Our Nativity

Our Nativity Scene

The munchkins had such fun creating a classroom cut-paper nativity scene.  Each munchkin drew a card to see which character or part of the scene he or she would create and then it was off to cut and glue! 

No one can use pencils and no one has anything to work from.  It all comes from the imaginations of the munchkins.  The classroom is wall to wall paper for a while, with pieces strewn from here to there, as everyone works at getting just the right look.  And when it's done, through what is without a doubt "divine intervention", they all come out perfectly.  Each character has a personality all its own and somehow they all look great together.  The finished product always amazes me.  I think probably the most interesting thing is that they usually have the same proportion, which, considering the circumstances of the activity, is truly miraculous!

Here's our masterpiece this year!

(minus Baby Jesus, of course, as He has not yet arrived...)

Let's take a look at each one more closely!

Mary (kneeling in prayer, of course)

Joseph (a proud and happy father)

Magi #1 (love that crown)

Magi #2 (bedecked in jewels)

Magi #3 (quite regal in his purple gown)

Heavenly Host (obviously singing his Glory to God)

Another Angel (brilliant and bright)



The Cow (full of hay!)



The Lamb (long-legged lamb)



The Manger (empty and waiting)

Baby Jesus (absolutely beautiful)

When the munchkins were finished they were ready for a snack, so what better treat than a manger with a "baby" in it! 
Yummy (and way too cute!)

A super fun and creative day!


Until next time...
Giggles,
Mrs. D.

The Infancy Narratives

We Prepare: Infancy Narratives

Getting ready for the birth of Baby Jesus is such a wonderful time.  The munchkins learn some very special lessons during our Atrium time that help them understand what this time must have been like.  They love to turn the lights out and light our candle as we read from our classroom Bible and talk about the beautiful stories and prophecies.  The enticing Atrium materials add so much to the stories and the munchkins love to retell those stories using the pieces in our special story boxes. 

We use three special stories.

The Annunciation

The Visitation

The Nativity

Content to be added soon...I can't find my pictures!!  They're lost in cyberspace somewhere!

St. Lucy's Feast

Learning About Lucy

December is so full of feast days and celebrations of beautiful saints.  The Feast of St. Lucy couldn't be more perfectly placed right in the middle of Advent.  Her celebration fit perfectly into our exploration of the prophecies...especially, and of course, the prophecy of Light.

We colored this beautiful image of St. Lucy with her white gown (for her purity) and her red sash (for her martyrdom) and her lovely crown of candles.

 We made a yummy candle snack.

And we created fun wreaths made from candles for our own heads.

St. Lucy, Pray for Us!

Until next time...

Giggles,

Mrs. D.

Wreaths for Advent

We Prepare: Advent Wreaths

The people in darkness have seen a great Light.

After reading and discussing the Prophecy of Light from the book of Isaiah, we created our own Advent wreaths to help us prepare for the coming of The Light.

The munchkins traced and cut our hand prints to create the leaves.

Then they glued them to "darkness", creating the base of the wreath.

The Advent colored candles were added...three purple, one pink.

What a joy it is to watch as the munchkins learn the meaning of each candle, color and our prayers to go with each.

The center Christ candle was added...

...and so was the "light". 

(But not too much!)

Beautiful!

Christ is Light.  In Him there is no darkness.

Until next time...

Giggles,

Mrs. D.