Twelve Days of Christmas

We love to sing 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' in our house and classrooms.  There are two ways we use this book.  In our home we use the song to remind us of our faith.  We also like to use this book as a triangular number pattern example in the classroom.

Classroom:  The 'Twelve Days of Christmas' provides a wonderful math/music lesson in the classroom.  The gifts really start to grow, assuming that the partridge in a pear tree was given ( 1 x 12 =12) twelve times.   The book demonstrates a triangular number pattern.  

Day 1:  Partridge in a pear tree=1 gifts

Day 2:  Partridge in a pear tree + two turtledoves = 3 gifts

Day 3:  Partridge in a pear tree + two turtledoves + three French hens = 6 gifts

My husband and I love to teach this lesson.  The students predict how many total gifts were given by the twelfth day.  Many of the students guess much too low.  We use Jack Kent's 'Twelve Days of Christmas.'  The main characters overwhelmed expression just adds to the story.  The students start to feel sorry for the main character. 

In the past we have made charts to show patterns, individual posters for each day, and wrote new lyrics.    

You can find our 'Twelve Days of Christmas' lesson at our Liz and Ron Store.

Home:  Here is a quick history review.  Long ago, the Roman Catholics were forbidden to practice their faith openly.   'The Twelve Days of Christmas' was written as a "catechism song" to help children to learn about their Roman Catholic faith.  The song was written somewhere between 1558 to 1829.

2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying = the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed