'Twas The Night Before Christmas Poem and Book

 

" 'Twas the night before Christmas,

when all through the house,

not a creature was stirring,

not even a mouse. "

For years, Kindergarten students at my

elementary school would memorize

the entire poem by Clement C. Moore

(or quite possibly Henry Livingston, Jr).

Our poem memorization began

--as far as I know--

by a teacher who started her

teaching career

in the 1960's.

Yes...

you read it right...

The 1960's.

Uh, I wasn't even born yet!

Wouldn't that be lousy

if you were Clement C. Moore

or Henry Livingston, Jr. and wrote

a well-loved poem like this and

never got the credit for it?

I suppose the true author

doesn't mind,

since the poem was

initially printed anonymously...

or here's a side thought....

maybe it wasn't written by

either of those guys...

maybe it was a woman!

Yes! Yes! It Was A Woman!

hehehehe

Just throwing that out there...

why not muddy up the authorship

claim even more?

A scandal over a beloved

Christmas poem?!

A 100 years from now,

someone could be reading this

post and think,

"Oh....the poem

was REALLY written by a woman.

It says so right here

in these archived posts

written by two teachers.

They were teachers

over a century ago...

they should be a

reliable source of information."

bwahahaha

OH.MY.WORD.

Step away from the keyboard Regina.

You dun lost your mind sista!

It kind of reminds me of when

a teacher shares teaching ideas with

another teacher and then

the first teacher gets to hear all about

the OTHER teachers' great

teaching techniques in a meeting

where the first teacher's name

is never mentioned

never

ever

mentioned...

in connection

to those

teaching

ideas...

huh.

*blink*

*blink*

Does

that sound

familiar to anyone?

Anyone?

I

think

that

happens

all.

the.

time.

across

the

globe.

I'm pretty sure of that fact.

...and

THAT

ladies and gentlemen

is why a

business model

used for

teacher evaluations

does not translate

over into the

education system.

BAM WHAT?!

Like how you 

just snuck that 

little fun fact in there.

The best teachers share.

If money continues

to be tied to evaluations

and to test results...

the sharing may eventually stop.

Which would be a sad day in Education.

...And time tested

teaching techniques

will become closely

guarded secrets.

Which would be bad,

and very, very sad.

So....I'm officially sending a

big THANK YOU to all of the teachers

who have shared their fabulous

ideas with me over the years!

I would not be the teacher that I

am without all of your great ideas

and sage advice!!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Because of my 1960's Teaching Guru,

and other time tested teachers

--such as Mrs. Long Island--

at my school,

our young students

would recite the poem

as a grade level

during their Holiday Stroll.

They would walk up and down

the beach front stores singing

STOP!
RIGHT!
THERE!
"walk up and down the 

beach front stores..."

I am BEYOND jealous!

If we walk anywhere, we are 

shivering under layers and layers of clothes!

I often forget my bloggin' buddy

is living it up in sunny Florida!

Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa songs

while wearing handmade

reindeer t-shirts, shorts, and

Santa hats (unless of course

they preferred

a menorah or 

a kinara on their

short-sleeved shirts). 

Again, "short sleeves and shorts"?!
Now you're just showing off!

We would stop at a few designated

shops and we'd recite the poem

with the addition of several

well-rehearsed songs.

Oh.... the good old days of teaching....

The copy of the poem we read

and memorized from

during the weeks before Christmas

wasn't in the best shape.

It was probably 30 years old,

and had been copied and re-copied

by many a Florida teacher,

until it was full of

little black smudges,

and handwritten side-notes

that had become part of the

permanent copy.

As I remember

my Kindergarten days

and the merry stroll

my "littles"

would take

while holding hands

as the sea winds blew

and the taste of salt

filled the air....

Are you kidding me right now?!

You don't realize that half of the

readers are really getting

bent out of shape as they

read this.  The only winds

the rest of have are BLUSTERY!

I have a slight tinge of nostalgia

(not enough nostalgia to make

me jump at the chance

to teach the "littles" again...

but nostalgia nonetheless).

Thinking about

the poem our sweet

(and even our not-so-sweet)

5 and 6 year olds

would recite...

I decided to remake  the classic,

world-renowned poem

into several printable versions

including a cute little book

for all the 'littles' of the world.

I thought about posting

this remake of the poem

 for a price on TPT...

after all, the poem's

copyright protection

has expired and there

are many versions of the poem

currently for sale in book form.

But then,

I scrunched up my face,

and I thought really hard about it...

yes, the face scrunching

is highly necessary

whenever I use my

critical thinking skills...

I decided that the Karma Gods

would hunt me down

and ZAP me

if I posted

this well-loved

poem for a price.

I want the Karma Gods

to only think of me

with good thoughts...

so my re-making of a poem

that was initially

meant to be shared with all

...young, old, rich, and poor....

will continue to be shared with all

(with a few added cute, little pics

to make it slightly more appealing
to young readers).
And I'm sure it will be appreciated.

The Night Before Christmas 

Written by Clement C. Moore

--or Henry Livingston, Jr.--

(Adapted by Regina Davis)

 To Download Click Here.

I'm including half sheets

of the same

book format:

I'm also giving you 2 different

versions of printing the poem for

your students.

The first version has larger print:

The second version has smaller print:

To All The Littles Of The World

Here is a remake of  

The Night Before Christmas 

just for you!

Price of Reading: Promising To Always Do Your Best!

May All Your Sugar Plum Dreams Come True!

Merry Christmas!

Love, Mrs. Davis

-- Just a little, old teacher

from the Lone Star....oops,

I mean The Sunshine State...

after all, you're not in

"Texas" anymore Dorothy!--

This is a freebie for all of our fabulous followers.

Follow us here and on TPT

to catch any future free items
that may come and go

as the sea wind blows!

---Merry Christmas To All And To All A Goodnight!