is that you are never quite sure how they will react. Sometimes, you’ll expect them to react negatively to a loud concert and they’ll be fine. Other times, you will think a certain activity will be easy for them and it will become a major challenge. When you work with kids with autism, you must be flexible. You must also learn to recognize their cues so you can adjust a situation to avoid making it a bigger problem.

5. Autism Requires Predictability

Imagine living every day without knowing what’s going to happen. For kids with autism, that’s often a reality. They are not always in control of their emotions and navigating life can be confusing. Surprises lurk around almost every corner. However, the adults in their lives can help limit those surprises by developing routines for them to follow. For some kids, just knowing the general schedule of the school day will help. For others, parents and teachers will need to develop a detailed schedule that includes the smallest of events, such as brushing their teeth and going to the bathroom. If the schedule is going to change for any reason, adults should also try to take time to warn the child about the change in advance. For example, a child expecting to do math at 10:15 may be upset if he goes out for early recess instead. Even though recess is fun, the disruption to his routine could outweigh that fun.

6. Autism Requires Parents and Educators to Work as a Team

Educators have a lot of students to focus on, but when working with a child with autism, it is essential they take the time to develop a relationship with the child’s parents and work as a team to ensure they are working in that child’s best interests. Educators should respect a parent’s position as an expert on the child, while parents should respect an educator’s professional expertise and observations in the classroom. Educators must also be careful not to criticize parents of autistic children for making decisions related to their child. They must also take into consideration the child’s autism when making observations about the child’s appearance or behavior. For example, a note home saying “Please ensure your child wears socks each day” may seem innocent, but it may not take into consideration the fact that the parent is encouraging the child to become more independent in dressing himself and letting him go to school without socks when he forgets is part of that process.

Some of the information above may overwhelm educators. “I have 25 students in my class. How can I spend this much time on the needs of just one?” At the end of the day, it’s not that hard. Just as you get to know your other students, get to know your students who have autism. Learn their quirks. Get to know their personality. Focus on their diagnosis, but at the same time don’t focus on their diagnosis. Just treat them as human beings.

There are lots of resources available to help educators work with children with autism. One of them is the School Community Tool Kit from Autism Speaks. It contains a wealth of resources, information sheets, worksheets, and activities to help the many different people in a school community understand autism.

For educators looking for help with behavior modification, check out Insights to Behavior, a free resource full of activities to help educators create behavior plans for students, as well as find activities to help with some of the social and emotional challenges kids with autism face.

You can find additional books, videos, toys, and information sheets in the Autism Speaks Resource Library. If you’re looking for more educational resources, you may appreciate Help Teaching’s Life Skills or Study Skills worksheets or use Help Teaching’s Test Maker platform to develop tests, quizzes, and worksheets that can meet the needs of your autistic students.

Resources for working with kids with autism

The internet is bristling with free resources to help teach your students with autism!

Kids Konnect has World Autism Awareness Day Facts & Worksheets
Stages Learning Materials offers free autism resources you can download, print, and use immediately
Waterford.org has free activities, teaching strategies, and resources for teaching children with autism

Teachers and parents will benefit from professional development in this area:

The Teacher’s Corner at the Organization for Autism Research is giving away resources to teach yourself about how you can better support students on the spectrum in your classroom.
The Autism Society has material geared for school administrators, teachers and families
More programmers are turning their attention to the unique learning needs of kids on the autism spectrum. CommonSense.org has a list of the best apps for kids with autism
From kindergarten to college, students with autism spectrum disorder can soar with this guide to academic resources, social support, and expert tips for school success produced by Student Training & Education in Public Service
Accredited Schools Online has a free guide which discusses the unique difficulties autistic students face and how educators and families can respond to them
From music education to handwriting, snug vests, and even cruise vacations, the state of Oregon’s Columbia Regional Program has compiled a list of Best Web Resources for Autism
The University of Louisville’s Kentucky Autism Training Center has assembled and exhaustive list of instructional resources and products
The National Association of Special Education Teachers has a compendium of resources for nearly every topic in autism education
A number of different approaches can be used to yield positive results when teaching students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, outlined in this article from St. Joseph’s University
The Indiana Resource Center for Autism at Indiana University’s Institute on Disability and Community offers Teaching Tips for Children and Adults with Autism
The Marcus Autism Center has tools and tips for helping you care for a child with autism
Here is a valuable list of autism resources compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Books, worksheets, and videos for students with autism are selected by an astute 8th grader from New Jersey in this list from the Association for Science in Autism Treatment
The National Education Association has oodles of resources for educators

At-home learning

With students, teachers and families at home due to COVID-19, the Autism Society of Newfoundland and Labrador has pulled together some resources to help you keep busy
Missouri State University’s Project Access offers COVID-19/Coronavirus and Online/Distance Learning Resources to school district personnel who serve students with autism, and it also has a list of storybooks by luminaries such as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor read on video
Check out these Resources for Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder During COVID-19 from the University of Houston’s School Psychology Autism Research Collaboration

This is just a small sampling of the resources available to you as you face the challenge of teaching a student with autism.

Image source: Vecteezy

How to Teach Kids about Passover

25 March //
Posted in For Parents, Teaching Resources //
Tags : ideas, passover, religious studies, teacher tips
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In Judaism, Passover ranks just below Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in importance. Learn more about this religious holiday as well as access resources perfect for the classroom.

What is Passover?

Passover commemorates the miraculous deliverance of the Hebrew people from 400 years of slavery in Egypt sometime in the 14th century BCE. This event is detailed in Exodus, the second book of the Torah. Passover, also known as Pesach, is an eight-day festival celebrated by Jews the world over.

In 2024, Passover is celebrated starting on April 22 and ending on April 30. Although the dates vary from year to year, Passover is a spring festival in the northern hemisphere. Passover is always on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan, but since the Jewish calendar is lunar (based on the moon’s cycle), the dates in the secular calendar change each year.

The First Passover

The great story of Passover actually begins near the end of the book of Genesis, the first book of the Torah, when ancestors of the Hebrew people (the patriarch Jacob and his sons and their families) migrated from the land of Canaan (modern-day Palestine and Israel). Jacob’s family left their homeland because of a famine, and found refuge in Egypt where one of Jacob’s sons—thought to be dead—had previously risen to second in command after the Egyptian king (or pharoah). This story is also a great one, but for another time!

Jews enslaved

Sometime after this migration, the children of Jacob (who were also descendants of Jacob’s grandfather Abraham, the founder of Judaism) became known as Hebrews and became numerous in the land of Egypt, so much so that a new pharoah sought to control them by making them slaves. This period lasted about four centuries.

Exodus says the Hebrew people cried out to the Lord for deliverance from this harsh slavery. God heard their prayers and raised up a man who would lead a mass escape from this servitude. That man was Moses.

God anoints a deliverer

Moses actually grew up in the pharaoh’s household when the king’s daughter discovered him as an infant in a basket in the Nile. What was this infant doing floating in a basket in a river? Well, Moses had been placed there by his mother to hide him from a slaughter of Hebrew babies carried out under the pharaoh’s orders. He was raised as an adopted son of the pharaoh’s daughter. Subsequently as a grown man, Moses fled Egypt after murdering another Egyptian who was abusing a slave. He hid out in the land of Midian tending flocks for about 40 years. Eventually, the Lord spoke miraculously to Moses through a burning bush, appointing him as the leader who would return to Egypt to lead his people out of slavery.

The plagues upon Egypt

Moses, along with his brother Aaron, confront the pharaoh, demanding the release of the Hebrew slaves (by now numbering about a half million). To move the king’s hand toward this end, God delivers a series of ten plagues on Egypt. Plagues of frogs, locusts, darkness, boils, you name it, were thrown at the kingdom of Egypt. The last plague is the impetus behind the Passover event.

This tenth plague was the worst of them all. It involved a night when an angel of death, sent by God, struck down all the first-born sons in the land of Egypt as well as all first-born male animals. The Lord told the Hebrews to save themselves from this plague by sacrificing a lamb and smearing its blood on their doorposts thus sending a signal to the angel of death to “pass over” that home leaving the occupants unharmed. They were to roast and eat the lamb and stay in their homes all night.

Immediately after this plague, the pharaoh summoned Moses and told him to take all his people out of the land of Egypt. The Hebrews left so quickly they took their bread dough before they had a chance to add yeast to it. This is why Passover is sometimes referred to as the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

How is Passover celebrated today?

Passover is divided into two parts. The main ritual is called the seder, which happens on the first two nights (in Israel just the first night) of the festival. The first two days and last two days (the latter remembering the parting of the Red Sea) are full-fledged holidays. Holiday candles are lit at night, and sumptuous holiday meals are enjoyed on both nights and days. Most Jews don’t go to work or drive. Some more devout Jews will not write, or even switch on or off electric devices. The middle four days (Chol Hamoed) are semi-festive when most forms of work are permitted.

In 2021, the first Passover seder is on the evening of Saturday, March 27. It’s a holiday meal that involves the re-telling of the Exodus through stories and song and the eating of symbolic foods. The seder’s rituals and other readings are recited from the Haggadah. The most significant missing ingredient is hametz, or foods with leaven. This is to remember how the Hebrews were in such a hurry to exit Egypt after the tenth plague, that they didn’t have time to wait for their bread to rise.

Matzah, or unleavened bread, is the main food of Passover. It’s available at most supermarkets, or you can make your own. Other traditional foods include haroset (a mixture of fruit, nuts, wine, and cinnamon) representing the mortar used by Hebrew slaves, and matzah ball soup. A roasted shank bone represents the Pesach sacrifice, and an egg represents spring and the circle of life. Some households will serve gefilte fish too. Drinking four cups of wine, dipping veggies into saltwater, children asking the Four Questions (Mah Nishtanah: “How is this night different from all other nights?”), and singing late into the night are also a part of the celebration.

The joyful cycle of psalms called Hallel is recited both at night and day (during the seder and morning prayers). Passover also commences a 49-day period called the Omer, which memorializes the enumeration of offerings brought to the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. This count culminates in the holiday of Shavuot, the anniversary of the receiving of the Torah at Sinai.

Relevant political or social justice themes have been incorporated into contemporary Passover seders. Rabbi Arthur Waskow, for example, published the “Freedom Seder” in 1969, which discusses the Civil Rights movement and the women’s movement. The American Jewish World Service offers a free Global Justice Haggadah to spark meaningful conversations at your seder.

Resources for Teaching about Passover

Printed resources

Help Teaching

KidsKonnect

Free resources online

Chabad.org
Myjewishlearning.com
ReformJudaism.org offers a resource guide, family activities, videos, and recipes
Lesson plans from JTeach.org (from the Board of Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago)
Lessons from The Lookstein Center at Bar-Ilan University, Israel
The Ji Studio creation tool encourages children to use their imagination so that they can create Bible/Tanach-themed posters, comics and books to share with friends and family
American Jewish World Service

Online videos

The Passover Seder: What to Expect 3:57
How to Set the Seder Plate 1:24
What is Passover? (A ten-year-old uses his own video camera to share the experience of his family preparing for the Jewish festival of Passover) 4:27
A Lion King Passover (a personal favorite!) 4:26
The Four Questions for Kids! 2:50

Free virtual online Passover seders

JCCSF community (first night of Passover, March 27, 2021)
Central Synagogue in Manhattan celebrates Congregational First Night Seder (April 5)
Schaarai Zedek in Tampa, FL – Passover Second Night Seder
Find many more at Myjewishlearning.com

Passover is a marvellous story of deliverance that can be taught in many ways. Young and old alike will enjoy the retelling of this central tale of Judaism.

May you have a chag Pesach kasher vesame’ach (“kosher and joyous Passover” in Hebrew)!

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Valentine’s Day Teaching Resources

16 February //
Posted in For Parents, Teaching Resources //
Tags : ideas, resources, social studies, teacher resources, teacher tips, worksheets
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Flowers, candy, and cards decorated with hearts are used by many to express love to that special someone. The day offers many fun and creative ways to teach about friendships, poetry and prose, marriage, and relationships.

History of Valentine’s Day

Despite flowers being the number one gift given on Valentine’s Day, the holiday’s origin is not so rosy.

The real Valentine

The most noted theory about how Valentine’s Day began, is rooted in Ancient Rome. In the third century CE, the Roman emperor Claudius II wanted to develop a fierce team of young men to be soldiers in his legions. It was his belief that when young men are in love, this makes them weak. Naturally, a man with a wife and children tended to be more cautious in how he fought on the battlefield. So, Claudius outlawed marriage for young men serving in the Roman armies.

Well, not everyone or everything can be commanded by an emperor. As Claudius found out, he could outlaw love, but he could not stop it. Young men and women still fell in love and wanted to marry. A brave Christian priest named Valentine, who thought the law was horribly unjust, risked his life to perform the banned wedding ceremonies in secret.

News of Valentine’s clandestine ceremonies made its way back to the emperor. The cleric was arrested, and while in prison, Valentine sent a love letter to a young woman — possibly his jailor’s daughter — who visited him during his imprisonment. He allegedly signed it “From your Valentine”, hence the expression. He was executed soon afterward. Centuries later, when the Roman Catholic Church made the kindly priest a saint, St. Valentine’s feast day — February 14 — was chosen because it was the day he was put to death.

Literature of love

It wasn’t until almost 1,000 years later that the first known Valentine’s Day poem was written. It also was penned by a prisoner, and was sent from the Tower of London to the prisoner’s wife in 1415.

My very gentle Valentine,

Since for me you were born too soon,

And I for you was born too late.

God forgives him who has estranged

Me from you for the whole year.

I am already sick of love,

My very gentle Valentine.

Well, not the most remarkable of poems, but it’s good for a first effort.

Everyone is familiar with Shakespeare’s love sonnets, most notably number 18 which starts out famously:

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

And there’s Scotland’s remarkable bard Robert Burns:

O my Luve is like a red, red rose

That’s newly sprung in June;

O my Luve is like the melody

That’s sweetly played in tune.

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a’ the seas gang dry.

And then there are the first love poems written by school kids:

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Faces like yours

Belong in the zoo

The economics of true love

In the 21st century, greeting card companies each year produce over a billion cards of love and affection just for St. Valentine’s Day. The impact that Valentine’s Day has on the U.S. economy is stunning. In 2019, more than $20.7 billion was spent on the holiday. It’s thought the most expensive Valentine’s Day gift ever purchased is a heart shaped 1001 Nights Diamond Purse. Decorated with over 4500 yellow, pink and transparent diamonds totalling 38,192 carats, the retail value of the gift is a gobsmacking $3.8 million.

Valentine’s Day symbols

Red Roses: the most popular flower of Valentine’s Day, this enduring symbol of passion, beauty, and love has the power to impress anyone when a dozen of the long-stemmed variety are wrapped in a large bouquet. An ancient Roman legend has it that a beautiful maiden, Rodanthe, locked herself indoors while being pursued by overzealous suitors. When they eventually broke down her door, an enraged goddess Diana changed Rodanthe into a beautiful red rose and turned the suitors into thorns.
Cupid: He was the son of Venus (goddess of love) and Mercury (the winged messenger of the gods). This mischievous little god carried around a quiver of arrows tipped with love potion. Anyone struck by one of Cupid’s arrows would fall in love with the first person they saw.
Chocolates: Since ancient times, chocolates have been associated with sensuality and fertility. This is perhaps because when eaten, chocolate stimulates the production of a hormone that is similar to the chemical produced when a person is in love.

Valentine’s Day Around the World

Although Valentine’s Day started as a Catholic feast day, the saint’s death and the tradition of love that he exemplified is celebrated worldwide by people of many faiths. People send cards, flowers, and candy in many countries.

In the Philippines, Valentine’s Day is the time when many young couples marry in an event sponsored by the government as a form of public service
In Ghana, February 14 is celebrated as “National Chocolate Day”. The Ghana government established this day in 2007 to increase tourism in the country, as Ghana is among the largest cocoa-producing countries in the world.
In Bulgaria on February 14, the “day of winemakers” (San Trifon Zartan) is celebrated. Young and old couples celebrate their love with a glass of local wine.
In Denmark, Valentine’s Day is not limited to roses and chocolates. Friends and lovers exchange handmade cards with pressed white flowers that are called snowdrops
In Estonia, February 14 is celebrated as a friendship day known as Sobrapaev. This festival includes everyone, from couples to singles
In Japan on February 14, women buy gifts and chocolates for their male companions. Men can’t return gifts until March 14, which is called the “white day”.
In England on Valentine’s Day, women used to place five bay leaves on their pillows. It was believed this would bring them dreams of their future husbands.

In Slovenia, St. Valentine is a patron saint of spring. It’s thought that on February 14, plants start to regenerate. This day marks the first day of working in the fields for the New Year. Slovenians also believe that birds ‘propose’ to each other on this day, and to witness this occasion, one must walk barefoot through the frozen fields.

Resources for Teaching about and around Valentine’s Day

Help Teaching has many fun educational resources which use the holiday to teach math and English.

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Resources for Teaching Chinese New Year

11 February //
Posted in For Parents, Teaching Resources //
Tags : ideas, social studies, teacher resources, teacher tips
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Each year, Chinese New Year takes place. It’s a tradition that spans over 4,000 years! Read more to learn about its history, practice, and why it doesn’t fall on the day you’d think!

An annual tradition celebrated for more than 4,000 years

There will be hands filled with red packets of money and streets filled with dancing dragons as people worldwide, predominately of Chinese descent, welcome the Year of the Ox. Known to the Chinese as Lunar New Year, what we in the West call Chinese New Year falls on Friday, February 12, 2021, and celebrations will climax with the Lantern Festival on February 26.

What is Chinese New Year?

Also called Spring Festival, the holiday marks the beginning of the lunar Chinese calendar. The Chinese New Year is packed with tradition, family gatherings, superstition, and great food. Each day has a special name and tradition. The standard public holiday for mainland China is seven days from Chinese New Year’s Eve to the sixth day of the lunar calendar new year.

Since all stores in China are closed during the first five days of the Spring Festival, and some remain closed until the very end, people have to stock up on New Year supplies ahead of time. Spring Festival really gets underway on Lunar New Year’s Eve (this year on February 11) with a reunion dinner which is considered the most important meal of the year. After dinner, the children receive red envelopes, and the family stays up late to await the New Year.

Each day of Spring Festival is unique

New Year (February 12 this year) starts off with a bang as firecrackers punctuate a day of greetings and blessings among neighbors. The original name for Spring Festival was Yuán Dàn (Yuán means “the beginning”). In ancient times, the Chinese recorded and analyzed the weather, stars and moon to predict the fortunes of the year, a practice known as zhàn suì. On Lunar New Year people may celebrate with Tu Su wine. Tradition holds that it is forbidden to sweep or clean on this day, so that good fortune will not be swept away.

The next day of Spring Festival is called “to the in-law’s”. On this day, a married daughter must bring her husband and children to her parents’ home along with a gift bag of crackers and candies, which her mother will divide between neighbors. This simple gesture by the daughter expresses her longing for her hometown.

Day of the Rat

Following “in-laws” day is the “Day of the Rat”. In 2021 it so happens to fall on February 14, Valentine’s Day, appropriately because, according to folktales, this is the day that rats marry. On this day people will leave out some grains and crackers to share their harvest with the rats. They will then retire early so as not to disturb the “wedding”. The hope is if they do this, the rats will not disturb them during the coming year either.

Day of the Sheep

The fourth day of Lunar New Year is the “Day of the Sheep”. In the Chinese creation story, sheep were created on the fourth day. On this day the Chinese would traditionally pray to the god of wealth on this day. At midnight, people will welcome the god into their home by opening the windows and feasting until daybreak. Special foods for this feast are kumquats and sugarcanes — meant to represent a sweet life and successful road ahead — plus cakes, a whole pig, chicken, fish, and soup. Superstition says it’s forbidden to slaughter a sheep on this day.

Take a break

“Day of the Sheep” is followed by “Break Five”, when after praying to the god of wealth, markets and stores open again. A traditional dish of dumplings are eaten on “Break Five”. Some say that the taboos of other days can be done on the fifth. Others claim it’s wrong to work on this day.

Day of the Horse

Day six of Spring Festival is known as the “Day of the Horse” because this noble beast was created on the sixth day. On this day people will send the spirit of poverty away. This frail-looking man who likes to drink thin porridge and turned his clothing into rags on purpose is chased away by burning scraps and offering banana boat candles. It’s also believed that the god of bathrooms will visit to check on a home’s cleanliness, so everyone in the house is expected to clean on this day.

Day of the Human

Day seven of Lunar New Year is called “Day of the Human” because — you guessed it — humans were created on the seventh day. Originating in the Han dynasty, “Day of the Human” traditions include wearing a hair accessory called rén sheng and eating seven gem porridge. This delicious dish includes seven types of vegetables: kale, leek, mustard leaves, celery, garlic, spring vegetable and thick leaf vegetables.

Day of the Millet

After the “Day of the Human”, it’s “Day of the Millet”. Legend has it that this is the millet grain’s birthday. Ancient Chinese society was agrarian and, therefore, people highly valued the grain. On this day, pets such as fish and birds are released back into the wild as a gesture of respect for nature. Today, some families visit rural areas to learn about agriculture. Fair weather on this day is a sign of a fruitful harvest, but a gray sky warns of losses ahead.

Providence Health

The ninth day of Lunar New Year is called Providence Health. It’s the birthday of the sovereign god of the universe, the Jade Emperor. The main activities on this day are ceremonies for the Jade Emperor. In some places, women will bring perfumed flower candles to natural wells and harbors and offer prayers to the gods. Everyone must fast and bathe before praying.

Stone Festival

The Stone Festival is the tenth day of Lunar New Year. In some places the night before, people freeze a clay jar onto a smooth stone. On the morning of the tenth day, ten youths will carry the jar around, and if the stone doesn’t fall, it’s an omen of a good harvest. A traditional lunch on Stone Festival is a meal of baked bread. It is believed that after the luncheon, the road to wealth will be open and smooth for that year, unless one uses stone tools, such as rollers and millstones, on the day.

Son-in Law Day

The eleventh day is Son-in-law Day when fathers will invite their daughters and sons-in-law to dinner.

Lantern Festival preparations

On days twelve, thirteen, and fourteen, people make preparations for the Lantern Festival by purchasing lanterns and constructing light sheds. The old adage goes: “make noise on the 11th, build light sheds on the 12th, light the lantern on the 13th, light is bright on the 14th, a full moon on the 15th, end the light on the 16th”. When spoken in Chinese, the saying has a nice rhythm.

The Lantern Festival

Lunar New Year culminates in the five-day Lantern Festival. The most important activity during the festival is creating lanterns. Lantern Riddles is a game played by writing riddles on lanterns. As it is a full moon that day, moon-gazing amidst lanterns is the best way to celebrate. Traditional food includes glutinous rice balls called yuan xiao. Either boiled, steamed or fried, they represent reunions. Lanterns are lit by those hoping to add children to their families.

New Year Oddities

Beyond the usual Spring Festival traditions, the holiday is full of interesting quirks and customs.

Traffic is chaotic

The world’s largest annual movement of humans happens before and after Lunar New Year. It’s so big, it has its own name — Chunyun. It’s when all of China travels at once. The Chinese push their way into packed buses or stand for hours on a crowded train to visit loved ones.

Odd language customs

There are some things you can and can’t do over the Lunar New Year in China — simply because of how they sound. Footwear purchases are a no-no for the entire lunar month, as the word for shoes sounds like “losing” in Cantonese. One can, though, invert the Chinese character for luck to make “dao” (which sounds like “arrival”) and put it on your door to bring in good fortune.

Ever wonder why firecrackers are associated with Lunar New Year? Legend has it that the half-dragon, half-lion monster “Nian” comes out of hiding and attacks people (especially children) during the Lunar New Year. So the firecrackers are used to scare him away (apparently he has sensitive ears).

Wearing red

In Chinese culture red is associated with luck and prosperity, but it’s also used for protective purposes. In addition to being spooked by loud noises, “Nian” is frightened by the color red.

Lunar New Year has its own movie genre

The “hesuipian” film genre in China and Hong Kong is devoted to Lunar New Year. The films are usually uplifting comedies focusing on families and happy endings to make viewers feel warm and fuzzy. Kind of like Christmas movies in the West.

Resources for Teaching about and around Chinese New Year

Help Teaching has many fun educational resources which use the holiday to teach math and English.

KidsKonnect.com has Chinese New Year Facts & 30+ Worksheets, and check out these free resources from BusyTeacher.org.

Here are some fun Chinese New Year learning activities from ReadWriteThink, and this Chinese New Year Fan Dance hands-on lesson from Teacher.org integrates social studies concepts with performing arts. Students will delve into customs of Chinese New Year by exploring traditional artifacts and dance.

The Asia Society is planning virtual celebrations for 2021, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum is ringing in the Year of the Ox with online celebrations. The Southern Oregon Chinese Cultural Association presents the Year of the Ox virtual celebrations, and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is streaming a 12-hour broadcast event completely free (and no registration is required). From art making classes to online dance and music, puppet shows and talks, there are many ways to celebrate. Usher in the Year of the Ox with online events provided by The Museum of Chinese in America Lunar New Year Family Festival.

However you choose to celebrate or learn about Chinese New Year, we at Help Teaching offer you this traditional greeting: 恭禧發財 or “Gong Xi Fa Cai” (pronounced goong ssee fah tsign), which is Mandarin for “wishing you great happiness and prosperity”.

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Black History Month in the Classroom

2 February //
Posted in Teaching Resources //
Tags : black history month, ideas, social studies, teacher resources, teacher tips
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When commemorating and celebrating Black History Month, it is critical to involve your students in activities that get them thinking critically about all the facets of the African American experience. Lessons should incorporate history, politics, human experience, art, and literature.

The history of people of African descent in the U.S. is American history, and Black History Month offers the opportunity to dig deeper. Each February gives us a chance to support students as they discover the impact African Americans have had on culture, society, politics, and science. The key for social studies teachers is to avoid pigeonholing the achievements of Black Americans to just one month. Although the emphasis during February is on African American history, this subject should be included in social studies education year round.

Origins of Black History Month

Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history
Carter G. Woodson

The distinguished Black author, editor, publisher, and historian Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson (1875 – 1950), penned these words as he worked to establish Negro History Week (the precursor to Black History Month) back in the opening decades of the 20th century. Woodson believed that African Americans should be aware of their past so they can participate intelligently in the country’s affairs. He strongly held that Black history, which others have tried so hard to obliterate, provides a strong foundation for young African Americans to build on to become productive citizens.

Woodson’s numerous scholarly books and many magazine articles on the contributions of Blacks to the development of America supported his message that Blacks should be proud of their heritage and that all Americans should also understand it. This championing of African American history earned him the nickname the “Father of Black History”.

Expand Your Horizons

While teachers typically tend to stay with the same few topics during Black History Month (think civil rights, historical Black leaders, and significant achievements), there are also plenty of other important concepts to consider introducing your students to, such as:

African American mental health (grades 9-12) (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
Stereotypes and microaggressions (grade 1) (Teaching Tolerance)
Impact of Black culture (grades 3-12) (Scholastic)
The Music of African American History (grades 9-12) (National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Loads more lesson plans from the NEH here
Suffrage for Black Women (grades 9-12) (Retro Report)
A history of redlining (grades 9-12) (Zinn Education Project)

The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity (grades 9-12) (National Archives Museum Online panel discussion, Thursday, February 25, 2021, 7-8 p.m. EST)

African American History Month Teaching DO’s and DON’Ts*

DO…

Incorporate Black history year-round, not just in February. Use February to dig deeper into history and make connections with the past.
Continue Learning. Explore how to provide an in-depth and thorough understanding of Black history. What textbooks include is limited, so use the textbook as one of many resources, but be sure to explore multiple resources and allow for opportunities to learn along with your students.
Reinforce that “Black” history is American history. Make Black history relevant to all students.
Connect issues in the past to current issues to make history relevant to students’ lives. Making the subject matter relevant to student’s lives drives the point of a lesson home.
Include the political and social context of the community’s struggle for social justice. For example, talk about Daisy Bates’ political affiliations and her political ideologies. You see her bravery not as just a personal act but as coming out of community determination.

DON’T…

Stop your “regular” curriculum, to do a separate lesson on Rosa Parks, on the Civil Rights Act or on Martin Luther King Jr. This trivializes and marginalizes anything you are teaching, making these leaders a token of their culture and ethnicity. Students will get the message that the diversion is not as important as the “regular” curriculum.
Focus on superficial cultural traits based on stereotypes. It’s okay to celebrate Black music, but teachers should also explore the political and social contexts that give rise to musical forms like hip hop.
Talk about Black history in solely “feel-good” language, or as a thing of the past. This fails to help students examine how racism manifests itself today. Be sure to draw connections between how events or people’s actions in the past affect society today.
Limit the presentation to lectures or reading. Be sure to allow students an opportunity for discussion and reflection.
Shy away from controversial, ambiguous, or unresolved issues. Share the real-life experiences about racial realities in developmentally appropriate ways.
Think that you can’t talk about black history because you’re a white educator. You do not need to be a person of color to talk about race. But you do need to be comfortable in your own skin, build your knowledge about the topic and be in alliance with educators of color for support and feedback.
Don’t simply focus on the famous people. Use Black History Month as an opportunity to highlight the often-unacknowledged contributions that people of color make every day.

*source: www.Tolerance.org

Resources for Teaching Black History Month

Help Teaching has the following resources

Free and Slave States (HS)

Civil Rights Test (HS)

Triangular Trade (MS)

Three-Fifths Compromise (MS)

Benjamin Banneker (older ES)

Pre-Civil War – African-American History (older ES)

Nat Turner (older ES)

Sojourner Truth (older ES)

Underground Railroad (older ES)

Harriet Tubman (older ES)

Discrimination and Slavery in the 1800s (MS)

Frederick Douglass (older ES)

Frederick Douglass Quotes (HS)

Abolitionists (MS)

Emancipation Proclamation (older ES)

Civil War Amendments (13, 14, 15) (MS)

Jim Crow Laws (MS)

Booker T. Washington (older ES)

George Washington Carver (MS)

Granville T. Woods (older ES)

Buffalo Soldiers (MS)

W.E.B. Du Bois (MS)

W.E.B Du Bois Quotes (HS)

The Great Migration (HS)

Harlem Renaissance (HS)

Tulsa Race Riots (MS)

Tuskegee Airmen (MS)

The Civil Rights Movement (older ES)

Montgomery Bus Boycott (HS)

Martin Luther King, Jr. (MS)

King Quotes (grades 11-12)

Letter from Birmingham Jail (grades 11-12)

Medgar Evers (MS)

Madam C.J. Walker (MS)

School Desegregation (older ES)

Greensboro Sit-Ins (older ES)

The Freedom Rides (MS)

Emmett Till (older ES)

Malcolm X (MS)

John Lewis: Civil Rights Icon (HS)

Selma March (older ES)

Civil Rights Test (HS)

Shirley Chisholm (MS)

Maya Angelou (MS)

Maya Angelou’s poem “On The Pulse Of Morning” (MS)

George Floyd Demonstrations (HS)

Read-Aloud: Martin Luther King, Jr. (older ES)

People of Peace: Martin Luther King, Jr. (HS)

Martin Luther King Jr. Spelling (younger ES)

A Dream Like Martin Luther King Writing Prompts (younger ES)

Martin Luther King Jr. Writing Prompt (older ES)

Martin Luther King Jr. Timeline (older ES)

Martin Luther King Jr. Words (older ES)

Martin Luther King Jr. Reading Passage (older ES)

Juneteenth (self-contained lesson) (MS)

The Civil War Amendments (13-15) (self-contained lesson) (MS)

You may also find this list of Black History Month Readings – 30 Titles for Grades K-12 helpful.

KidsKonnect.com has the following resources

BusyTeacher.org has the following free ESL resources

These groups and institutions can also help you teach about African American history

The African American Museum in Philadelphia is hosting a series of Black History Month online events at a nominal cost
Teaching Tolerance provides free resources
Here are some lesson plans specifically for preschoolers from Gayle’s Preschool Rainbow
The National Education Association offers free lesson plans on the African American experience for all age groups, K-12
10 Ideas for Teaching Black History Month from the ADL
Georgia Public Broadcasting offers these resources to help teach students about the significant events and people in African-American history in the United States:
- Civil Rights Movement Virtual Learning Journey (grades: 4-12)

Brimming with comprehensive, cross-curricular content, including videos, primary source images and documents, compelling photo galleries, interactive maps, artwork, music, and more, this virtual collection invites students into an engaging exploration of some of the most significant events of the Civil Rights Movement.

Purpose of Black History Month (grades: 2-6)

Students discover the purpose of Black History Month as well as other historical facts, firsts, and figures about the month-long celebration with a downloadable backgrounder.

The March on Washington (grades: 3-12)

Help students understand the significance of the 1963 March on Washington and the role it played in the Civil Rights Movement with this collection of multimedia educational resources.

History of Hip-Hop (grades: 9-12)

Use this collection of interviews from National Public Radio (NPR) with high school students to chronicle seminal people and events in the hip-hop movement.

Honoring the Life of Maya Angelou (grades: 7-12)

Maya Angelou’s talent was not defined by just one medium. Throughout her life, she was a poet, novelist, dancer, playwright, actor, and educator. In this lesson from PBS NewsHour Extra, students learn more about her extraordinary life.

The Underground Railroad (grades: 5-12)

Students in all grades can make decisions as they follow Harriet Tubman and escape from a slave owner in this online interactive.

Opening a Dialogue with Youth About Racism (grades: K-12)

To help those who may not know why, where, when or how to begin this conversation, USC Rossier has created Speak Up: Opening a Dialogue With Youth About Racism — a collection of interviews, resource guides, and op-eds aimed at answering some of the questions that can make these topics difficult, and prompt needed discussions about identity, inequality and education for children of color.

Civil Rights: Internet Activism and Social Change (grades: 9-12)

Examine social media’s influence in America’s Civil Rights movement and its role in democratizing the media. The video answers the question, “How does social media support the work of social change protesters?”

These are just a few of the many free resources available online for teaching about African American history.

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