Christmas in the Classroom

So, just to clarify, I no longer walk the 15 steps from my house to my classroom. No, these mornings are free from the sounds of Titchies playing boys-chase-girls or basketball on the court. Yes, Vac has arrived, and it is QUIET around here.

But before they left, we celebrated Christmas. The decorations actually went up a week and a half before leaving day. I just couldn't imagine missing out on the Christmas celebration with my kiddos, so we went to town in the middle of November and studied Thanksgiving and Christmas at the same time.

Thanksgiving: We braved the unpredictable internet situation and used two really great websites, one from Plimoth Plantation and one from Scholastic. The first one came with great lesson plans my class really got into adding to the giant KWL chart I put up in the computer lab. It also offered the option of downloading the entire thing onto the network, which was fantastic - except it only worked on my login. But at least I could have that up on the screen for the kids to follow along in case there computer never chose to load.

Christmas: We started out by making snowflakes, and my kids are apparently AWESOME at it. They made such beautiful creations - big ones that I hung from the ceiling and small ones that I stuck to the windows. We spent most of our mornings with only the twinkle lights on, writing poems, reading stories of pilgrims, and discussing the characters of the first Christmas.

Each student chose someone from the first Christmas (Gabriel, Zachariah, etc) and did a little project on him or her. They did such a great job! This little exercise helped me to see the first Christmas in a whole new light and really prepared my heart for the season. Sitting outside and listening to my students talk about why God chose this person for that time, and how it affects them was such a precious time, and it encouraged a lot of conversation about what that Christmas was really like. Certainly nothing like how we celebrate it today! I especially liked comparing Bethlehem and its shepherds to Kijabe and the people that live around here. I think in it is a pretty accurate analogy.