'Christmas Wreaths'

We have been learning a new poem this month called, 'Christmas Wreaths.'  The following poem and pictures used in the lesson were graciously offered from My Montessori Journey.  To introduce the new poem, first I recited the poem aloud without photos - I simply let the children close their eyes and listen to the words.  We discussed vocabulary and what the words convey.  After several days of listening, I then introduced the pictures, giving the kids visual cues as they memorized the poetry.

'Christmas Wreaths'

Our Christmas wreaths are fat and round
Made of woodsy things we found.

We tied brown cones upon the green,

And stuck red berries in between.

 

Upon the wreath for our front door
We tied red ribbon from a store.

Once the children were comfortable with associating the words and the pictures, then I added the written words in a wall chart.  We practiced reading the poem - the red dots under each word assist the child while using a pointer or "reading stick" as they point to each word.


Classroom poetry chart.

Lastly, I introduced the children to the poetry basket.  Inside is a (small) copy of the poem with a reading stick along with the necessary objects to dramatize the poem.


Poetry basket copy of the poem with a reading stick...



...and the objects needed to "act" it out.



Here are the components of the poetry altogether in our poetry basket, ready for the shelf.  The children love to complete this lesson in pairs - one child reads while the other one acts it out, then they switch!

Every once in a while, we will have a volunteer who will want to recite the poem for our class during circle time.  This elicits a warm applause from classmates and usually, others will want to recite the poem as well!  Also, we discovered that the poem can be sung to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," and we have been listening to its steady beat.  This prompted me to get our our jingle-sticks out and tap out the beat while 'singing' the poem.  Jingle bells and Christmas wreaths....can it get any more festive around here?!