Festivals in the early childhood are a rich tradition which encapsulates all the teachers have been working toward through song, story, and craft. The rooms themselves become imbued with the beauty and anticipation of festival life. Perhaps corn or squash are found in the room during harvest time, or a fresh bouquet of flowers from the yard in the springtime. Apple sauce or jam might be cooked; beautiful lanterns made. The room is filled with anticipatory joy and warmth, which activates awe, wonder, and reverence in the children.
Parents are warmly invited to participate in several of our festivals, which last approximately one hour and begin at drop off in the mornings. The festivals: Harvest Festival, Advent Spiral, Winter Festival, Spring Festival, May Day and the End of Year Festival. We have other festivals that are smaller and celebrated with just the children.
If your family has a special celebration or tradition at home that you would like to share, please reach out to your child’s teacher directly. Our early childhood teachers are always happy to get to know you better and to celebrate your family.
Harvest Festival: The early childhood comes together as a community to honor the bounty and colors of autumn with a seasonal puppet play and songs. There is also a community harvest basket created during the festival.
Martinmas: An in-house celebration in which the teachers and children spend several weeks creating beautiful lanterns. On the day of the celebration, the children (with their lanterns) find the light they will carry within them through the long, cold winter. This festival bridges both the early childhood and the grades, as the children will walk through the entire school holding their glowing lanterns and singing songs.
Advent/Winter Spiral: Advent is a time to anticipate the return of light. The EC teachers lovingly create an evergreen spiral within which the children will unhurriedly and reverently walk to the center, holding an unlit candle inside of a red apple. They will then light their candle from the central candle and slowly walk back out, setting their candle along the spiral. Eventually the spiral will be aglow with the candles of all the children.
Spring Festival: The children prepare various seasonal crafts they will hold during a procession with the other early childhood classes to celebrate spring, like a parade of flowers bursting upon the newly awakened earth! The spring festival is celebrated to honor the transition from the long, cold winter into the warmer days of spring and to prepare the way for May Day.
May Day: This is a special time of year when we prepare the soil for seed planting. The teachers prepare the children with songs and traditional May Day dances. On festival day, children will receive a ribbon to hold while they dance and sing merrily around the Maypole ring. It is a joyful time to celebrate the return of warmth and flowers.
Last Day Celebration: The teachers offer a puppet play for parents and students and then all head out to the big field for a picnic and to play and celebrate the end of the year.
Per our media policy we request that you enjoy the festival in the present moment and not through the lens of your camera. Please let any guests you invite know of this request.