I have never heard that an accredited center can't celebrate individual holidays, either. Certainly, it would be appropriate to approach holidays from the child's perspective, not the adults' perspective. And celebrations would need to be historically accurate, so those two caveats would mean no Pilgrims and "Indians" for Thanksgiving. And an accredited church program can certainly celebrate Christmas, but a non-church-supported program would need to approach the holiday season from a different perspective. For example, when I was teaching in the lab school at San Antonio College in the early 90s, I asked the children if they noticed anything special going on in town, and they said, "the lights!" It took me a while to realize they were talking about all the lights on the River Walk, so we talked about that and decided we wanted that in our room! I hung lights all around the room. For the Dramatic Play area, I cut out a big piece of blue paper to represent the river, and I turned over the wooden rocking piece of equipment (that was usually outdoors) so that it became a bridge crossing the river. On one side of the river was a restaurant/kitchen, and on the other side was a table with table cloth where customers would order and eat. This all came from ideas the children had. I also checked with the family who would keep their child home if we celebrated Christmas as a religious holiday, and they were fine with my plan. And grateful.
Anyway, I would also like to see where it is stated that accredited centers cannot celebrate individual holidays. It's been a long time since I really knew the accreditation criteria, and I know it has been updated and revised.
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Cathy McAuliffe, PhD
Adjunct Professor
NorthWest Arkansas Community College
Bentonville, Arkansas
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-19-2021 01:25 PM
From: Catherine Wildes
Subject: Juneteenth celebration
We are a NAEYC center for 20+ years, I have never heard that you can't celebrate individual holidays?
Please explain where you read this.
Thank you,
Catherine
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Catherine Wildes
Jax Bch FL
Original Message:
Sent: 04-18-2021 11:49 AM
From: Christine Adamson
Subject: Juneteenth celebration
I know at our center we are NAEYC accredited, so therefore we are not suppose to celebrate individual holidays. We celebrate Black History Month, but to single out Juneteenth, I would think would not be acceptable. We can't celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Thanksgiving, etc. I am interested to hear how centers celebrate this. Thanks.
Christine Adamson
Illinois
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Christine Adamson
President
ILAEYC Joliet Area Chapter
Joliet IL
Original Message:
Sent: 04-16-2021 04:18 PM
From: Jeanne deMarrais
Subject: Juneteenth celebration
I'd like to do something to celebrate Juneteenth this year. But while I consider it an important American holiday, something about a Euro-American director putting on a program for a school that currently has 0 African American students, it also feels weird. How do we balance the risks of appropriation and the risk of under-recognizing American communities?
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Jeanne deMarrais
The Mulberry Tree
Santa Monica CA
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