Zucchini and the Easter Woodchuck

Palm Sunday fell on April Fool's Day this year, and I couldn't resist playing a trick on my students, but what?  I'd planned a small party to celebrate Easter just before the end of class, so Chuck suggested I tell them I'd brought whole zucchinis to pass out for a snack.  Or, how about telling them about the Easter Woodchuck?  

The Easter Woodchuck reminded me of Christmas around the world, and how Santa rides a surfboard to Australia in bathing shorts and sunglasses, and how it's the Three Wise Men who deliver gifts to kids in Mexico (Ebram learns about this in Ebram's Story: The Haunting).  Impressed with Chuck's ideas, I decided to use both.

At the beginning of class, I told the students I had something to show them and pulled out a zucchini.  I asked if they knew what it was but met with blank stares.  I walked down the aisle so they could have a closer look, and--surprise!  They thought it was a cucumber. 

"The zucchini is very special to some kids in South America," I said after informing them that it was not a cucumber. "They're not familiar with the Easter Bunny; they have an Easter Woodchuck.  On the night before Easter, they leave zucchini for the Easter Woodchuck so that he'll stop by their house and leave candy and small gifts on Easter Sunday."  

At this point it was hard to keep a straight face.  "The Easter Woodchuck eats as much of the zucchini as he can and gives away the rest to orphans and poor children." 

This is NOT a cucumber!

The students were very quiet and I thought they might actually believe this tale. "April Fools!"  I said to deafening silence .  "Look, I wrote April 1st on the whiteboard; it's Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week, and April Fool's Day!"  Finally, a cracked smile or two.  Had I let them down?  I guess I'll never know.

 Today is the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of the liturgical year. My RE class didn't meet today due to the Thanksgiving break, but will meet again next Sunday. I plan to bring an easy-to-make Advent wreath I created. Here are instructions to make your own:



Supplies for easy-to-make Advent Wreath

 Supply List



1 - 18" wreath or strip of garland
4 - battery-operated candle lights (I bought these at Hobby Lobby)
5 - floral Christmas picks
acrylic paints, pink and lavendar
paint brush


Instructions

1. Fashion the strip of garland into a wreath.
2. Tuck the floral Christmas picks in wreath.
3. Paint three candle lights lavendar.
4. Paint one candle light pink.
5. Position candle lights in center of wreath.

                                         Here is the finished product:



Easy-to-Make Advent Wreath

 Copyright ©2011 Esther Locascio. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.

Advent 2011

My religious education class has been studying the liturgical calendar. Sunday, November 27th is the first week of Advent, and I've created an Advent wreath that I plan to bring to class and use to teach the students about this tradition of the Church. Here's a website with lots of information about Advent: http://www.fisheaters.com/customsadvent2.html.


I plan to post a supply list and instructions to make my Advent wreath, which uses battery-operated 
candles. The church recently sustained massive flood damage, and I think it's wise not to use lighted wax candles in the classroom to prevent the risk of starting a fire and burning down the school!