Contact
Ramadan in our Kindergartens
||| Ramadan is an Islamic holiday that is a “month of blessing” marked by prayer, fasting, and charity with a focus on self-sacrifice and devotion. Ramadan moves through the year following the lunar calendar so we have been fortunate to be able to celebrate this holiday at school for the past several years when it has fallen in Spring. Teacher Jahlia has been celebrating it with her Early Childhood classes with the support of Muslim parents in her class who are honoring Ramadan at home.
The first year, she collaborated with Muslim parents in her class to write a story about Mohammed called “Finding the Crescent Moon” to tell the children. She has told a few different versions of the story over the years depending on whether she is teaching Nursery or Kindergarten children, and sometimes has included a puppet show.
The heart of the celebration is a special meal with beautiful and delicious food prepared by families from different parts of the world. Over the years, the food has included specialties from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Palestine, and Syria and treats such as dolmas, kala channa, and dried dates.
This year, all the Kindergarteners from both Sunflower and Dandelion received moon necklaces and listened to Teacher Jahlia and Teacher Mafé tell the story of Finding the Crescent Moon.
We are grateful to our Muslim families that have generously shared their rich stories, traditions, cooking and music so we could bring them to our children for Ramadan, opening our hearts to this beautiful festival. We wish all of our families a blessed month of Ramadan!