Advent Angel
This has been a project I have been working on and refining for several years. I thought I had it down when I was teaching kindergarten however when I moved to first grade the project did not move with me. I have since tried to regroup and keep the elements I liked and add something new so the kids still have something to look forward too.
Each morning during December my students come to school talking about their Elf on the Shelf. I wanted to capture that excitement but redirect it in a loving and kinder way. I stumbled upon the kindness elves on pinterest. I teach at a Catholic School so I changed the elves into an Advent Angel. I found this adorable angel of Amazon and ordered it.
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Each day our Angel appears with an Advent story and story piece and a act of kindness for the day. I use The Christmas Story books as our Advent Story. There are 24 individual mini books. I also use the Fisher Price Nativity Set for the Religion Center.
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Days
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Stories and Acts of Kindness with Activities
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What you will need
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The Story of Christmas/and Manger Pieces
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1 (M)
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Read: Christmas Angels
Give the Angel a name.
Activity: Draw Angels on Index Cards and print Happy Advent.
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blank index cards/candy bags/Teacher Name Chart
Guardian Angel prayer card
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(background)
#1 The Holy Land
#2 The Prophecy
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2
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Read: Angels Angels Everywhere
Activity: Do something to make someone happy today.
Brainstorm a list of things to do.
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Wear Happy Face Sticker to remind us of happiness..
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#3 Mary
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3
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Read: God Gave Us Angels
Activity: Make a happy note for someone.
(Mom, dad, brother or sister)
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Blank green and red cards and envelopes
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#4 Angel Gabriel
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4
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Read: The Joy Of Giving
 
Activity: Donate an unused toy to the goodwill.
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Giant Christmas Bag
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#5 Joseph
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5
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Read: A Donkey’s Christmas Song
Activity: Smiles brighten up the world….smile today at everyone you see.
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Toothbrush and toothpaste
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#6 Roman Rule
#7 Donkey
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6 (M)
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Read: Birds of Bethlehem
God wants us to love others and that includes animals….
Activity: Today let’s make bird feeders and hang them up in the trees in front of school.
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Red Pipe Cleaners and
Cheerios
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#8 The Journey
#9 The Star
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7
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Read: Humphrey’s First Christmas
Activity: Clean up someone else's mess without waiting for credit or bragging.
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#10 The Wise Men
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8
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Read: The Pine Tree Parable
Activity: Pray for those who may be sick and homeless.
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#11 An Oasis
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9
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Read: A Wish to be a Christmas Tree
Activity: Make a Christmas Cards for priests and give candy hugs and kisses
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hug and kiss candy
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#12 Jerusalem
#13 The Faithful Servant
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10
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Read: The Message of the Birds
Activity: Draw a picture for your grandparents.
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Special paper and envelopes
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#14 King Herod
# 15 The Search
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11(M)
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Read: Thank You Angels
Activity: Make a thank you card for the people who help keep our school clean.
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Thank You Cards
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#16 The Dream
#17 Bethlehem
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12
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Read: Christmas Hat
Activity: Set the table for dinner
| Christmas Napkins (I buy them the year before and put them in baggies for the kids to take home.) |
#18 Inn
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13
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Read: This Is The Stable
Activity: Write a note to a classmate for Christmas and say three kind things about him or her.
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Christmas Letter Writing form
Class names
christmas jar
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#19 Stable
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14
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Read: Room for a Little One
Activity: Read a Christmas story with a someone you never read to before.
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#20 Manger
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15
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Read: Song of the Stars
Activity: Play with someone new on the playground
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#21 Good News
#22 Heavenly Lights
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16 (M)
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Read: J is for Jesus
Activity: Sneak into 1B and candy cane bomb their desks.
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Need some kind of tag for the candy canes
mini candy canes
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#23 Holy Night
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17
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Read: The Crippled Lamb
Leave behind the baby Jesus for the Stable and remind the boys and girls that Jesus is the reason we are celebrating Christmas.
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Baby Jesus Art Project
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#24 Baby Jesus
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The first graders really looked forward to seeing what the angel had each day. I really felt that the Advent Angel took the focus away from getting things to giving in our classroom. My students were looking for opportunities to help other people.
Kindness and Giving that is exactly what I want to teach my students!
What an amazing post! I love it. Thank you for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteAlyce
Thank you Alyce
DeleteThank you so much for sharing this. I teach in a Catholic school as well and I have incorporated the kindness elves into our classroom. While it was good, I really love the idea of the Advent Angel. I like the idea of incorporating the daily reading as well. It was so KIND of you to share this as I will definitely do this next year in my classroom. Thank you and Merry Christmas
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. I know it is always great to find ideas that work with our Catholic Faith.
DeleteSue