And if you ask me these days if I plan on going back to the classroom full-time once Monkey starts school full-time, the answer is no. Not because I don't want to. I still love to TEACH, but I know in my heart that I cannot tolerate the insurmountable burden being placed on teachers with testing, paperwork, meetings and state mandates. I was beginning to get burned out at my 11th year teaching, when I was pregnant with Sweet Pea, without having a full family to come home to and be responsible for. Now that Sweet Pea is in Kindergarten and I am PTA Room Mom and helping out in her class, I walk into that room and feel AT HOME...comfortable. But even knowing that the classroom is the place I belong, it just seems like it's not the right fit anymore.
The holidays were always such a great time in the classroom. So many opportunities to tie literature into daily lessons and discover great stories to read just for fun. It's an easy topic/subject to get kids excited about reading :) I especially loved when I was teaching first grade and we did "Holidays Around the World". The children traveled to one of the 6 first grade classrooms each day with their passports to learn about how different countries celebrated the holiday season, and how some of our traditions in America came to be from other nations' traditions. Here is a list of books I recommend if your family would like to travel the world this Christmas:
An Early American Christmas By Tomie dePaola
The Legend of the Poinsettia By Tomie dePaola
Nine Days to Christmas By Marie Hall Ets
Babar and Father Christmas By Jean De Brunhoff
The Christmas Tomten By Viktor Rydberg
This next list is full of my personal favorites and they will always be "must reads" in our house for years to come, with the sincerest wishes that my darlings cherish them to carry on for their next generation. I have a recommendation for a toddler/pre-school age, one for early elementary age and one for late elementary age.
TODDLER/PRE-SCHOOL AGE
"Bear Stays Up For Christmas" By Karma Wilson
Bear is an all-time favorite in our house. Monkey has a super-sized bear he got for his first Christmas from Santa and Mimi got him this book to go along with it. Ever since, we've loved Bear and all his friends. Monkey gets a new Bear book every Christmas. We've only got two more titles to get. I hope you find Bear as charming and sweet as we do.
EARLY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AGE
"Auntie Claus" Series
These books are HANDS DOWN my favorite children's Christmas stories. I bought "Auntie Claus" during my early years teaching at a Scholastic Book Fair. They are the funniest, most entertaining and delightful modern Christmas stories around. I pray every year that I will read Hollywood/Disney/Pixar is going to turn these stories into full-length Holiday features. They are INCREDIBLE!!LATE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AGE
"Who Is Stealing The 12 Days of Christmas?" (Chickadee Court Mysteries) By Martha Freeman
This gem was my daily read-aloud during the holidays to my 3rd and 4th graders. It is fantastic for inference, prediction and reading for detail strategies. Plus, it's just a good, old fashioned, fun mystery ala' the days of Scooby Doo. I CANNOT wait to start reading this with Sweet Pea in the next years. As you can see, it's part of a series. They are all FANTASTIC!
I hope you have found a few new suggestions for holiday enjoyment with your kiddos this season. There are so many choices in the world of children's books. I'm always on the lookout for a new favorite. Please share some of your family favorites for the holiday season. I would love to see what you're reading!
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