Day 8 ~ Wishlist to Santa

Posted On November 6, 2012

Christmas is not complete without writing a Wishlist Letter to Santa!

This is one of those activities that I am always a little unsure about as sometimes it sounds a bit like want, want, want.  Definitely the wrong messagei want to send to my kids about Christmas.  Then last year Lisa at “Life as We know It”  introduced me to a new way of Christmas “wanting and shopping”

we took her lead and let our children ask for only four presents! It has certainly changed their way of thinking about Christmas! It isn’t about Toys, Toys Toys, Want, Want, Want!  

“When you wish upon a star

Your wish may just come true

So make a list, and make a wish

and a present may come from Santa to you.

 Wish for something you want

And something to read

Something to wear and

Something you need.”

 Perhaps you have a very computer litearte Elf, who write letters on the laptop?

 

 How about a minature Letter and Envelope, how terribly cute!

 

• Discuss ways that children may be able to tell santa their wishes.  Expect reposnse like whispering to him at the shopping centre or telling him quietly at night but what you really want them to say is…write Santa a Letter.
• As a class or with your child discuss the text structure of a letter.  What does a letter start with?  Dear_____,  If you have previously written a letter in Day bring this letter back out!  
• Have the children write (or you write for younger children) their letter to Santa. 
• To help make this letter succinct and not a long list of demands, use the guide above and ask them to only include one thing they want, one thing they need, something to wear and something to read!
• This will be a struggle for some children as they are completely focused on TOYS for Christmas! 
• This is a good time to discuss that many children are less fortunate than them and will not be getting any presents this Christmas.  
• Take your child to a department store and choose a gift for someone less fortunate, Big W and Kmart usually have Charity gift giving programs.
• As a class, collect food, toys, toiletry items for a local charity.

Blank Santa Letter Template

Want, Need, Wear, Read Template

This printable gives children a space to write their introduction, a box for a picture of each item and a few lines to sound out the name of the item, and a line at the bottom to write their closing.  It is particularly good for beginner writers. 

ENGLISH – Writing – Literacy

Foundation

Create short texts to explore, record and report ideas and events using familiar words and beginning writing knowledge (ACELY1651)

Year 1

Create short imaginative and informative texts that show emerging use of appropriate text structure, sentence-level grammar, word choice, spelling, punctuation and appropriate multimodal elements, for example illustrations and diagrams (ACELY1661)

Year 2

Create short imaginative, informative and persuasive texts using growing knowledge of text structures and language features for familiar and some less familiar audiences, selecting print and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose (ACELY1671)

So what do you want for Christmas? Me….Happy and Healthy Children who don’t whinge!!!