Customer Reviews

The Festive Teacher: Multicultural Activities for Your Curriculum

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a wonderful resource for teachers who would like to teach the different holidays celebrated in the United States and also outside the US. The holidays represented here are those deemed to have cultural, historical, and religious significance. Every holiday represented in this book has a brief introduction on its history and background. There are also suggested activities listed on each page, in the form of reproducible worksheets (I just love those!). There is a Teacher Resource Page at the end of each holiday which provides ideas for bulletin boards, , extension activities, a Word Bank of key words that can be used for spelling, writing, and vocabulary, and also a list of recommended reading materials, both fiction and non-fiction for the students.

The holidays covered in this book are (arranged chronologically):
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday
Chinese New Year
Groundhog Day
Valentine's Day
President's Day
St. Patrick's Day
Easter
April Fool's Day
Earth Day
Arbor Day
May Day
Cinco de Mayo
Mother's Day
Victoria Day
Memorial Day
Canada Day
Father's Day
Independence Day
Labor Day
Ramadan
Columbus Day
Halloween
Day of the Dead
Election Day
Veterans Day
Thanksgiving Day
Hanukkah
Christmas
Boxing Day
Kwanzaa
New Year's Eve and Day

There is a bibliography in the form of recommended websites, which can be used by teachers to obtain more information on a particular holiday or be used by students to do research during the extension activities. I would recommend this resource to any K-6 teacher who is keen on integrating significant holidays and celebration into the curriculum.

I thought that there would be a little more to this book. There are limited activities for a limited amount of festive occasions. It also just isn't as "multicultural" as I had hoped - especially for the price. Just as an example,we have many Hispanic students other than of Mexican origin, so I was looking for more than the Cinco de Mayo. This book is probably fine for a first year teacher who is really strapped for ideas.

This book is of great help to any teacher. Activities are short and fun. What I liked most about this book was that some of the festivities are not familiar to most students, which gives you the opportunity to teach students about other celebrations around the world. Plus it contains many reproducible handouts. I defenetly give it an A+.

This is such a useful tool for teachers. It is simple to use, visually stimulating, and fun!! Really great book!