R15 Equity & Inclusion Newsletter
December 2023: R15 Students, Families & Staff
Elementary Music Spotlight: Listening Journals in Grade 4 at LMES
The fourth grade listening journal is an experience where all fourth graders listen to a wide range of songs from different musical genres and cultures and reflect on it. Check out the images below for a student work sample analysis of Oye Como Va performed by Tito Puente! Want to listen and learn along to the playlist with the fourth graders? Click the YouTube link below! At the end of the unit, the students were given a QR code that they could scan that would bring them to the playlist so they could listen to the music at home and share the experiences and conversations with their families.
Notice, Wonder, Compare, Contrast: Learning About Holidays & Traditions
See below for some photos of this work in action from 3rd grade at MES in Mrs. Samson's class and 4th grade at GES in Mrs. Rausch's class. Specifically, students have been drawing on fiction and nonfiction resources for teaching and learning around various observances and traditions such as Lunar New Year, Hanukkah, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali, Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, Christmas, and more.
Calendar of Religious Observances: December 2023
- December 8: BODHI DAY • Buddhist Also known as Rohatsu, commemorates the day that the Buddha, Siddharta Gautama, experienced enlightenment or spiritual awakening (bodhi). Celebrated on the eighth day either of December or the 12th month of the lunar calendar.
- December 8*-15: CHANUKAH • Jewish Eight-day “Festival of Lights”, also known as Hanukkah, celebrating the rededication of the Temple to the service of God in 164 BCE. Commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Greek King, Antiochus, who sought to suppress freedom of worship. *Note that Jewish holidays begin at sundown the previous day and end at sundown on the date listed.
- December 12: OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE • Christian Celebrates the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary (by her title, Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patroness of Mexico and the Americas) before Juan Diego, an indigenous convert to Roman Catholicism, on the Mexican hill of Tepeyac in 1531.
- December 24: CHRISTMAS EVE • Christian Celebration of the arrival of Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus.
- December 25: CHRISTMAS • Western Christian Commemorates the birth of Jesus.
- December 26, 2023-January 1, 2024: KWANZAA A seven-day celebration honoring African American heritage and its continued vitality. “Kwanzaa” means “first fruits (of the harvest)” in Swahili.
Source: ADL 2023 Calendar of Observances
Contact
Background photo credit: This photograph is from a lesson at MES!
Instagram: r15equity_inclusion
The importance of listening to your lived experiences, insights, ideas, and perspectives cannot be overstated. Please feel free to reach out! We'd love to connect.
*Note: Quotation (c) 2019 CLC Collective and Dottir Press
Email: equity_inclusion@region15.org
Website: https://www.region15.org/community/equity-and-inclusion
Twitter: @r15equity