LATEST STORIES
Culturally Connected
Our Montessori Bethlehem families and teachers come together to create a very culturally diverse community, where each child's own culture, language and customs are valued and celebrated.
This month two of our teachers have shared some of their own special cultural events with the children.
Zeena, one of our two Sri Lankan Montessori teachers, shared basic information about Ramadan & Eid with our older children again this year. After that some of the children decided to fast with her (for 30 mins) before eating together as a group, the girls wearing headscarves like Zeena does every day.
Hiromi, our Japanese Montessori teacher has been sharing Japan's "Childrens Day" (Kodomo no Hi) crafts with the children for many years and every year we see them make some beautifully painted carp (koinobori) for their families and learning how to write Japanese characters (kanji).
May has also seen us celebrate Sign Language Week, one of New Zealand's official languages, that we begin to use with our youngest children in our Nido classroom and carries on through to the older children's rooms.
The preschool years are an amazing time in a young child's life where learning is effortless and so making connections between people, places and things in their world can be woven into their everyday lives at our Montessori centre. Cultural activities that we have available every day in our classrooms help children to learn about our planet and the living world around them, alongside real-life languages and cultural experiences from their teachers and other children throughout the year. We welcome new children and their families/whanau to add to our centre community!