Short and funny Christmas poems are a great addition to a language class. Students will remain focused for a few moments as a Christmas poem is read if it is engaging. Interest your students by creating their own Christmas poem by making a few alterations of an old favourite.
Christmas Poems Lesson
Read the classic Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clemente Clarke Moore to the class. As you read the poem, ask students to close their eyes to create pictures in relation to the Christmas poem. Begin a dialogue of how the poem created different and similar pictures for the students.
Give each child a copy of the poem or part of the poem. Ask the students to highlight all nouns in the poem. I have selected the first part of the poem to illustrate the objectives of the lesson.
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
Students will create a 2 column chart in their language books. For one column, the students will write all the common and proper nouns. The teacher may have a mini lesson on the properties of a noun.
Nouns: Christmas, house, creature, mouse, stockings, chimney
Once the nouns are highlighted students will replace the original noun, with another noun. The replaced noun does not have to be related to the original noun.
Nouns: Christmas (Easter), house (motel), creature (monster), mouse (dog), stockings (pants), chimney (door)
Once the nouns are all changed, students will rewrite the poem with the changes. As well, students will create a picture to correspond with the new poem. Before the students are allowed to make the changes, it is best for the teacher to ensure they have identified the nouns correctly.
After the Christmas poems have been altered, have an open mike at school for a couple of days, and have students share their poetry. As students read the new Christmas poem there will be lots of laughter.
Christmas Poetry Extensions
- Students identify the verbs and change the verbs.
- Students must highlight a predetermined number of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Students change the original to create a new Christmas poem.
- Students only change common nouns, allowing the Christmas theme to continue.
- Students ask a partner for 5 nouns and 5 verbs and they choose how they will incorporate it into the poem.
- Students must write a new verse to the Christmas poem after they have altered the nouns in the poem.
