Tales from the Loft - Global Holidays

Dear Readers,

It's that time of year where chaos threatens our sanity and the frenzy of a multitude of holidays makes learning even more challenging. Luckily, we are at DGS where our days adjust to the needs of students, and in middle school that equates to pausing history topics for a unit study of global holidays. Blending our small group discussions and flowing through our mornings. Balancing play practice with academics. Essentially making sure we breathe.

As we wound up our Harlem Renaissance study, I realized our next history unit introduced the rise of the Nazi regime. In all honesty, that felt heavy and in complete contrast with our desire to winter in, to create a space for tea and mindfulness and community building. So for three weeks while we practice for our winter show and put the finishing touches on other projects, we are also learning about our global community. Our class lessons include Advent, Bodhi Day, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Winter Solstice (Yule Festival). For funsies, we also decided to recognize National Brownie Day, National Put Chocolate on Everything Day, and Ugly Sweater Day. And since we are nothing in middle school if not obsessed with food, we're gingerbreading everything in sight. Between math class using traditional gingerbread houses to learn about area and volume and humanities baking original creations to represent global holidays, we are covered in cinnamon and molasses. It's actually intense at times and challenging and FUN. Anyway, we wish all of our DGS friends and families a fabulous holiday season! If you need a fresh holiday for celebration, join us!

Cultural connection for our class holiday lessons:

Advent - Christian

Bodhi Day - Buddhist

Kwanzaa - African American

Hanukkah - Jewish

Yule - Germanic and Norse

Winter Solstice - Pagan

Gingerbread creations must come from a country of origin and represent a holiday falling between November 1st and February 28th:

New Zealand

Senegal

Pakistan

Japan

Argentina

Estonia

Here's where we are so far....

We've baked the pieces for our creations.....

An Advent wreath celebrating nature and the four tenets of the holiday....

Hope, Joy, Love, Peace - We named our gratitude for each of these.....

Rehearsing lines is more fun with a rolling ball challenge!

For Bodhi Day, we reread the Thanksgiving Address out of our book, Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults