I just love the Christmas season! I am firm believer in keeping the spirit of all Holidays alive in the school system. Almost all cultures celebrate a holiday this time of year and this is why I am in love with this book; even though it has mostly Christmas undertones, it is a fabulous basis for discussion across all cultures and traditions.
I was recommended to check out
Christmas Cookies: Bite Size Holiday Lessons by Amy Rosenthal by a colleague four years ago. I immediately fell in love with it. Ms. Rosenthal does an amazing job creating metaphors with feelings, moods, and other seasonal vocabulary. She relates each of these words to baking Christmas Cookies. This book transcends itself perfectly into a simple Christmas story, to a vocabulary lesson, to a social skills lesson, to a language writing lesson. I use this book across all grade levels! The differentiation occurs naturally with discussion. Below I will outline how I use this book in a variety of ways with my Junior High and High School students.
Simple Christmas Story - Just reading this book as a story can reach the youngest of learners and the lowest level of learners. Basic comprehension questions could be:
- What are they baking?
- Who is baking?
- How does she feel?
- What do they need to bake cookies?
- What season is it?
- Tell me about the weather outside...
- Where is he going?
Vocabulary Lesson - This book is rich in vocabulary. Basic level vocabulary such as lonely, disappointed, and believe are great because children of all ages have had these feelings before. They can compare and contrast with situations in which the have felt these ways or even with other books they have read before. Words like prosperity, charitable, and reciprocate are higher level words that can easily be discussed in the book and transferred to grade-level material and novels. In addition, the visual cues and situations presented with each vocabulary term allow for differentiation and improved comprehension.
Social Skills Lesson - I love to use this book with my students with Autism. This book provides such a concrete example to some very abstract words. Often when I use this book in social skills groups, I read it through once to practice good listening skills. You could also work on turn-taking skills by having each child take a turn reading a page. Then in the second read through, I will take each word and allow children to think of examples in their own life where they have had that feeling or provide examples of the term in their own life.
For example, for selfish I provided the example of when my son took the last juice box without asking if anyone else wanted one. I may not get through the whole book the second time. And that is OK. I want us to connect and discuss social situations where these words come about. We may even take the time to role-play certain words like selfish, moderation, perseverance, or reciprocate.
Expressive Language Writing Lesson - This is my favorite activity to do with High School students. I always first start off whenever I am doing a children's book with High School students that although it is a children's book, often there is adult meaning in children's books. So it is our job to understand the adult meaning. Then I read the book to everyone (who doesn't love to be read to!). We take a little time to think of our own example or to explain some of the vocabulary. Then I am sure to review or teach what a metaphor is. I explain that the author does an amazing job of writing metaphors with the vocabulary comparing each to Christmas Cookies. And the cool thing is, they will be able to write metaphors too!
We start off by making a word web. We put the vocabulary term in a circle on a page. Then I ask the students to brainstorm examples in their life where they have experienced that term, what feelings do you have around that term, what does that term make you think of? Then I ask the student to pick one situation that they brainstormed. I show, again, how Ms. Rosenthal wrote the metaphor:
word + meaning = example & context clue
It does take some practice and we usually start with the word Tradition as most students have some type of Holiday tradition (e.g. opening presents). Some of the writing that has come out of this lesson has been so profound!
Student Examples:
Responsible means doing my homework every night.
Disappointed means a store doesn't have merchandise that I wanted.
Celebrating means running off the bus on the last day of school.
Perseverance means to never give up during the hockey game. I'm never giving up in the hockey game even though we're losing.
Anticipation means waiting for the perfect gift to be around the Christmas tree with family.
Responsible means the day after Christmas the family starts taking down all the Christmas decorations and putting them away until next Christmas.
Hope means some children in different countries have wishes that they want for Christmas.
I am super proud of each of my students and what a fun way to keep the Holiday Spirit alive!
What are some of your favorite Holiday Lessons within the school system?
Christmas Lights - I know many people take family trips to look at lights, but we take it one step further...Usually the night of the last day of school, we all come home, get into our jammies and pile into the car. We drive to the local Coldstone Creamery and have Ice Cream for dinner. Yes - I know it is not your typical holiday meal, but that is what makes it exciting and extraordinary! Then we get back into the car and drive around to look at lights. We have a few favorite neighborhoods - including one that sells popcorn and cocoa! Each year we find new light spectacles to add to our list, too! Gary likes to take notes...someday...
