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Christmas is a very special time of the year. Children and adults
alike always prepare, anticipate and await the celebration of
Christmas. It is also very easy to get caught up in the
"commercialization" of this special holiday, therefore, the
children and I focused on the preparing and waiting, aspect of the
season. Our focus was centered around the Advent season and the
importance of waiting and preparing and what this means to us today;
many, many years after the birth of Jesus.
We
celebrated the Advent season and prepared for the coming of the
Christmas season with prayers, songs and the lighting of the Advent
candles. The children were initially introduced to the Advent
wreath and the meaning of each of the "pieces" that make the
wreath. They learned that the evergreen circle reminds us that
Jesus' love is never-ending and never changing. We also talked
about the 3 purple candles and 1 pink candle. The children even
had the opportunity to make a personal Advent wreath which they brought
with them and lit at our class celebrations. They played a very
active role in our celebrations with the lighting of the candles,
singing of the songs and saying of the prayers. The children
quickly recognized the importance of the Advent season and often shared
thoughts such as "I like when we sing our songs in the
circle." "I like my Advent wreath because I get to light
my own candles." "Christmas isn't about
presents."
The children also listened to many versions of the Christmas
Story. They became very familiar with the story and were able to
tell it in writing and orally. Each morning, following our
celebrations, we shared and listened to sections of the Christmas
story. The children began to realize the importance of each of the
"characters" in the story. We often engaged in
discussions such as "What would Christmas have been like if Mary
had not said yes to God's Angel?" "What might have
happened if the innkeeper had not offered to share his
stable?" The children enjoyed sharing their ideas. Stemming
from these discussions and conversation, we created a class book where
the children wrote and illustrated a personal page using the sentence
starter "Thank you God for..."
The
children also had the opportunity to write their own version of the
Christmas story (in their own words). They retold the story
through writing and illustrations to "publish" their own
book. These Christmas stories were put into our class library for
all the other children to read and enjoy. The children were very
excited about being "authors" and this writing experience
helped them "internalize" the Christmas story on a different
level. The story became their own because they had the opportunity
to tell it, write and illustrate it.
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