25 or 12 Days of Christmas in the Classroom

Ho, Ho, Ho!

We are surrounded by counted days of Christmas everywhere we turn.  As such, I am contributing my 25 days of Christmas thoughts for the classroom.  (Or 12 if you get sick of reading this and let me know.) :)  Each will bear the phrase of a Christmas song.

Day 1 - Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, "Have a cup of cheer".  Carpooling today to work we heard this song, and from the passenger seat we heard, "What exactly is a 'cup of cheer'?"  Thus the silly conversation began.  After much discussion (at 6:30 this morning pre-caffeine...argh), we concluded that it was the only thing that could rhyme with "It's the best time of the year" without using the word beer.

This was on my mind as I entered my classroom from the elongated weekend.  And as I greeted my students, I realized that it should be rewritten as follows:  (Music follows so you can sing along!)

Have a holly jolly Christmas
It's the best time of the year
Germs are flowing everywhere
But have a cup of cheer

Have a holly jolly Christmas
And when down the rows you squeeze
Give Purell to friends you know
And everyone who'll sneeze

Oh ho, the absent work hung where you can see
More grading waits for you, wear plastic gloves for me

Have a holly jolly Christmas
Cough drops make good gifts you'll see
Oh by golly have a holly jolly Christmas this year

Really and truly now that all of the germs in America have transferred across state lines courtesy of Thanksgiving guests, I find my students are good enough to try for perfect attendance despite their health.  However, these are the same students who would miss a major test and project on the off chance that the local fair-or even a mall carousel-- might be open during class time, come January.

All of the teachers are working longer hours between their own pre-Christmas traditions and preparations, and the preparations for semester two, and the volunteer community activities and church functions and decorations and parties that all will be crammed in these 25 days.  So, please take care of yourself, drink more water, wash/Purell your hands, try not to handle papers that students thought doubled as Kleenex, disinfect your desks so you can have a Holly Jolly Christmas rather than a snotty, rotty Christmas. (And, all of you first year teachers, double this advice.  I wish someone had told me in the beginning-it only took me 3 years to figure it out.) :)

 


 First published November 28, 2017

 

 

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