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Teaching Pre K-8, Nov/Dec 2001 by Laminack, Lester

THE HOLIDAYS ARE COMING, THE HOLIDAYS ARE COMING!

Believe it or not, here we are on the verge of the winter holidays. The upcoming holiday season, more than any other, brings images of family and hope and good cheer. In the next few weeks, try to spend extra time with your children. Help them come to know their family history and gain a sense of who they are. Here are suggestions that may help you fill those many hours of holiday time with your children:

* Sift through old photos and arrange them by the date they were taken.

* Place the photos in an album or scrapbook and make captions telling who is in each photo, the location or setting, and the significance of the event. Peel-off file labels make easy-to-use captions that can be placed on the plastic pages of a photo album without harming the photo.

If your children are very young, create a family tree with the immediate family. Older children will, of course, understand that a grandmother is also a mother, a daughter, and maybe a sister, an aunt and a wife. This can lead to building the framework for a family tree by listing all the known members and their relationships. Family gatherings during the holidays provide excellent opportunities for collecting photos and making new ones to fill the empty spaces on the tree.

The family album, family tree or scrapbook can also serve as a first step to collecting family stories. Certain photos will bring a rush of memories for some family members. Use the photos as props to explain how things were different, who the people were and what their relationships are to you and your children. A written account of the story could be added to make the collection an even greater family treasure.

* Family photos can also make wonderful gifts that children can participate in making. Using photos from a family vacation, a visit with grandparents or other holiday or family reunions, children can make a collage and make captions that describe the events. Children could also make a treasured gift from a small blank book in which they write a memoir of some special time with grandparents.

Explore family traditions and talk about holiday events from your childhood and encourage elders to share their memories. These stories not only pass the time but they build bridges across generations and give kids a sense of family and personal history.

WINTER HOLIDAY TRADITIONS

Young children often assume that everyone celebrates the same holidays in exactly the same manner that they do. It can be a very enriching experience to attend festivals and celebrations of other cultures during the holiday season. Help your children understand and , value the differences that make our world rich and varied and interesting. For example, you may begin by exploring the differences and similarities between Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.

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Lester Laminack is Professor and Head of Elementary and Middle Grades Education at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC.

E-mail: laminack@email.wcu.edu