As part of our holiday celebration in fourth grade, we read stories such as The Gift of the Traveler by Wendy Matthews, The Trees of the Dancing Goats by Patricia Polacco and The Gift: A Hanukkah Story by Aliana Brodmann which were all about giving gifts of oneself at the holidays rather than gifts which could be bought at a store. After listening to a few of these stories, we created our own fiction pieces around the theme of giving out of love, compassion, in-other-words from the heart. We word-processed our stories, then learned to make handmade accordion books that held our stories of generosity and caring in exquisite packages. We now had perfect "gifts" for our parents and relatives for the holidays.

This project designed and implemented by Julia Blumenreich, Larry Kraut, and David Nagel, fourth grade teachers of Germantown Academy. Web page design and technical assistance furnished by Carol Siwinski, Curricular Technology Specialist.

April, 2002