Diversity: Culture Through Sharing

Family Share at Bennett Day School

Once a year, each one of our families leads a classroom Morning Meeting to share and teach their child’s class about a unique aspect of their family traditions. The Family Share is approximately 20 minutes, and can focus on anything that a family does together, from everyday routines and rituals, to traditions or religious celebrations and holidays. We invite families to bring photographs/props and items to help visualize their presentation. It is a great opportunity for our students and families to share their culture with their peers.

This week at our Early Childhood campus, one of our students brought her Mother and Ama (grandma in Taiwanese) to share about the Lunar, or Chinese New Year. The children learned their zodiac sign, lucky numbers, and colors. The family explained that people in China have a lantern parade and before sending off their lanterns all place a wish inside. The class then made paper lanterns with the family and had a similar parade around our classroom with musical accompaniment by Mr. Granquist. This shared experience highlights the true power of Bennett Day’s practice of “Family Share”. This encompasses our values of diversity and citizenship.