" '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.
Written by Clement C. Moore
--or Henry Livingston, Jr.--
(Adapted by Regina Davis)
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
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!
