“‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house…”
How much time do you have to dive deeply into this classic? “A Visit to St. Nicholas” is a work that can inspire lessons across disciplines for all ages. Rich in literary elements and vocabulary, it has an interesting history, it had great impact on our culture, and even inspired some controversy and mystery.
Here are a few ways to squeeze the learning potential out of this poem:
LITERARY GOLD
Diving into a classic can be fun for kids! Using context clues becomes a game, the discovery of antiquated words and figurative language. As teachers, it’s so satisfying when we know we’ve required more of our students than just a quick read.
I would approach this in the same way I taught The Blind Men and the Elephant and The Gift of the Magi: eliciting from students what they understand the words to mean and pointing out antiquated words and word usage (“twas and danc’d, for example). HERE is a wonderful explanation of every word of the poem. With a quick search, you can also find many resources for introducing students to literary elements in the poem. HERE is one example.
THE HISTORY and IMPACT
I think I would dive into reading the poem before sharing its history and impact. As you do explore it further, here are some interesting questions to discuss:
- What motivates authors to write? (Moore is said to have written it for his children)
- Why would an author remain anonymous? (Moore was a professor and usually wrote more scholarly writings. Supposedly, he wasn’t sure at first that he wanted to be associated with this work. Later, he did claim to be the author.)
- How can a poem, story, or book have an impact? (the impact of this piece is shared here and here. Students might suggest other books that have had great impact in the world or in cultures).
THE MYSTERY
If you want to introduce the controversy, there is some question about authorship. It might be fun to present the evidence to students and discuss that this type of controversy often comes up with classics, including the works of William Shakespeare (see Shakespeare’s Macbeth: Depth, Mystery, and Magic for October). You can find more about it in the Wikipedia article and also in this piece. There has even been a book written about it!
CREATIVE WRITING
Over the years, I enjoyed challenging my students to write, as a class, a new version of this classic. The writing almost always led to some kind of performance.
The original poem begins with a quiet scene, everyone settling down for the evening and sleep. Noises and clatter on the lawn soon get the narrator out of bed and the rest of the poem describes the arrival a special visitor in the night.
So, one class- one year- decided our poem could begin with a quiet school, decorated for the holidays. The calm is disturbed by an “arising of a clatter” – parents arriving, bearing boxes and bags filled with goodies for the afternoon holiday parties.
Here are a few stanzas to give you an idea of the kinds of substitutions made. The words changed from year to year as I tried this with different classes. One year, my students had a blast sharing their version with the principal, who read it over the intercom the morning of the last day of December. Another year, the students performed it for younger students. Personalizing it with names of staff members and your school’s traditions adds to the fun.
If you do this, you can print out the stanzas and assign one to every two students or you can have students get into small groups and write what they can, then consolidate some of their writing into one piece. Challenge students to incorporate some of the familiar phrases and literary elements of the original poem.
I’d love to know if you try this! Join our Facebook group to share. I’d also love to know if you have other golden ideas for using this classic as a springboard for learning and thinking!
Happy Holidays to all and to all a Good Break!