In Brief Literacy Lesson Ideas

TM Storytime Poems and Rhymes: A Visit From St Nicholas 1 Teaching Resources

A Visit from St Nicholas is a famous poem by Clement Clarke Moore, IN BRIEF which describes a child’s experience of Christmas Eve and what happens when he or she sees Santa arrive.

1 LITERACY LESSON IDEAS

A Visit from St Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore was first published in 1823, but Moore didn’t admit to writing it until years later. It’s thought he wrote it for his six children and was inspired by the Christmas traditions of Dutch, Norwegian and German people who had moved to America. Moore was a professor who lived in New York.

Read the poem to your class. When you read it a second time, can you find the rhythm of each line? Tap it out or use percussion instruments.

The poem also reveals the language people once used. See our Word Wise Sheet to discover the meanings of some of the old-fashioned words. You’ll also find some comprehension questions and writing exercises here.

Recount the story using our Tell a Tale Sheet with our illustrations to guide you.

Moore was the first person to name St Nicholas’s reindeer. The names Donder and Blitzen were based on the Dutch words Dunder and Blixem, which mean Thunder and Lightning. What would you call Santa’s reindeer? Fill in our Name the Reindeer Sheet.

Moore was the one of the first writers to describe St Nicholas as “chubby and plump”. What other words can you use to describe Santa? Look at our Santa Adjectives Sheet.

Perfect your pupils’ letter writing skills using our decorative Letter to Santa Sheet. Ask them to write a letter to Santa asking three questions (rather than asking for gifts):

1. How do your reindeer fly? 2. How does you fit all those toys in one sack? 3. How does you get into houses that have no chimney?

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For fun, complete our Poem Wordsearch and Fill in the Vowels challenge. Complete our Word Pairs puzzle on the same page too.

Work out the poem’s rhyme scheme in class (AABB). Can you write an extra four-line verse using the same scheme? What did the child in the poem do after St Nicholas flew away?

Write a full Christmas poem using our Christmas Acrostic or Christmas Shape Poem Sheets. Download our Poetry Writing Resource Pack for help or inspiration. Visit: www.storytimeforschools.com/teaching-resources/ to download it.

Act out the poem or your own version of the perfect Christmas Eve using our St Nicholas and Reindeer Character Masks.

2 HISTORY LESSON IDEAS

This poem is almost 200 years old. It’s like a time capsule, revealing what the ‘perfect Christmas’ was like in the early 19th century, what people used to wear (kerchiefs and caps in bed) and the treats they looked forward to (sugar-plums). Make a Christmas Then and Now board to compare how Christmas has changed. Compare Christmas now to a Victorian Christmas, when Christmas trees were first introduced to the U.K.

3 GEOGRAPHY LESSON IDEAS

Use our pictures in the poem as a starting point for talking about winter weather. Make a Winter Weather Board, sticking on wintry images. Discuss places around the world that have snow all the time or are colder than the U.K. Here are some ideas for locations:

– Lapland region of Finland – North Pole – Alaska – The Alps

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What do you know about reindeer? Get some fun facts about this favourite animal on our Reindeer Facts Sheet and explore other animals that live in the same habitat.

5 CITIZENSHIP LESSON IDEAS

Use the poem as a starting point for a discussion about Christmas traditions around the world. See our Christmas Traditions Sheet and fill in your own Christmas traditions. You could also discuss how different religions celebrate Christmas.

6 ART LESSON IDEAS

Make a wall display, inspired by the illustrations for our poem – include all eight reindeer and Santa on his sleigh. Give each reindeer a name label.

Alternatively, make reindeer headbands. Give each pupil a wide strip of brown paper. Make sure the strips fit around everyone’s heads. Stick each strip together at the back. Draw eyes on the front (or stick on googly eyes) and stick on a red nose. This could be red card or a pompom or a splodge of red paint. Use brown pipe cleaners to make antlers or ask pupils to draw around their hands on brown card. Stick an antler to each side of each headband. Now you have a class full of Santa’s reindeer!

Draw your own scene from the poem in our Christmas Picture Frame and colour in the reindeer on our Christmas Colouring Sheet.

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QUICK COMPREHENSION CHECKER

1. Why does the narrator describe St Nicholas’s sleigh as miniature and the reindeer as tiny?

2. Find five similes in the poem that describe how Santa looks. Write your favourite one here.

3. Find two verbs that describe how the reindeer move. Write them here.

4. How did St Nicholas’s clothes get dirty?

5 How did the narrator know he or she had nothing to dread?

Te Storytime a ching Resou rces TM © storytimemagazine.com 2017 Poems andRhymes:AVisitFrom StNicholas NAME CLASS

ANTLER ANAGRAM NAME THE REINDEER a veryfamousreindeer. Rearrange thelettersinthesebaublestospellnameof

you nameeachone? his sleigh,buttheydon’thavenames.Can St Nicholashaseightnewreindeertopull

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Answer: TM © storytimemagazine.com 2017 Poems andRhymes:AVisitFrom StNicholas NAME CLASS kind busy ADJECTIVES SANTA Santa? Write here. them three thinkof more wordsCan you todescribe grumpy bearded sad merry Jolly think describeSantabest. Circle thewordsbelowyou bald chubby strict

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ching Resou rces TM © storytimemagazine.com 2017 TM Storytime Poems and Rhymes: A Visit From St Nicholas Teaching Resources NAME CLASS All the words listed below appear in Clement Clarke Moore’s poem. POEM Can you find them? WORDSEARCH H S K R T O Y S F N R S O T A E L G Y G C P H E F T H I T A S E L U M A L R I N Y F S F B I I K J Q K D N I S Y E Q R M D G W L Q L D C L Q V O N L E L H K A I Y H R N L H J P M Z I P S D H E O W E T Z L B Y S H U C R L M L I R Y W J A F J J C Y A B J N N A I C M B A A R Y S Y C W J D H R T S M E R L C M U J K T E Y S F I A Y S L I R W Z Q M I E I O L L N L J F O L N I Q R T H A X P O F P L N D R V H Y H D E U J K H O E

S T O C K I N G S V V R E

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L J H N

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H A I L C

I S E O H

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G N C L Christmas Snow

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E Elf St Nicholas

S S N S Y O T

ANSWER: Jolly Stockings Merry Toys © storytimemagazine.com 2017 TM Storytime Poems and Rhymes: A Visit From St Nicholas Teaching Resources NAME CLASS

Write a letter to LETTER TO SANTA Santa here. Don’t forget to tell him who you are.

cu these Christmassywords. Fill inthemissingvowelson R_ _ND_ _R CR_CK_R S_NT_ CL__S of Santa’s reindeer. to makethenamesofthree Match upthesyllablepairs mET SN_WM_N H_LLY PID PR_S_NTS

xen Cracker, Carol, Holly, Mince Pie, Presents, Tinsel, Santa Claus, Tinsel, Santa Claus, Holly, Mince Pie, Presents, Carol, Cracker,

Answers: Tree, Reindeer, Turkey, Snowman. Word Pairs – Comet, Cupid and Vixen. Pairs Snowman. Word Turkey, Reindeer, Tree, Te Storytime a ching Resou rces TM

S A M T S I R H C ACROSTIC POEM ACROSTIC CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS CLASS NAME Te Storytime a ching Resou rces TM © storytimemagazine.com 2017

holly Poems andRhymes:AVisitFrom StNicholas SHAPE POEM CHRISTMAS NAME CLASS snow

ho ho ho! ho! ho ho

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tree sack

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REINDEER FACT SHEET

Reindeer live in Northern Europe, Northern Asia, Greenland, Alaska, Canada and Iceland.

Their favourite food is lichen, which many people call ‘reindeer moss’.

Both males and females have antlers. Male antlers can grow up to 130cm long, but they drop off and grow again every year.

Older male reindeer drop their antlers in November, but females and young males drop them in spring. That means Santa’s reindeer must have been females or young males.

Male reindeer use their antlers to impress females and fight off competitors. Female reindeer use them for shovelling snow!

Reindeer are built for freezing temperatures. They have two layers of fur, super-grippy hooves for the ice and their magic noses warm up the cold air when they breathe in.

Reindeer can’t fly, but they can run faster than humans and reach speeds of up to 80km (50 miles) per hour. Baby reindeer can walk within an hour of being born.

Wild reindeer live in herds of up to 500,000 animals and they can travel thousands of miles every year.

In North America, reindeer are known as caribou. This is a French word, which means ‘snow shoveller’.

Reindeer can see ultraviolet (UV) light, which is invisible to humans. This special skill allows them to spot lichen hiding under the snow.

Children in other countries celebrate CHRISTMAS Christmas in different ways. Learn TRADITIONS about some of them here. GERMANY Christmas presents are opened FINLAND on Christmas Eve here too, but on the night of December 6, which is Saint Santa delivers presents Nicholas’s Day, Santa also leaves on Christmas Eve, when little gifts in children’s shoes. children eat rice pudding for breakfast and roast pork for dinner. Children decorate their trees with GREECE Children go carol gingerbread. Meanwhile, singing on Christmas outdoors, the pathways Eve morning, but are lit up with lanterns Greeks have their own version of Santa made from ice. Claus called Saint Vasilis. Children open their presents on January 1 VENEZUELA and celebrations last until January 6. In some cities, it is traditional to rollerskate to SPAIN Christmas church services! Children send their Presents are delivered on Christmas letters to the three Christmas Eve, and people wise men on Boxing Day and leave eat chicken, roast pork or shoes outside their homes on January hallacas – steamed meat, 5, hoping for gifts. They open their raisins and olives wrapped Christmas presents on January 6. in plantain leaves.

Children celebrate Christmas Day on January 7, and RUSSIA Grandfather Frost and his helper, the snow maiden Snegurochka, deliver the presents. On Christmas Eve, many people don’t eat until they see the first star in the sky.

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Te Storytime a ching Resou rces TM © storytimemagazine.com 2017 TM Storytime A Visit from St Nicholas: Christmas Colouring Teaching Resources NAME CLASS

Colour in Saint Nicholas’s reindeer. Can you give it a hat or a scarf, like the ones in our poem pictures?

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