Holidays at Fratney: Educate, then celebrate.
At Fratney, we have developed a holiday policy that we feel is respectful to all of our families. In many schools, seasons and holidays define and drive the curriculum of the program. Fratney’s program discourages the overuse of holiday curriculum. Instead, we believe that holiday activities can be used toward developing a multicultural and antiracist perspective. In our curriculum, we include authentic and sensitive experiences that reflect our students and the broader community.
We are NOT advocating eliminating holidays, or depriving students of the opportunities to celebrate. Rather it is our intention to think about the many questions that holidays and celebrations pose, and rethink “traditional” holidays by looking through a multicultural lens. The holiday is integrated into the regular curriculum. Learning is connected to our community and includes developmentally appropriate activities.
Many holidays have religious origins and aspects. Information shared is be accurate and sensitive. We recommend that a person knowledgeable about the holiday be asked to inform or share information with staff and students. It is important that the information shared is correct, that it dispels stereotypes and generalizations.
In our school community, there may be families who do not celebrate holidays. It is important that we know who they are and respect their perspective and/or restrictions. As needed, we will work with families to make plans for meeting children’s needs and to ensure that they are not “left out.”
We do celebrate with our school. We celebrate learning through the year, at Theme Celebrations/Presentations, Writing Celebrations, Celebramos el español and more. You are always welcome to join us.
As a school community we do not celebrate nor dress up for Halloween. We have many inclusive spirit days throughout the school year for students to wear La Escuela Fratney t-shirts, specific colors, and other themed days.
We believe that the primary emphasis with holidays should be to “educate” rather than “celebrate”. We are proud to be bilingual, multicultural learners!