Materials:

Encyclopedia or internet access

stories or books about Christmas and St. Nicholas

construction paper

scissors

glue

any items to decorate the garland with.

pens pencils

Objectives: To learn about the legends and stories about Santa Clause. To learn about the history of the legend and facts in different stories about how St. Nicholas came to be a familiar term in everyone’s vocabulary.

Activity:

Talk about Christmas and how Christmas comes with many stories about St. Nicholas.

Read one of the classic stories about Santa Clause such as The Night Before Christmas. Then talk about how Santa was described and how he looked. Talk about how he was able to travel from place to place. The older the students the farther you can expand on this lesson. For much older students you can have them read several different Santa Clause stories in small groups and then talk to the class about the details of the book. You could even include them in more by having them bring in their favorite story about Santa Clause to enjoy with the class. The items to concentrate on are plot, problem, characters, resolution and ending.

Activity: Have the students write the name of the book they read on a strip of construction paper and then cut it out and glue it together, Make a chain with these pieces of construction paper and start hanging them all over the classroom. Hopefully you will make a big enough chain to have it go around the room. Have everyone share the story they read and what they liked best about that particular version of Santa Clause. Let the children do charts to compare and contrast different Santa Clauses and their appearance. Try to find books about Santa Clause that no one has ever read before. This is a wonderful way to take a tradition and make it interesting and educational for everyone.

E-Mail

Debbie Haren

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