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12 Days of Christmas Activities

by Elaine
(New Zealand)

Challenge your students to complete this activity in less than 12 days. Adapt the contents to suit your class and available resources.

DAY 1 Find ONE interesting Christmas tradition from another culture to share with a partner

DAY 2 Find TWO words about Christmas, translate these into other languages and create a poster.

DAY 3 Find THREE pictures on a theme and say how they relate to Christmas.

DAY 4 Investigate how many ways you could fold a square piece of paper into FOUR shapes.

DAY 5 Make a picture using FIVE colors only

DAY 6 Make a collection of SIX things that mean Christmas to you and share your reasons for the things you have collected.

DAY 7
etc
etc

Comments for
12 Days of Christmas Activities

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Dec 06, 2009
Why not teach the meaning of Christmas?
by: Anonymous

I think it is crazy that you can't teach the true meaning of Christmas. As an Australian teacher I have taught the nativity of Christmas and explained to chn why it is celebrated. Along with this, I have exposed the children to the many different views of Christmas and how different cultures celebrate or do not celebrate Christmas. I am by no means a religious person but Christmas is a component of Australian culture and the children have a right to know what it is about.

Dec 06, 2009
Aussie Christmas
by: Kaye

Here in Aussie, I don't know a single school that doesn't celebrate Christmas in one way or another. I have taught from Pre-Primary to Year 7 and include Christmas and Easter as part of Society and Environment every year. I have taught children from a myriad of religious and cultural backgrounds, and all (including Muslims, Buddhists etc) like their children to be informed and involved. Political correctness?... 'bah humbug'!

Dec 05, 2009
Christmas
by: Sue

It is very sad that in many countries with a Christian Heritage that the reason why we have holidays at Christmas and Easter cannot be explained to the children at school. Perhaps if is illegal in some places or we have to be sooo politically correct all the time maybe we shouldn't have these holidays at all. I'm sure that many people would object to this and yet many don't want to know why we have a holiday. Funny isn't it!!

Nov 19, 2009
US
by: Anonymous

Usually I don't respond to this, but I too, want to clarify something. It is illegal in the US to talk about Christmas and tell the students to celebrate it. It is not illegal to talk about Christmas, the traditions, etc, in addition to talking about other winter holidays. It also depends on what area of the country you are teaching. For example, if you teach in a small rural school, there probably is no problem with teaching/talking about only Christmas, while if you are in an urban setting, more parents/administrators might have more of an issue. Hope this helps!

I think this is a great idea, and could be adapted for any 12 days countdown.

Nov 17, 2009
US and Christmas
by: Susan

I want to clarify that in the US we have the right to teach about Christmas in school. The separation of church and state is not a legal nor valid point. I encourage teachers to know their rights in America. Sometimes it is not politically correct.

Nov 17, 2009
Comment
by: Elaine

Yes it is legal in New Zealand.
However, there's no reason why you couldn't adapt the ideas to fit a general study focused on celebrations.

Nov 16, 2009
Is this legal?
by: Tami

Is doing all these Christmas activities legal in New Zealand? It certainly isn't in the U.S. We have many different religions and the separation of church and state laws would get a United States teacher in lots of hot water if Christmas activities were done in a public school. Private, religious schools yes, but not appropriate for public schools.

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