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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? Continued on page 2... © storytimemagazine.com 2017 TM Storytime Poems and Rhymes: A Visit From St Nicholas 2 Teaching Resources 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 Continued on page 3... © storytimemagazine.com 2017 TM Storytime Poems and Rhymes: A Visit From St Nicholas 3 Teaching Resources 4 SCIENCE LESSON IDEAS 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. © storytimemagazine.com 2017 TM Storytime A Visit from St Nicholas: Word Wise Sheet Teaching Resources Discover the meanings of some of the longer WORD WATCH or trickier words in Storytime Issue 40’s poem, A Visit from St Nicholas. ’Twas – short for ‘it was’ Lustre – shine, brightness Nestled – snuggled Coursers – a fast-moving animal Sugar-plums – boiled sweets Tarnished – made dirty ’Kerchief – a square scarf that Pedlar – someone who goes from covers the head door to door selling goods Clatter – noise, clanging, banging Droll – funny Sash – a window you push up to open Ere – before WORD NERD One line in the poem says: While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads. Which food or toys do you dream about on Christmas Eve? Replace the word sugar-plums with something modern. Write your new poem line here. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ MAGIC STACK Look at our poem pictures. Which toy in Santa’s sack would you give to a friend and why? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Imagine your perfect Christmas Eve. If you were in charge, WRITE what would you eat? Would you make any new traditions? What would you leave for Santa as a treat? Write three © storytimemagazine.com 2017 IT! paragraphs about it. TM Storytime A Visit from St Nicholas: Word Wise Sheet Teaching Resources 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? © storytimemagazine.com 2017 TM Storytime A Visit from St Nicholas: Tell the Tale Teaching Resources NAME CLASS Using the pictures below, write the story in the poem in your own words. © storytimemagazine.com 2017 TM Storytime Poems and Rhymes: A Visit From St Nicholas Teaching Resources NAME CLASS St Nicholas has eight new reindeer to pull NAME THE his sleigh, but they don’t have names. Can REINDEER you name each one? ANTLER ANAGRAM D R H L P o U Rearrange the letters in these baubles to spell the name of a very famous reindeer. Antler Anagram – Rudolph – Anagram Antler Answer: © storytimemagazine.com 2017 TM Storytime Poems and Rhymes: A Visit From St Nicholas Teaching Resources NAME CLASS Circle the words below you SANTA think describe Santa best. ADJECTIVES Jolly THIN grumpy bald old kind sad merry strict busy bearded chubby Can you think of three more words to describe Santa? Write them here. © storytimemagazine.com 2017 TM Poems and Rhymes: A Visit From St Nicholas Storytime Teaching Resources NAME CLASS All the words listed below appear in Clement Clarke Moore’s poem. POEM WORDSEARCH Can you find them? K R T O Y S F N R S O T A H S G Y G C P H E F T H I T A E L L U M A L R I N Y F S F B S E K J Q K D N I S Y E Q R M I I W L Q L D C L Q V O N L E D G K A I Y H R N L H J P M Z L H D H E O W E T Z L B Y S I P S C R L M L I R Y W J A F J H U Y A B J N N A I C M B A A J C S Y C W J D H R T S M E R R Y M U J K T E Y S F I A Y S L C W Z Q M I E I O L L N L L I R O L N I Q R T H A X P O F J F N D R V H Y H D E U J K H P L S T O C K I N G S V V R E O E E S G N I K C O T S L J H N F O R O L I E W Children L S E Reindeer Y R R E M T D S C M N A H A I Chimney L C Sleigh I S E O H H M R H I G N C L Christmas I E I D Snow E Y N R L T E S S Elf N S Y O T St Nicholas 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.
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