For the youngest student we have found that opening with a great question is enough. How do you decorate for Christmas? What are your family traditions? After about five minutes of enthusiastic chatter, you could say, “My family’s tradition is to read the Christmas story. May I read it to you”?
If time allows after reading a book you can then
review it with the characters of the Nativity scene. The children enjoy touching
and feeling the different characters as the story unfolds.
The True Story of CHRISTMAS, by Nell Navillus and illustrated by Allan Eitzen. It is published by Sweetwater Press. I loved this book. The illustrations are realistic and beautiful. The language is simple yet well written and complete. It is written in a reality form while many Christmas books are written in fantasy form leaving a child confused as to what the real story is. As the title states, it is written as the true story of Christmas. It has my highest recommendation.
The Christmas Story retold by Bill Yenne and Timothy Jacobs. This is a Tommy Nelson book, Thomas Nelson, Inc.
The Story of Baby Jesus, an Alice in Bibleland story book, written by Alice Joyce Davidson.
The Christmas Story, a Little Golden Book told by Jane Werner.
My First Study Bible, written by Paul J. Loth pages 310 – 316. This book does not include the story of the wise men.
The Crippled Lamb, written by Max Lacado. This book is wonderfully illustrated, but it also fails to mention the story of the wise men.
The Tale of the Three Trees, written by Angela Hunt. The pictures are delightful, and the story is the legend of three trees who dream of becoming grand. Instead they learn the lesson of what it means to be truly valuable. Because it does not include the Christmas story, it really cannot be used alone but makes a wonderful transition book into another story of Christmas.
In the Alice in Bibleland story book, The Crippled
Lamb, and The Tale of the Three Trees, the stories blend both
make-believe (fantasy) and real elements. After the story is read it is
important to comment on the differences between what is real and what is not.
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You can simply ask:
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Then, simply flip back through the pages of the book:
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Close with the Legend of the Candy Cane
followed by
giving each child a small wrapped candy cane.
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| Print
SITC-1.0-ENG-0003 17-Jul-2002
