As an educator, I always felt it is important to help children develop a sense of pride, confidence, and a positive image about themselves and their families. Therefore I think that celebrating birthdays and cultural festivities is important to develop a classroom community. However, birthdays are not celebrated the same way around the world. In some cases, they may not be celebrated at all.
The beginning of the school year is the perfect time to ask parents if they want to celebrate their child’s birthday at school. Set clear policies to avoid misunderstandings and to create a balance in budgeting, as some parents may have higher budgets than others, and you don’t want students to feel uncomfortable when some parents overspend with gifts and treats.
Have a birthday calendar in the classroom that displays the birthdays of each student. A birthday display is a great way to show that each child’s birthday matters. I prefer a rainbow birthday calendar, click here to download the featered calendar for free. For me, the rainbow represents the different cultures I have in the classroom. For me the focus is creating a sense of belonging and teaching vocabulary for my ESL students that goes along with celebrating birthdays. One of the things that worked in the past for me has been requesting cupcakes from parents. It’s easy to hand out and quick to move on with the birthday activities.
I have some easy ideas to celebrate birthdays in the classroom. With these activties you don’t need to go overboard, but celebrating students’ birthdays is a way to build relationships. Celebrating birthdays is just one of many ways to have students feel appriciated and part of a classroom community. The goal is to make sure each child feels seen and celebrated.
Activities you can do:
- Celebrate as a class by singing “happy birthday” in many languages
- Children will receive birthday cards in different languages (have birthday cards ready so you are not caught off guard by a newcomer’s birthday).
- Fun Birthday Writing and Vocabulary Activities
I hope that these activities are an easy way to celebrate birthdays in your classroom. Remember, the goal is to make sure each child feels seen and celebrated and get comfortable with the vocabulary to celebrate birthdays.
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How do you celebrate classroom birthdays? Let me know in the comments below.
Celebrating birthdays is just one of many ways to create a community within a classroom. Great ideas here. I would even think about alternatives to cupcakes all together and find other ways to have a ‘party’ in the classroom.