Jāņi Presentation
Today I went and told Namejs' class about Jāņi, as their present PYP unit of inquiry is about Celebrations. Jāņi is Namejs' favorite Latvian celebration. He had wanted to help with the presentation, but when we practiced the last time this morning he decided that he would be too shy.
The teachers and children had never heard of the summer solstice, and the kids seemed to have had fun. Namejs was very proud to be able to share about his heritage. We told about Jāni, taught the children a song, a dance, and they made wreaths (vainagi) out of paper cutouts that I had prepared. Namejs had finished his wreath in class and along with the other boys in his class went outside wearing it proudly.
When I asked him what he liked best about the presentation, he said that he and everyone liked making the wreaths. But he said the girls' wreaths were too tidy (too symmetrical) and they didn't look real. They should have been messier like the boys' wreaths, those ones looked real! Tonight at home he is continually humming the song while creating a container to hold his memories.
Here is a picture of him working with his classmates:
The teachers and children had never heard of the summer solstice, and the kids seemed to have had fun. Namejs was very proud to be able to share about his heritage. We told about Jāni, taught the children a song, a dance, and they made wreaths (vainagi) out of paper cutouts that I had prepared. Namejs had finished his wreath in class and along with the other boys in his class went outside wearing it proudly.
When I asked him what he liked best about the presentation, he said that he and everyone liked making the wreaths. But he said the girls' wreaths were too tidy (too symmetrical) and they didn't look real. They should have been messier like the boys' wreaths, those ones looked real! Tonight at home he is continually humming the song while creating a container to hold his memories.
Here is a picture of him working with his classmates:
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