O Christmas Tree

• Winter Holiday Symbols. Guide your students to identify and learn the history of symbols associated with winter celebrations around the globe, such as Diwali, Loy Krathong, Hanukkah, Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, the Winter Solstice, Christmas, Dong Zhi, and Kwanzaa. Ask your students to consider what these symbols and celebrations have in common and how the celebrations also represent unique cultural orientations.

• Family Traditions. Invite your students to share their special family winter celebration traditions with their classmates. There are many ways of honoring students’ family customs. You could invite your students to write about the ways in which their family celebrates the season, ask students to bring in and talk about an artifact related to their family’s celebrations, or encourage students to create and display artwork related to their family traditions.

• Class Christmas Trees. Decorate an evergreen tree in the classroom to represent the cultural backgrounds of the students in your classroom and/or your global community. Alternatively, you could have students design a tree to be placed in a central location in your community. Many communities use decorated trees for local fund-raising efforts. Students could participate in an ongoing initiative or start a new social action project.

• Christmas Tree Farming. Farmer provides an overview of the Christmas Tree farming industry. If it is possible in your area, arrange for a visit to a local nursery. Have students be prepared to ask questions that they have about tree farming. Follow up your visit with further online or print research and create a presentation (oral or written) of the students’ learning.

• Famous Trees. Have students, individually or in groups research a famous tree, such as the one at Rockefeller Center and present its history to their classmates. You may want to create a class book or presentation deck to document their findings.

• The White House Tree. Using the information in book and the online resources below about the annual Christmas tree at the White House, engage students in an exploration of how White House trees have reflected the politics of their times and / or the social agendas of the first ladies who have sponsored them. Have students work in cooperative groups to design a tree that reflects the current sociopolitical environment – if they were responsible for decorating this year’s tree, how would they accomplish this task?

• Separation of Church and State. Farmer’s text notes that the General Court of Massachusetts banned Christmas due to its non-Christian origins in 1659. What exactly does “separation of church and state” mean? What is the law and how has it been interpreted in different contexts over time? What are the implications of the law for schools and schools’ recognition of holidays that have a religious origin? Invite your students to explore these questions.

• Children introduce various aspects of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah by describing their favorite practices or stories associated with the celebrations.

• When people start favoring artificial Christmas trees, Farmer Tuttle doesn’t generate enough business to be able to afford his wife’s Christmas hat. Fortunately a special order from the “Boss saves the day in this humorous picture book.

• Part of the National Geographic Holidays Around the World series, these titles provides an overview of these winter celebrations; the books are illustrated with photographs.

• Yasmeen, a seven year old Pakistani American girl, celebrates the month of Ramadan with her family and shares her experiences with her classmates at school.

• This informational picture book describes the science behind the change of seasons, the response of humans and animals to the approach of winter, and how the solstice has been celebrated throughout history.

• In this lyrical picture book, a family is depicted carrying out the practices of Ramadan, “under the moon, under the moon, under the Ramadan moon .”

Filed under: Nonfiction Picture Books, Picture Books