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Updated for December 2009

December:
A Month of Multicultural
Holiday Celebrations

Do your students celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Three Kings Day? Maybe they celebrate St. Lucia Day or Ramadan. Chances are your class includes students who observe more than one of those events. Whether that is the case or not, December offers great opportunities for teaching about our multicultural world. Included: Handfuls of great teaching lessons and resources!

Few months present the multicultural "teachable moments" that December does! The following multicultural events and celebrations are among those that will happen this year:

• Ramadan -- Began August 21, ended September 19
• Eid al-Fitr (Muslim) -- September 20
• Saint Nicholas Day (Christian) -- December 6
• Eid'ul-Adha (Muslim) -- November 27
• Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexican) -- December 12
• St. Lucia Day (Swedish) -- December 13
• Hanukkah (Jewish) -- Begins at sundown on December 11 (ends December 19)
• Christmas Day(Christian) -- December 25
• Boxing Day (Australian, Canadian, English, Irish) -- December 26
• Kwanzaa (African American) -- December 26 to January 1
• Omisoka (Japanese) -- December 31
• Epiphany (Christian) -- January 6

At Education World, we've searched our archive for links to lessons and other activities to help you teach about December's "world of holidays." We've updated all the lesson plans to ensure that you won't find any dead links among them! You'll find the following articles full of lesson ideas.

Holidays Around the World: A Festival of Lessons
'Tis the season! Education World offers ten lessons about December celebrations, observances, and activities from several cultures. Included:

• Benne Cakes and Other Holiday Recipes
• How Many Ways Can You Say "Merry Christmas"?
• Christmas in Other Countries: A Venn Diagramming Activity
• Christmas-Tree-Shaped Poems
• True or False? A Quiz About Four December Celebrations
• plus five more lessons!

Christmas Around the World
A world of activities focused on the traditions and spirit of Christmas! Among the lessons you will find are the following:

• Christmas Around the World Map
• Greeting Card Graphing
• Christmas Tongue Twisters
• "Job Jar" Gift Idea
• My Gift to the World
• plus more lessons!

Habari Gani? -- What's the News?
Learn about Kwanzaa, the world's fastest growing holiday, with activities that include the following:

• Label an Africa Map
• Make a Kwanzaa Game
• Colorful Flags
• Kwanzaa Word Search
• Weave a Kwanzaa Mat
• plus more lessons!

Hanukkah: The Festival of Lights
Read aloud a simple telling of the Hanukkah story and follow up with a handful of across-the-curriculum activities, including the following:

• Hanukkah Story Listening Activity
• Noah's Ark Hanukkah Card
• Play the Classic Dreidel Game
• Write a Hanukkah Radio Show
• Read Aloud a Hanukkah Book

MORE LESSONS FROM EDUCATION WORLD

If you are looking for holiday arts-and-crafts and gift-making ideas or lessons for teaching about the multicultural holidays of December, don't miss Education World's December Holidays Archive. Then, if you're still looking for more lessons, we've scoured the Web to find two dozen additional lessons across the grades and the curriculum.

Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World®
Copyright © 2009 Education World