Let's Celebrate!!

Event Rituals
Event rituals are ways to celebrate special happenings in your classroom family and your children's home families: birthdays, lost teeth, new siblings, new pets, etc. Here are some of the ways we celebrate special events in our classroom-you and your children can create your own event rituals as well!

We have a basic "Celebration Basket" and "Celebration Chair" with items to be used in all our celebrations. Inside our basket is party hats, noisemakers, "Celebration Dust" (confetti-check with your custodians first!), party maracas, etc. and our Celebration Log. When there is an event to celebrate we pull out the basket and chair-the celebrating child sits in the Celebrating Chair (a wooden chair painted and decorated) while we sing the "Celebration Cheer". The child shares his/her news and I sprinkle him/her and the rest of our family with Celebration Dust. We take a picture of the celebration for the Celebration Log. Each child has their own page and they write about the event to accompany the picture. Lastly, they take our "Celebration Bag" home to extend the partying!

Celebration Cheer
Hip, hip hooray! Hip, hip, hooray!
Someone in our family has something to say!
Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hooray!
Someone in our family is celebratin' today!
HIP, HIP, HOORAY!
(Hey, I never claimed to be Burt Baccarach!)

Everyday Celebrations
The child with the "Lifer Upper" job for the week chooses a cheer for the day to celebrate any special happenings throughout the day (we get a compliment at lunch, someone remembers to S.T.A.R. when they have a problem, etc.). We take a minute to share the celebration then do the cheer.
(Cheers from Dr. Jean-you can print color cheer cards from her site!)

This is a page from a packet I put together for a presentation at the
Orlando Tech Early Childhood Conference-some basic songs to get you started!