Incorporating Cultural Heritage Months into your Montessori Inspired Shelves this Fall
Diversity Should Be Daily
We are very fortunate to have three heritage months in the fall. Here are some ideas for incorporating them into your shelves. I firmly believe that diversity should be a part of daily life and not relegated to a special occasion. I strongly encourage you to rotate these books and materials through your shelves on a regular basis. I use a supplemental bookshelf for books that aren’t on the current theme. This shelf always has a couple of his forever favorites, a few books on other themes to gauge his interest, and several books with babies and children who do not look like him. Ensuring that your child is exposed to different people and cultures is even more important during the COVID-19 pandemic, as so many children are only seeing immediate family members.
When it comes to learning about cultures that may not be our own, it is very important that we all approach this with the utmost respect for the culture’s language, culture, and history. It’s very easy to genuinely try to be respectful but accidentally cross a line. In addition to offering suggestions for things to do, I will also include recommendations for things to not do. When in doubt, do a quick Google search to be sure that your idea honors the culture, not objectifies it. If you get mixed results in your search, it may be best to find an alternative activity.
Most importantly, remember that no one is perfect and everyone is still learning. There is no shame in learning. I am sharing what I know with the full knowledge that I will always have a lot to learn. With that in mind, please know that this post will be updated in response to new information that I find or feedback that is given to me. This is a living document.
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September: Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month
Caregiver/Guide should read: Selected Resources for Teachers from HispanicHeritageMonth.gov
Geography of South America
Learn about mountains, rivers, and the rainforest
Learn about animals in South America
If you're incorporating biome work, this would be a great place to include that!
Traditional textiles
Check out Etsy for traditional South American textiles. They’re gorgeous and can be used to decorate the prepared environment or for activities.
Books:
Please do not:
Make an activity involving sombreros as a costume
Focus on drugs or gang violence
Forget that there are many languages represented in the Latinx community
October: LGBTQIA+ Heritage Month
According to the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute, about 3.5% of people in the United States identify as LGBTQ. This is a pretty substantial portion of the population.
If this is a topic that you feel you cannot address respectfully due to personal or religious reasons, it would be better not to address it at all. According to The Trevor Project, “Over 1.8 million LGBTQ youth between the ages of 13-24 in the US seriously consider suicide each year.” As parents and caregivers, our words and attitudes have a huge impact on the children that we guide, so I urge you to be mindful with this topic.
Caregiver/Guide should read: LGBT Data and Demographics
Rainbow activities
There are a million of these on Pinterest. I won’t bore you with them here!
Diverse family structures
The books recommended below are a great way to start conversations about families that look different from yours, including two parent households, single parents, grandparents as primary caregivers, adoptive families, foster families, etc.
Gender stereotypes
For younger toddlers, this may simply look like making sure that they have a variety of traditionally “girly” or “boyish” toys available to them, however stripped of those gender-based adjectives. i.e. don’t tell your son that he should play with a girl toy, like a doll.
For children, this is a great time to discuss stereotypes and assumptions, both socially and professionally. You can ask questions like “Who can be a great doctor? “What kind of person should be a math teacher? What about the president?” It’s certainly possible to have a more formal exploration of this with older children, but often it’s the small things that have the greatest impact.
Books:
Please do not:
Stage a drag show
Insinuate that sexual orientation is a choice
Attempt to pray away the gay
November: Native American Heritage Month
Caregivers/Guides should Read How Racism Against Native People Is Normalized, From Mascots to Costumes
Environmental Stewardship
What a perfect time of year to go on a nature walk! Walk through the forest and collect twigs, leaves, and a few interesting rocks. Walk along a creek, stream, river, pond, or lake and marvel at the little creatures swimming around and the birds that call wetlands their homes. Any little objects you collect can be used for a nature table or other creative, nature based activity.
With children, participate in a trash clean-up. Talk about how littering pollutes the environment and harms local wildlife. Emphasize that we are all stewards of our environment, and it is our responsibility to care for it.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Have you been thinking about swapping out a disposable item for a reusable one? Have a little family meeting to discuss your reasons for the swap! Some easy swaps are knitted dishcloths for sponges, or cloth napkins for paper. This is also a great time to introduce your little one to the basics of recycling. Start simple with what can go in your household recycling bin, and maybe mention that batteries don’t go in the trash!
Books:
Please do not:
Use any element of Indigenous fashion or culture as a costume (no running around in a headdress with warpaint and a tomahawk and no Pocahontas costumes; this is very bad)
Make feather headdresses
use teepee imagery in a “cute” way
