Christmas Countdown

Christmas has always been a big deal in the school libraries I’ve had in my care. 

And, starting on December 1 each year we had the Christmas Countdown, an advent calendar of Christmas stories read by parents and teachers, one each lunchtime for all the days till the end of term. Regardless of beliefs or age, each session attracted crowds of students, many of them not regular library visitors. 

Books were wrapped and displayed and then each day a new one was opened and shared. The sense of anticipation was dramatic.

All the books have been gathered together on a Pinterest board for those who want to replicate this tradition.

Santa’s Book Shop was an annual feature encouraging parents and children to give the gift of reading. It allowed us to close the main collection so we could appraise it and work out future needs and directions yet still kept interest in the library at fever pitch.

Then there was always a selected charity like this one where we collected gifts for the children of Charleville whose families wee battling the most severe drought…

 

 

 

I love Christmas – it is the time I miss most in my career as a teacher librarian.  Hopefully the children will remember their experiences fondly. Now I just make Christmas Countdown cushions.

Santa's Sleigh

Santa’s Sleigh

Rudolph

Rudolph

Elf-girl

Elf-girl

Elf - boy

Elf – boy

Santa - 54321

Santa – 54321

 

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