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Each year, educators face the : How will they address religious holidays and be inclusive of families鈥� celebrations outside of Christmas? The end of the year tends to throw this problem into sharp relief, but of course it extends well beyond December as religious and cultural holidays occur throughout the year.

Solutions vary: Some schools have , for example, as families opted out for religious or personal reasons, and many schools struggle to in a way that acknowledges the impact of the European settlers on the Indigenous population.

Addressing this issue feels important for teachers and school leaders because they know the stakes: This isn鈥檛 really about decorating cookies or paper Santas. With research showing that , it鈥檚 imperative that all students see their authentic selves鈥攊ncluding their families鈥� culture and heritage鈥攔eflected in their classrooms and schools.

Teach About Holidays Year-Round, Not Just in December

Peter Siegel remembers that when he was growing up in New York聽in the early 1980s, school holiday parties often seemed commercially driven鈥攃entered around eating rather than the history of the traditions being celebrated.

Now a K鈥�5 teacher at Symonds Elementary School in Keene, New Hampshire, Siegel is motivated to highlight the cultural history behind a variety of holidays, which he teaches as a means to emphasize commonalities between different cultures.

Siegel acknowledges holidays year-round through stories, songs, and games, connecting them by their common themes. Holidays like Easter, Passover, and 鈥攁n ancient Hindu festival鈥攃elebrate spring traditions and rebirth, and Siegel sings songs about spring like the Mexican 鈥淒e Colores鈥� and England鈥檚 鈥淏ells of Norwich.鈥� He shows students that fall holidays like the Mexican D铆a de Los Muertos and , a Korean harvest festival, tie into honoring ancestors鈥攁s did Halloween originally. And Siegel teaches students how winter holidays鈥攍ike Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Chinese New Year鈥攁re connected by the theme of light.

鈥淚t opens kids up to diversity,鈥� says Siegel, 鈥渁nd it鈥檚 also humbling because it allows them to realize that their way of being in the world is not the only way in the world.鈥�

When discussing religious holidays, Siegel keeps things simple, explaining Christmas as 鈥渢he story of the birth of a baby who symbolizes hope in what was a challenging time.鈥� With older students, he elaborates that the baby Jesus represents life to Christians and tells them that鈥攁s is true of all religious beliefs鈥攕ome people believe the story is true while others don鈥檛.

Siegel connects the themes he covers to other aspects of instruction, sharing lessons on geography and social studies that connect to different cultures around the world. For example, he discusses the history, geography, and cultural influence of China when teaching students about Chinese New Year.

Fourth-grade teacher Sarah Pemberton periodically uses 10 to 15 minutes set aside for in-class reading to teach her students about cultural, federal, and religious holidays and celebrations. She has students choose one to three resources, which include songs and videos in addition to stories and articles.

Pemberton uses Bitmoji libraries from the Facebook group for celebrations like Hispanic Heritage Month and Indigenous People鈥檚 Day. She recently created Google Slide libraries鈥攚hich she shared with that Facebook group鈥攖o acknowledge holidays her students celebrate, including Christmas, Rosh Hashanah, and Ramadan. She also teaches them about other holidays from around the world, in order to expose them to cultures and beliefs outside of their own.

鈥淲hen I was a kid, we didn鈥檛 talk about differences,鈥� said Pemberton. 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 given tools to discuss and ask questions without feeling like it was inappropriate.鈥�

This year, she had students complete a group research project about the holidays using the digital libraries she had created. After gathering information, they created presentations for their peers on the religious beliefs, traditions, and history behind a holiday.

Teach Holidays From Multiple Perspectives

Pemberton鈥檚 work around teaching students about holidays they don鈥檛 celebrate reflects the value that educators see in expanding their students鈥� perspectives. That drive to expand perspectives is also apparent in the ways many educators approach the quintessential American holiday, Thanksgiving. By adding the perspective of Indigenous peoples to that of the European settlers, these educators attempt to give students a deeper understanding our national story.

Margot Toppen, founder of a nonprofit called EduMotion, highlights commonalities and differences between different traditions through dance. For example, by watching a traditional D铆a de Los Muertos dance and comparing it to Michael Jackson鈥檚 Halloween-based 鈥淭hriller,鈥� students learn how the dancers鈥� movements help tell a story. For Thanksgiving, Toppen suggests having students compare harvest dances from Indigenous cultures in parts of the world where they have ancestors. She notes that some traditional Thanksgiving activities, like making Native American鈥搒tyle headdresses with construction-paper 鈥渇eathers,鈥� .

Brittney Paige, a fifth-grade teacher at Maple Elementary School in Seattle, remembers that activity from when she was in school. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 do that,鈥� she says of her classroom. Instead, students learn about the accomplishments of Indigenous peoples and look at Thanksgiving from both European and Native American perspectives.

Paige highlights current achievements of Native people as a way to counter her students鈥� misconception that they are all gone and can be found only in the pages of textbooks. They are congresspeople, ballet dancers, designers, musicians, and astronauts, she tells her students.

Paige has students read two articles to understand Indigenous peoples鈥� perspectives on Thanksgiving: 鈥溾�� by Jacqueline Keeler, of the Dineh and Dakota nations, and 鈥溾�� by Wamsutta (Frank) James, of the Wampanoag. And on Indigenous Peoples鈥� Day, Paige鈥檚 students research and write about a Native person using resources from , a nonprofit created by Native peoples to increase their visibility.

Know Your Community

To ensure that students don鈥檛 feel excluded, some schools trade holidays that are rooted in specific religions, like Halloween and Christmas, for more general festivities, like autumn and winter celebrations.

After a quarter of parents removed their kids鈥攐ver 100 students鈥攆rom Halloween events at North Country Elementary School in Antelope, California, and stopped celebrating Halloween. They replaced it with an evening harvest festival and a spirit day.

Paige鈥檚 school, Maple Elementary, doesn鈥檛 have Christmas or Hanukkah parties. Instead of focusing on religious holidays, the school celebrates the different cultures within the student body, hosting a Lunar New Year and a Filipino festival that are reflective of the majority Asian student population, and an African American festival created in response to student requests.

It鈥檚 important to collaborate and communicate with students and their families throughout the year when teaching about the holidays, says Judie Offerdahl, a second-grade teacher at Centerview Elementary School in Blaine, Minnesota. At the start of the year, she surveys students to see what they celebrate and teams up with families to share their experiences.

In addition to having students share their traditions鈥攁nd using , , and to offer more background knowledge about the holidays鈥擮fferdahl pairs students who celebrate different holidays and has them write about and discuss their traditions and the commonalities between them.

鈥淲e talk about how learning about others does not mean we are expected to practice the way they do,鈥� says Offerdahl. 鈥淩ather, it helps us have an understanding of the world and the people around us.鈥�