Heritage, History & Holidays

Family members of SPS students visited in March to discuss foreign languages they might speak at home or with other family members, and also shared with classmates about some traditions from their cultures. Our community had the honor of learning about languages including Chinese, Turkish, Vietnamese, Greek and Spanish, as well as a little about the cultures of the people who speak these languages.

National World Language Month is a time to discuss the joys of learning a new language and to bring awareness to the importance of studying foreign languages. Our students begin learning French in Preschool and continue to build upon their lessons all the way until graduation in Eighth Grade

During Black History Month, our community explored the legacy of Black Americans whose power to lead, invent, create and resist have expanded the meaning and practice of American democracy. This year’s theme from the ASALH is Black Resistance and we used this lens to explore ways to create positive change to make our world a more just place. Our classrooms read Change Sings: A Child’s Anthem by Amanda Gorman, and, as a community, we explored the question: How can we practice being the change we want to see in the world? This question was further examined in our Buddy Groups as each group was charged with creating and executing a service project to support our community!

On Wednesday, January 18, Ms. Haskell and Mrs. Innocent’s Kindergarten classes led the school in a Peace March around the SPS block in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Students carried signs and posters they created with phrases that promoted peace, love, equity, and inclusion. Prior to the march, students in all grade levels learned about MLK’s legacy and the importance of doing acts of service within the community. Students will continue to expand on these teachings in the coming weeks as they continue to learn about activism and what it means to stand up for what you believe in.

Our Kindergarteners learned about Maria Tallchief, the first Native American Prima Ballerina, and completed an activity in which they thought of character traits to describe her (courageous, loving, strong, kind, to name a few) and wrote them alongside the silhouette of a ballet dancer.

In celebration of Diwali on Monday, October 24, two of our Kindergarten families joined the classroom to share some of their traditions surrounding this joyous holiday. Students enjoyed book readings, ate delicious Indian sweets called gulab jamuns, and received henna hand designs.

On October 12, we were honored to welcome Los Bomberos de la Calle to our School to perform traditional and contemporary styles of Bomba & Plena music from Puerto Rico. They had everyone up and dancing, while helping to educate our students on the significance of this music and artistic expression within Puerto Rican culture.

Fifth Graders presented an introduction of the month-long celebration to students in the Lower Grades, sharing a special art project they’d been working on, the papel picado. A traditional craft in Mexico, the picado is made of colorful tissue paper that is cut up much like a paper snowflake to celebrate holidays and festive occasions. Afterwards, Second Grade joined in on the fun and created their very own papel picados!