I wrote last year about our school's birthday celebration tradition. The class sits 'on the line' (which is the shape of an oval) with a sun in the middle while the child being honored holds the globe and orbits.
The children sing:
"The Earth goes around the Sun, tra-la-la,
The Earth goes around the Sun, tra-la-la,
Around and around, around and around
The Earth goes around the Sun."
After each lap the teacher directs the parent(s) to show a picture of the child at that age (1, 2, 3, etc...) and tell something about them at that point in their lives. The children giggle with pride and amusement as the timeline of their young life is narrated.
The child 'ages' by taking another lap (naming the months as they orbit) and the process is repeated until they get to their current age.
This is the type of public attention that makes my serious child even more intense!
K, on the other hand, bee-bops around the circle with a grin.
And P completely hams it up, shaking his fanny, skipping and smiling ear to ear. (Here he is modeling the sunglasses that covered his entire tiny face as he spent time under the bili lights in the NICU.) How can that be my formerly 2 lb 6 oz, 13 inch preemie?While the children are in 3 separate classrooms, K's teacher was away on a field trip with older children so she & R were in the same classroom Friday. After the birthday walk ceremony we enjoyed pizza lunches and cupcakes in both classrooms. Daddy & I ping ponged back and forth.
This is a Montessori tradition I will miss as we transition to 'traditional school' next year. It is truly a celebration of each unique life. I love that the children walk separately and am careful to choose individual pictures of them at each age. I appreciate that it focuses on their lives and growth so far as opposed to a character, theme or goodie bags. (We'll get to that this Saturday!!)
If you know us 'in real life' you may have noticed the red and green shirts on my boys almost every day. They have adapted the personas of another famous pair of brothers...
At least it made choosing the boy party theme easy!
That's right, I said the 'boy party.' In typical 6 year old fashion, we are split on gender lines this year, so I will be having a doozie of a two party day Saturday. I cannot help but wonder if next year it will be three...whew!
2 comments:
Oh how I miss the Montessori birthday walks! I went from preschool to 8th grade in Montessori, I hope the trio remembers it with the same fondness I do!
Oh the birthday parties... I have twins and a daughter 2 years older whose birthday is only 10 days before the twins.
We have always had a party for Maddie (7) and then a party for the twins two weeks later. At age 3 I started to allow the twins to choose their own theme. I set up a different table with a different theme. All girls at the part recieve the girl gift bags, and boys get boy gift bags. I usually get chocolate cake for one child and white for the other.
This year I'm going to have only one party, which my oldest daughter is treatening to boycott, and my GOAL is to choose a single theme for all three; I will have separate cakes. It's just one of my issues. I'm trying to convince them to have a safari party, or ice cream party, or cowboy/cowgirl party. (We live on 10 acres and have horses.) I'm not sure how it's going to go over.
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