On Monday, April 30, we will take part in a nation-wide celebration of children, literacy, and the cultures of the world! We will be celebrating at 3:30 p.m. with a multicultural literacy party for kids in preschool through grade 2. We'll share stories and songs from all sorts of countries and do some multilingual crafts. Children are also invited to come dressed as their favorite story book character (from any culture!).
Why are we doing this? And what constitutes this a nation-wide event?
In the very beginning, Children's Day began in 1925 at the World Conference for the Well-Being of Children in Switzerland. Each participating nation chose a day to honor and emphasize the importance and well-being of children in their country, and many countries in the Western Hemisphere chose April 30. The United States, however, was not a part of this movement. In 1996, children's author Pat Mora took the initiative to begin celebrating Children's Day here in the United States, and also decided to link it to literacy and bilingualism efforts.
Now it's become a day celebrated in conjunction with the American Library Association, the Association of Library Services to Children, and REFORMA (the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking).
If you're interested in finding out more about El día de los niños/El día de los libros on a national level, you can visit the nation-wide website at www.dia.ala.org. There are also a wide array of wonderful resources for parents to go even further than the activities we'll be doing at our program, including booklists and printable activities for parents and kids to do together!
Here in Watertown, we've decided to join in this celebration to honor the wonderful array of cultures and language that make up our town. We still have spots in Monday's program, so stop by or call 617-972-6435 to register.
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