December Books: Enjoying the Christmas Season

This is probably one of my favorite times of year, because I love all kinds of holiday music! In addition, everywhere you go there are trees, lights, Santas, candles, etc. what’s not to love about that 🙂? This year, I thought I would talk about some different books that I came across, which can work well for December and even early January when you are not busy preparing for the holiday concerts with your kiddos.
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The Littlest Night Before Christmas by Mary Engelbreit 

For anyone that loves Mary Engelbreit’s illustrations, this book is a must for the month of December. The rhyming text is a great way to get your students into this story, and the illustrations will keep them glued to the pages of this wonderful book. This book differs from the original in that it is about a family of mice that is the center of the action when there is a happy intruder in their home. Great to follow up with the movie The Night Before Christmas 1933 Disney version, and then compare the two!
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How to Catch a Snowman by Adam Wallace and Ande Elkerton

I love the rhyme scheme of this book, as well as many connections to science and engineering that can be useful to discuss with students. For example, one of the pages the children make a net of scarves. I like to ask my students, how we can make such a net out of scarves-what design would we have to consider? In another instance, the snowman comes across an igloo, and runs right through it. The book does not mention that it is an igloo, and this could be another great question to ask your students. I use this in the beginning of class, to get my littles to keep steady beat, while asking questions as we follow the snowman on his journey. So much fun!
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Varenka by Bernadette Watts 

I came across this book recently, through the Children’s Literature company. It is a beautifully told story of a woman named Varenka, who shelters from the war and from the Russian soldiers, rescuing several of her neighbors in the process. As the story develops, we see Varenka praying for shelter from the soldiers, each time taking in a new neighbor. Finally, there is a huge snowfall which covers her house, which ensures that the soldiers do not see the house as they are passing by. The war in that part of Russia is over. Once springtime comes, peace returns, and everyone resumes living their daily lives. This works for either December or January, since it takes place during the winter. I felt this was appropriate to include here, given what has happened recently between Russia and Ukraine. Even though this book takes place in Russia, it is important to remind students of the humanity of all people, including those living in Russia. As someone with ties to both countries, I try to remind my students not to label everyone on one side as good and the other one bad, but to find the humanity and pray for peace for both nations.

While there is not an obvious musical connection here, this can be used in discussions about Russia that can come up, or before teaching music of Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky. 

​Dream Snow by Eric Carle 

While this book is not new in Carle’s repertoire, I just came across this last year and loved it. The story about how the farmer and his animals fell asleep, and dreamed about snow, only to wake up to real snow. The farmer then grabs a sack and goes to find presents for all of his animals. The sweetness of the story and the illustrations along with the flaps you have to lift to see the animals, inspired me to create a solfege based lesson plan practicing mi-re-do. 
Here is a small preview:

​For more on this lesson, please click here for a link to the lesson in my TPT store!
Have a wonderful December!
Polina