Today is December 6th and celebrated by many around the world as St. Nicholas Day. In our house the tradition is to leave out our wooden shoes in hopes that Sinterklaas (the Dutch interpretation of St. Nicholas) will fill them with delicious goodies and small toys.
As the story goes on the night of December 6 needy children would find baskets of food and clothing on their doorsteps from a secret gift-giver. Children began to leave their shoes by the doorstep in hopes of finding coins hidden inside.
Simple Gifts are the Lesson of St. Nicholas Day - This post from Newtown Bee includes historical notes and interactive activities.
There are many children's books available for teaching your students about Saint Nicholas. Here are a few titles from Amazon.com to get you started!
There was a very interesting {religious} broadcast from Focus on the Family explaining the true meaning behind Christmas and how Saint Nicholas fits in with the holiday. You can listen to the archived conversation at the link above.
St. Nicholas Center has a page dedicated especially to teachers who would like to incorporate a lesson about St. Nicholas in their classroom. There list includes many books for classroom use as well as discussion guides and coloring pages.
As a simple way of participating in the spirit of St. Nicholas Day, consider planning a secret act of kindness to surprise a friend or family member, or do something kind for someone in need.
Disclosure: Amazon links are not affiliate links.
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We love the Veggietales movie about it also.
ReplyDeleteLove the fireplace! My daughter's kindergarten class made paper "wooden" shoes last week and left them by their cubbies =they had candy inside the next morning. She loved it!
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