At Walthamstow Montessori School we like to celebrate birthdays in a very special way which allows the children to have a greater understanding of the passage of time. When it is approaching the time of your child’s birthday please could you remind your child’s class teacher who will then decide on which day it is best to celebrate. We begin the celebration by a ‘birthday walk’ during which your child will walk around a candle which represents the sun. The birthday child walks in the shape of an ellipse, whilst carrying a small globe. The other children sit around the edge of the ellipse and watch. Each complete ‘orbit’ of the ‘earth’ around the ‘sun’ represents 1 year.
During each ‘year’ we will talk about the birthday child and illustrate this with photographs of them from a new-born onwards as well as any relevant artefacts (eg, favourite toy as a baby). A recommended number of photos would be 6. Please label them on the back with the date and any other useful information ie, location, people in photo, reason for photo being taken etc. Please do not email photos to the school office for printing but pass to the teacher along with the answers to the attached questions. Once the birthday walk is finished, we sing ‘happy birthday’. There is no need to send in birthday cakes or sweets as the children enjoy the celebration as above. Please save these treats for your own birthday parties at home. We would like to invite you to join us for this special occasion, if you would like to. We hope you and your child will enjoy their special day!
Birthday walk markers
- What day of the week was your child born on?
- What time was he/she born at?
- What was the weather like?
- Who were the first visitors to see him/her?
- Where was his/her first holiday?
- What was his/her favourite toy?
- What was his/her favourite book?
- What birthday cake did he/she have (1st b’day, 2nd b’day, 3rd b’day etc)
- Other special trips?
- When did he/she start walking?
- When did he/she start nursery?
- What did he/she like to eat when they were very young?
Many thanks for your help!
WMS
