We All Made Friends...

This week at school was Culture Week. The week was full of excitement. On Monday, PK3 through 5th grade gathered in the theater to listen to a Czech Folk band sing, dance and play different instruments. In my classroom, my 3 year olds shared their family boards, decorated flags from their countries, baked apple strudel, and made a friends/world collage. To end the week, this afternoon all the Elementary children, teachers, and many parents gathered again in the theater to listen to a Gypsy band play and dance. Many of the children and teachers (including me in my Louisville Slugger baseball shirt and converse) wore clothing that was significant and/or related to their cultures. When the band began to play, the children spontaneously waved their country flags in the air and swayed and moved their bodies to the music. As I looked around, I saw a sea of faces and a variety of color- a connection among the ocean of difference! It was beautiful. It is very different celebrating culture from an international school perspective. In the states, we view ourselves as a "melting pot" with an "open door" policy. In the past few years teaching, I would say that even in 4 and 5 year olds, I see this ideal fading away. On Monday, one of my 3 year olds asked, "Miss Nikki, what is culture?" To which another child responded, "It's who you are." Wow! This week, my faith in children as the hope for our future was redeemed. We read the book, "What a Wonderful World," a picture book with colorful illustrations to Louis Armstrong's song. When I asked the children what made the world wonderful many of them responded, "people". On my classroom web page I have a quote spoken by Carla Rinaldi, from Reggio Emilia, Italy which says, "When you have quality of life for children then you seek to have quality of life for humanity." There is no greater reason to teach than to seek a life for children that is better tomorrow because of what you teach them today...
"I hear babies cry, I watch them grow. They'll learn much more than I'll ever know, and I think to myself what a wonderful world..." -- Nikki