Ho, Ho, Ho it's Christmas

"David do you know were the Santa hat is?"
"Sure and I can help you find a Jacket as well."
"Can you help me make some whiskers."
"Yes Mrs Knight has just dropped something off to us that would be perfect Caleb."
"Can we have some whiskers like Caleb?

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Te Whāriki our curriculum says children should "experience an environment where they experience the stories and symbols of their own and other cultures."
As well as our tree (photo by Harriet) we've be reading lots of Christmas stories and looking at and or learning lots of Christmas songs.

One was good king Winceslas, were we acted out the song and learnt a little of it's history after I researched it online, relating it to our virtue of courages and service.

Often the songs have new words that expand the children's vocabulary, these lead to questions as the children share their ideas with their friends.

Away in a manger lead to discussions at Jo's mat about baby Jesus, with the children sharing their knowledge, about who they thought Jesus was, plus about cows, stables, ponies and learning about what a manger is.

The line "lead us to heaven to live with the there," lead to the children asking questions about and sharing their ideas about Heaven. Jo caught these thoughts.

"Heaven is Tangaroa, Tangaroa is the ocean and the heaven."
"Heaven is like walking on top of clouds."
"My bantem got killed at it was buried and now it's in heaven."
"It's up in the sky."
"My horse had a sore leg and it couldn't get up, so dad had to get his gun and shoot it."
"Heaven she's God."
"No cause God's a boy, he's got long hair, girls have long hair but boys can too, that's why you think he's a girl when he's really a boy."
"Heaven is in your heart cause my mum said."
"Our cat died because it couldn't wee anymore. we put it it a box and buried it with a rose on and now it's in heaven."

Next week we'll have a go at acting out some of the Christmas stories we've been reading.