• Celebrating Moms at SchoolMother image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com
  
  Mother's Day is an opportunity to not only celebrate the parents of students, but also to introduce the diversity of family life. Mother's Day brings history and literature to life by showing their relevance to students' own experiences, and by enabling students to share their personal stories with one another during an assembly, an ordinary school day can become an unforgettable one.
  
  

Poetry In Motion

• Invite mothers to attend the assembly. Have each grade stand up and recite an age-appropriate poem. As each class finishes their poems, the mothers of those children should stand up. Each child then steps forward to say the name of his mother, and something special about her. The mothers sit down, and the next class comes forward to repeat the process.
  
  

Paying Tribute

• Check with teachers beforehand about the personal lives of the students to insure that everyone is included, then have the principal pay tribute to the different kinds of contemporary moms. As she talks about adoptive moms, have their children stand and applaud their mothers. Repeat this so all the students have an opportunity to stand, such as those whose mothers work, those with stepmothers those whose mothers are serving in the military, etc.
  
  

A Song for Mom

• Have the students stand and sing songs about mothers, such as "M-O-T-H-E-R' or "Mama, A Rainbow," from the Broadway musical "Minnie's Boys." As the songs end, have each student say just one word about his own mother, such as "smart," "beautiful" or "funny," then sit down until every student is seated.