On the First Day of Christmas, My Teacher Gave to Me...

Teaching Theme of the Week

from Education World®

"On the first day of Christmas my teacher gave to me..." plus more "Twelve Days of Christmas" activities.

Subjects: Language Arts, Dance & Music, Visual Arts, Educational Technology, Social Studies

Grade Levels: PreK-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

Objectives
Students will:

• listen to a recording of "The Twelve Days of Christmas";
• work on their own, in small groups, or as a class to write their own version of the song that begins with the words "On the first day of Christmas, my teacher gave to me...";
• share their work with classmates;
• publish their versions of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" in book form; and,
• do some other lessons based on the song (optional, links to lessons provided).

Keywords
Christmas, song, music

Materials Needed

• recording of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (Internet sources provided)
• art supplies for creating books of students' versions of the song

Procedure
Begin the lesson by playing a recording of "The Twelve Days of Christmas."  If you do not have a recording available, download the song from the Web at 12days.com.

When you have students' full attention, introduce this lesson, in which students rewrite the popular "The Twelve Days of Christmas" beginning with the line, "On the first day of Christmas, my teacher gave to me..."

Students might work on their own, in small groups, or the entire class might brainstorm new lyrics.

• If students work on their own, bring them together to share their work. Invite students to vote for the best "gifts" to include in a class version of the song. Or, if you have about 24 students, write two versions of the song! Then have each child illustrate one page and create two books based on the students' lyrics.
• If students work in small groups, each group can use their lyrics to create a book.

More "Twelve Days" Lessons and Resources

LESSON PLANS

• Twelve Days of Math: A Christmas Song
• Twelve Days of Christmas Break: A Physical Fitness Assignment
• Twelve Days of Chemistry
• Total Cost of the Twelve Days of Christmas
• The Twelve Days of Christmas and Pascal's Triangle

Assessment
Students perform the version(s) of the song that they created!

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