Twas the Night Before Christmas: History and Tradition

Attributed to Clement C. Moore (although there is some controversy surrounding authorship), the poem originally entitled A Visit From St. Nicholas was first published anonymously in 1823.

Clement C. Moore

The poem, which has been called “arguably the best-known verses ever written by an American”,^[1] is largely responsible for the conception of Santa Claus from the mid-nineteenth century to today, including his physical appearance, the night of his visit, his mode of transportation, the number and names of his reindeer, as well as the tradition that he brings toys to children. Prior to the poem, American ideas about St. Nicholas and other Christmastide visitors varied considerably. The poem has influenced ideas about St. Nicholas and Santa Claus beyond the United States to the rest of the English-speaking world and beyond. (Wikipedia)

A Visit From St. Nicholas, The New York Book of Poetry 1937

This enduring story is part of my Christmas tradition, as my father always read it to my sister, brother and I every Christmas Eve as we sat by the illuminated tree, in our pajamas, preparing for those ‘visions of sugar plums’ (whatever they were) to ‘dance in our heads’. No wonder it has inspired illustrators since its first (not illustrated, I believe) publication. I expect to listen to my son read it to my granddaughters tonight.

Scans of nearly 100 versions of the poem/book up to 1949 appear at Santa Claus.com and Amazon lists an absolute plethora of versions in all media currently available.

A screen shot of some of 483 results yielded in a Google search for 'book cover:"twas the night before christmas" '

My students love Jan Brett's exquisitely intricate illustrations.

Published this past October this version illustrated by Charles Santore looks very promising. Although I might be drawn to some of the antique versions, my students love explosions of colour.

The poem can be found across media and genre: from Pokemon to classical, hiphop and feature movies. I suppose I’m showing my age when I admit that I love the sonorous 1965 narration by Lorne Greene.

If you are really curious about the history of this poem you might want to check out Nancy H. Marshall’s The Night Before Christmas: A Descriptive Bibliography of Clement Clarke Moore’s Immortal Poem (Oak Knoll Press 2002).

Another Library Christmas Tree

 At the Gleeson Library (San Francisco)

From Bit Rebels Via Libraryland

Vintage Reading to Children at Christmas ~ Happy Holidays!

(Source)

“Reading aloud with children is known to be the single most important activity for building the knowledge and skills they will eventually require for learning to read.” ~ Marilyn Jager Adams

(Source)

“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” ~Emilie Buchwald

(Source)

“Reading aloud to children teaches vocabulary in one of the most natural ways possible. Most of the questions come from them rather than the teacher.  Words that are puzzling can be quickly explained in the context of the story.”     Frank B. May

(Source)

“It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations–something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own.” ~ Katherine Patterson

Quick Christmas Crafts With Discarded Books

By Mickie G. via Squidoo

by Living With Lindsay who has provided instruction at the linked post, which is  ironically (given my posting it here) entitled “Librarians Please Avert Your Eyes”.

Altered Books as Christmas Decor

From Morganised Chaos where the technique is described. (Click Image)

From The Guilded Junque Yard (Click Image)

From Gone Crafting (Click Image)

My Christmas Activity/Gift for Library Classes

It’s not much, but it makes our last library class before Christmas a bit special. I print out a variety of Bookmarks on cardstock and set out markers, crayons and pencil crayons on the tables. Any student in my K-12 school can choose a bookmark, colour it in the library or take it with them. A hole-punch and some yarn or ribbon can dress them up. If you are really brave, a little glitter makes them really special.

Here are some that I’m printing this year. Click on the links below the bookmarks for the printable files.

Go to  Activity Village for the PDF file to print

These at Hello Kids

Go to Learning English – ESL for these

My thanks to the artists who have shared these.

A Great List of December Holiday Links for Last Minute Time Fillers

Thanks to the Edublog Awards, I just discovered The Media Specialist’s Guide to the Internet, where I found the following lists within a larger collection of “Resources for all the holidays celebrated from September to June”. Great stuff here!

CHANUKAH (December)
AtoZ Teacher Stuff- coloring pages and crafts; sorted by grade level
Awesome Library- recipes, worksheets, activities
Billy Bear 4 Kids- crafts and games
Class Brain- coloring pages
Internet 4 Classrooms- games, songs, stories
Kids’ Domain- coloring pages
Teachers First- traditions, learn about the menorah, games
Teacher Planet- lessons and worksheets
Teachnology-worksheets, songs, writing paper, workbooks
Yahoo! Kids- cards, recipes, history, stories, poems, games

CHRISTMAS (December)
A to Z Teacher Stuff- sort resources by age level
Christmas Around the World- long list of countries
Christmas Lessons and Teacher Resources- from the Lesson Plans Page
Christmas Teacher Resources- from TeacherVision
K-12 Teacher Resources- nice listing includes lesson plans, worksheets, interactive online activities
Online Christmas Games
Puzzles and Word Searches
Super Teacher Worksheets- includes puzzles and Christmas math worksheets
Teacher’s Guide to Christmas Holidays- from TeAchnology
Teacher Planet-lessons, worksheets, clip art
The Teacher’s Corner-how Christmas is celebrated around the world

KWANZAA (December)
Apples 4 the Teacher- coloring pages
A toZ Teacher Stuff
Class Brain-coloring pages
DLTK Kids-coloring pages (posters)
Internet 4 Classrooms
Kids’ Domain- coloring pages
Teachers First- planning materials, fun, games
Teacher Planet- lessons, worksheets

Seasonal Stories with Embedded Video for a Busy Week

A couple of winter story books recommended by our regional library consultant were hits with primary students during our annual  “Share the Gift of a Story” program. They were even chosen and enjoyed by the Grade 8′s whose reader allowed the students to chose several books for him to read aloud. (It’s my experience that teens enjoy a good picture book read-aloud just as much as the little ones do.) I’ve linked the cover images to their Goodreads page where you’ll find reader reviews.

Froggy Gets Dressed by Johnathan London is a great way to kick off a discussion on seasonal adaptations and hibernation. Asking why might Froggy have so much trouble remembering everything he needs to go outside to play in the snow, fits the story neatly into Alberta’s Grade 1 & 2 Science curricula.

As a bonus it has the word ‘underwear’ in it, which is always a guaranteed a good laugh.

The best video narration I found is embedded below. It is particularly interesting as the clothing words are substituted with the Oneida terms, exposing children to this eastern North American First Nations language and encouraging them to guess the English words from the illustrations.

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Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester is a wonderful ‘winter’ story about the value of individuality. Tacky is not like the other penguins, so they don’t really like him very much; that is, until they discover how his unique qualities can be a life-saver.

I’ve ordered several of the Tacky books, including Tacky’s Christmas (with CD music) for next year. They fit in very well with the Alberta Social Studies curriculum for Kindergarten as well as character education outcomes for all grades. A Google search alone turned up many teaching units.

Many of our teachers are beginning to use iPads and may find it worthwhile to download the iTunes App which includes, “professional narration, background audio and high resolution artwork for each scene”.

Enjoy this delightful narration. Show it on the Smart Board during this busy week to come or anytime on through the winter.

Repurposing Books and Magazines

More at Home Rejuvenation

Who Needs a Christmas Tree When You Have Books?

I looked in TinEye, but couldn’t find the originator of this. I’ve decided to post it anyway to add to my What to Do With  Discarded Books collection. If it’s yours, please let me know. I’m intrigued by the tree and all the other repurposed items in this little corner – the lamp from white dishes, wheels as art and is that a little evergreen growing out of the inverted reading lamp?

Via The Centered Librarian

Update: June, 2012

Happily, the original photographer has contacted me and I can now credit Patti who discovered and photographed this great tree in an Anthropologie store. You can see the original post on her blog, Pandora’s Box. Thank you Patti.