Twelve Days of Christmas

December 26, 2011 through January 6, 2012 mark the Twelve Days of Christmas. Celebrate with us by receiving a gift for the season!

WriteShop is partnering with Homeschooling Today magazine to bring you a special gift on December 31, the Sixth Day of Christmas.

I can’t tell you what the gift is (don’t you love surprises?), but I can tell you that it’s something brand-new, and I promise you’ll be thrilled. Plus, we’re throwing in a terrific WriteShop discount coupon too.

How to Get Your Gifts

Go to www.HomeschoolingToday.com now to sign up on the home page for the Homeschooling Helper e-newsletter to receive our offer on the above date.

Homeschooling Today will send a special discount or gift from a different vendor each day of the Twelve Days of Christmas – that’s 12 different goodies — but only to their readers. Get your new year off right! Sign up now so you don’t miss a single one of these special offers.

And if you’re unfamiliar with the traditions of the Twelve Days of Christmas, check out Marilyn Rockett’s excellent article. It will help you make sense of what “four calling birds,” “six geese a-laying,” and “eight maids a-milking” really mean.

Wishing you the richest blessings of the season,
Kim

Hoping someone will buy that extra “e” so we can fix this thing.

Photo © 2008 by tvindy. Used with permission.

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Stop by every 1st, 3rd, and 5th Wednesday for a peek into the world of spelling, punctuation, or grammar gone wrong!

As holiday decorations come out and the tree or menorah takes center stage, children can become increasingly distracted, sidetracked, and fidgety in anticipation of upcoming seasonal celebrations.

Homeschooling doesn’t need to fall by the wayside during December! The holidays can be a great time to assign writing activities that focus on the festivities, allowing children to immerse themselves in the fun while encouraging productivity. This month, have your kids write a paragraph describing a holiday-themed process where they explain, in a step-by-step manner, how something is done.

Process Paragraph: Choosing a Topic

Help them pick a process that isn’t too involved or complicated. With younger or reluctant writers, it’s especially important to keep the number of steps to a minimum. Also, the more familiar children are with the process, the easier it will be to write about it.

Here are some ideas to get them started. They can explain how to:

• Wrap a present
• Make latkes
• Decorate the tree
• Bake gingerbread cookies
• Build a snowman
• Be a “Secret Santa”
• Set the table for dinner
• Create a handmade greeting card
• Make a holiday craft project
• Play the dreidel game
• String popcorn
• Make a paper “countdown” chain

Process Paragraph: Writing the Rough Draft

Once your kids have chosen a topic (and narrowed it down to a specific task, if necessary), walk them through a few simple steps to guide and direct them.

1. If possible, have them go through the process themselves before beginning to write. Take digital photos of them as they complete each step.
2. Provide a graphic organizer to help them break down the steps of the process and plan the composition. Here’s a simple one that’s especially good for elementary ages. Here’s one can be filled in on the computer. Or download a free lesson sample from WriteShop I (grades 6+) that includes a Process Planning Worksheet.
3. Next, have them begin to write the rough draft, explaining the most important steps first.
4. Teach them to use transition words such as first, second, third, next, then, finally, or last.
5. If the paper isn’t too long, or if the steps are too vague, they can expand each step by adding sub-steps, more detail, or colorful description.

Process Paragraph: Making an Instruction Manual

Edit the rough draft together to ensure the steps are logical and easy to follow, and check for spelling and punctuation errors.

To publish their how-to composition in a fun way, have your children create an instruction manual. Here’s how:

1. Invite them to choose the photos they want to use to illustrate the process. They will need to print out 4-6 pictures. Let them tape or glue each picture to the top half of a sheet of notebook paper, using a separate sheet for each photo.
2. Next, have them copy their corrected composition onto the sheets of notebook paper, writing the sentence or sentences that each photo illustrates.
3. Finally, encourage them to design and decorate a colorful cover, including a catchy title. Assemble the instruction manual and share with family members.

Activities like this will keep your children happily writing, even during the busiest time of year!

Copyright © 2010 Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr.

It’s December 20th, and I still haven’t written my Christmas letter for 2010. But hope springs eternal! If you’re in the same boat, you might appreciate a few ideas to inspire you.

Creative Christmas Letters

• Use a newspaper format with major events written as “articles.”
• Ask one of your older children or teens to write the letter.
• Make a quiz about the year’s family events. Include multiple choice, true/false, and short-answer questions.
• Create a “Year in Pictures” collage, letting the photos and brief captions do the talking.
• Write your letter from your pet’s point of view.
• Or, write one from your toddler’s perspective.
• Invent your own MadLibs Christmas story featuring your family.
• Write a “Top 10 List.”
• Mail a digital Christmas letter.
• Ask each person to contribute his or her own “year in review” to a family letter. Either a paragraph or bullet points will work.
• How about a “Year of Favorites”? Share about favorite events, places visited, books read, etc.
• Write a rhyming letter or poem.
• Christmas by the numbers (such as 1 cruise, 3 trips to the emergency room, etc.)
• If you completely run out of time, write a “Happy New Year” letter recapping 2010, and mail it in January.

Do you send out Christmas letters? What have you done in the past to make yours stand out from the rest? Post your ideas in the comments!

I’m pretty sure cake decorators have to pass some sort of spelling test. Apparently, this doesn’t apply to seasonal help. . .

Well, I suppose this would be OK if you were ordering a cake for a chef . . .

And Happy Hally Days to you, too!

What you might wish a hippopotamus at this merry time of year.

. . . . .

Stop by every 1st, 3rd, and 5th Wednesday for a peek into the world of spelling, punctuation, or grammar gone wrong!

Photos used by permission of Jen at CakeWrecks

Haiku poems may be short in length, but they’re long on vivid

description and imagery that make the most of every word.

Though there are variations, the typical haiku poem contains three lines with a specific syllabic pattern:

Line 1 = 5 syllables
Line 2 = 7 syllables
Line 3 = 5 syllables

For a special holiday twist on the traditional nature-themed haiku, invite your children to pattern a haiku poem after a Christmas carol. This can be challenging, making it a good activity for teens, but younger children might also enjoy giving it a try.

Since it’s rare for the lines of a carol to match the requirement of 5-7-5 syllables, they’ll need to do some creative rearranging of words and lines. Just make sure they stay true to the message of the original song.

Tips for Turning a Carol into a Haiku

Add or remove words to create an accurate syllable count.

O what Child is this (5)
On His mother’s lap, sleeping? (7)
He’s the King of Kings. (5)

Silent, holy night (5)
The virgin mother and Child (7)
Sleep in perfect peace. (5)

Hint: If the line has too many or too few syllables, find a synonym or replacement for one of the words. Sleep in heavenly peace contains 6 syllables, but by changing heavenly to perfect, the line now has 5 syllables. Sometimes a thesaurus will be useful in helping your child find an alternate word.

Swap the order of the lines.

Earth receives her King (5)
Ev’ry heart prepares Him room (7)
Joy to the world. Joy! (5)

Pick and choose lines from the carol.

Hark! The angels sing (5)
Glory to the newborn King (7)
Join in the triumph. (5)

Babe in a manger (5)
Jesus lay down His sweet head (7)
Asleep in the hay. (5)

Combine ideas from several lines of the carol.

Town of Bethlehem… (5)
Tonight, everlasting light (7)
Shines in your dark streets (5)

O red-nosed Rudolph (5)
It’s a foggy Christmas Eve (7)
Drive my sleigh tonight. (5)

Dashing through the snow (5)
In a one-horse open sleigh (7)
O’er the fields, laughing. (5)

Choose a lesser-known verse from the carol.

Come to Bethlehem (5)
Worship Christ on bended knee (7)
He whom angels laud. (5)
(based on “Angels We Have Heard on High”)

. . . . .

Need some ideas to get you started? Ambleside Online’s Holiday Carol Book and Caroling Corner list dozens of popular (as well as lesser-known) Christmas songs, along with lyrics, to inspire your young poets.

Copyright 2010 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

As our family celebrates the birth of Christ, we extend our warmest holiday wishes to each of you. May this season be one of joy in your hearts, and may 2010 be merry and bright in every way!

Happy writing,
Kim

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
The mighty God, The everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace.”

–Isaiah 9:6

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o’er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight!
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
 
O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, Thou Lord of Might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud, and majesty, and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Photo public domain. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech via pingnews.

Cinquain poems are easy to write and a lot of fun too. The simplicity comes from following a set pattern of words and phrases. The resulting poem—five lines in a special shape—is rich with colorful, concrete vocabulary. Here are two examples:

Decoration
Golden, shiny
Glowing, glittering, sparkling
Twinkles on our tree
Ornament

. . . . .

Worshipers
Amazed, awed
Watching, waiting, listening
Hurrying to the manger
Shepherds

For a simple holiday writing activity, try assigning some Christmas cinquains. Follow the instructions and pattern in my blog post, Writing a Cinquain Poem. Choose from the following ideas, or come up with your own!

• Baby/Jesus
• Mother/Mary
• Visitors/Magi
• Ornament/Angel
• Ornament/Star
• Ornament/Snowman
• Cookie/Gingerbread man
• Giftwrap/Bow
• Decoration/Stocking
• Decoration/Wreath
• Tree/Fir
• Light/Candle
• Treat/Candy cane
• Toy/Train
• Helper/Elf

Share a comment: We’d love to read your children’s Christmas cinquains!

Last time, I gave you a Christmas word bank centered on the birth of Jesus and the traditional Christmas story. Now you can enjoy yet another holiday word bank (or several, when divided into categories), perfect for those jingle-jolly creative writing activities, acrostics, poems, and more!

Christmas Word Bank: Ho, ho, ho!

Here Comes Santa Claus

Christmas Eve, December, holiday, yuletide, North Pole, elf, elves, workshop, Christmas list, letter, sleigh, bells, ring, jingle, jolly, beard, Santa Claus, Father Christmas, St. Nicholas, Kris Kringle, reindeer, Rudolph, red nose, snow, chimney, fireplace, hearth, sack, stocking, stocking stuffers, coal, toys, dolls, train set, candy canes, puppy, mittens 

Deck the Halls

Shopping, crowds, stores, traffic, city, village, town, mail, cards, envelope, package, wrap, tie, exchange, presents, gifts, boxes, wrapping paper, tags, ribbon, bows, stickers, tape, gleaming, shiny, sparkling, glowing, twinkling, blinking, red, green, silver, gold, white, clear, decorations, cards, candles, votives, walnuts, nutcracker, Santa hat, mistletoe, holly, ivy, poinsettias, berries, pears, wreath, garland, fir, pine, trimming the tree, tinsel, glitter, tree skirt, tree-topper, lights, ornaments, baubles, bulbs, stars, snowflakes, pine cones, popcorn strings, tin soldier, cranberries, angel, glass, ball, icicle

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

Christmas dinner, feast, roasting, carving, ham, turkey, goose, roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, chestnuts, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, plum pudding, mincemeat pie, gingerbread house, decorate, icing, frosting, candies, sugar cookies, gingerbread men, fudge, fruitcake, eggnog, punch, stollen, sugar plums, figgy pudding

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Friends, family, grandparents, giving, gathering, visits, reunion, traditions, Advent calendar, Christmas story, church, stained glass, nativity set, carolers, carols, music, singing, happy, festive, merry, greetings, joy, peace, tidings, noel

Copyright 2009 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

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Stay tuned! A frosty, freezy Winter Word Bank is coming next week!

Photo by Vanessa Pike-Russell courtesy of Creative Commons 2.0.