#1164. Merry Christmas Writing Centre

Reading/Writing, level: Elementary
Posted Tue Jul 13 12:25:04 PDT 1999 by Tara Brennan (tp.brennan@sympatico.ca).
Golden Valley School, Val d'Or, Quebec
Materials Required: Old Christmas cards, pictures of toys,various writing utensils,glue,glitter,scissors,paper,catalogs
Activity Time: centre
Concepts Taught: Developing vocabulary related to Christmas

Introduce this centre by asking the children if they notice a new area in the classroom. "What do you think the new centre is all about?" "What makes you think this?" Encourage children to, not only recored what is written for them on the poster board and vocabulary lists, but also to use their imagination. Perhaps the children could bring circulars from newspapers or other catalogs from home to peruse while this centre is functioning. If they would like to make a Christmas list for someone else in their family, or a fictional character, they may do so. Perhaps they would like to include things which are less tangible.
Designing a Christmas card is the second possible activity at this centre. They may write one to another student, someone at home, or someone else in the school. "Stamps" (Christmas stickers) are available at the centre as well. Children may also wish to write letters to Santa Claus.