Oh Christmas Tree! A Reading A Z Shared Reading Book Word Count: 663 Home Connection: Prefix re- Your reader is learning about the prefix re-, as in the words rethink and redo. As you read the book together, have your reader look for words that start with re-. Help your reader write a list of the words that start with re-. Then, ask your reader to make up a sentence that uses one of these words. Ask your reader to write the sentence on the paper with the word list, then have him or her bring the paper to school to share with the class. Oh Christmas Tree! Visit www.readinga-z.com for thousands of books and materials. Written by Lori Mortensen www.readinga-z.com
Oh Christmas Tree! Photo Credits: Front cover, back cover: Michael DeYoung/Corbis; title page: teo73/istock/ Thinkstock; page 3: Plus69/iStock/Thinkstock; page 4: Redlink Production/Corbis; page 5: Richard T. Nowitz/Corbis; page 6 (main): Serg_Velusceac/iStock/ Thinkstock; page 6 (inset): The Granger Collection, NYC; page 7: North Wind Picture Archives/Alamy; page 8: Bodo Marks/dpa/Corbis; page 9 (main): Greg Henry/iStock/Thinkstock; page 9 (inset): Hurewitz Creative/Corbis; page 10 (top left): Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library/Alamy; page 10 (bottom right): The Story of the Christmas Tree, Doughty, C.L. (1913-85)/Private Collection/ Look and Learn/Bridgeman Images; page 11: Bettmann/Corbis; page 12 (main): REX USA; page 12 (inset): Oscar White/Corbis; page 13: Mary Evans Picture Library/TAH Collection; page 14: Devonyu/iStock/Thinkstock; page 15: Southwest UK Imaging/ Alamy; page 16: Carsten Rehder/dpa/Corbis; page 17: REUTERS/Thomas Peter; page 18: Thinkstock/Stockbyte/Thinkstock; page 19: Rob Lewine/Tetra Images/ Corbis; background (used throughout): istock/olga Yakovenko Written by Lori Mortensen www.readinga-z.com Oh Christmas Tree! Shared Reading Book Level 3 Learning A Z Written by Lori Mortensen All rights reserved. www.readinga-z.com
Contents Introduction... 4 Evergreen... 6 A Queen s Christmas...10 An Absurd Fad...13 Christmas Tree Farms...15 Glossary... 20 Introduction It s big. It s green. Each year, people set it up in their homes and decorate it with shiny ornaments, tinsel, and strings of bright lights. Oh Christmas Tree! Shared Reading 3 4
Evergreen The Sun begins each day and ends each day. As it moves across the sky, it provides light and warmth. Long ago, ancient people worshipped the Sun. It seemed to look down like a powerful unblinking eye. Of course, it s a Christmas tree! As the holiday season approaches, these trees pop up all over the place. But did you know that many years ago there were no Christmas trees? How did this tradition get started? Five hundred years ago, the Incas of South America worshipped Inti, the Sun god. 5 Oh Christmas Tree! Shared Reading 6
During the sixteenth century, German Christians brought evergreen trees into their homes. Later, they decorated them with candles. Then on Christmas Eve, they lit the candles. The candles filled the room with warm, flickering light. In time, German people migrated to America and brought this custom with them. St. Nicholas was a kind monk born in AD 270. Centuries later, both he and evergreen boughs became associated with Christmas and each other as in this piece of art. During the winter, however, the days became cold and gray. Nights were long and dreary. To cheer themselves up, people decorated their homes with boughs from trees that stayed green all year. The evergreen boughs reminded everyone that the Sun s warm light would return. 7 Oh Christmas Tree! Shared Reading 8
A Queen s Christmas O Christmas Tree is the name of an old German Christmas carol. Queen Victoria of England made Christmas trees more popular than ever. She was married to Prince Albert, a man from Germany. O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, Your branches green delight us. They re green when summer days are bright; They re green when winter snow is white. O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, Your branches green delight us! One Christmas, she encouraged him to decorate a Christmas tree like the ones he had enjoyed as a boy. The prince eagerly agreed. He decorated the tree with sweets, wax dolls, strings of almonds, and candles. At the very top, he placed an angel. 9 Oh Christmas Tree! Shared Reading 10
In the United States, one in every five American families had their own Christmas tree by 1900. Today, about 100 million Christmas trees go on display around the world each holiday season. A White House Christmas In 1848, an illustration of the queen s family gathered around the tree appeared in the London news. When everyone saw the beautiful tree in the newspaper, they wanted a Christmas tree just like the queen s. 11 Oh Christmas Tree! Shared Reading In 1889, the first Christmas tree was set up in the White House. It was for the family of President Benjamin Harrison. He was the twenty-third president of the United States. 12
An Absurd Fad People used to go to the woods and cut down evergreens for their Christmas trees. In the early 1900s, people were cutting down so many trees that the forests began to disappear. Many people spoke out against the destruction. In the early 1900s, newspapers reported that President Theodore Roosevelt banned Christmas trees from the White House. In 1902, editors at the Hartford Courant spoke out against cutting down trees for decoration: The green has become a nuisance... Everything... has to be decorated. The result is that the woods are being stripped... just to meet the calls of an absurd fad. Around the same time, the first Christmas tree farm opened in New Jersey. People could buy a Christmas tree grown on the farm instead of chopping one down in the woods. Oh Christmas Tree! Shared Reading 13 14
When the trees are about 6 to 7 feet (2 m) tall, the trees are ready. Before they are sold, the farmer shears the trees to give them the familiar Christmas tree shape. In the United States, 25 to 30 million real Christmas trees are sold each holiday season. Christmas Tree Farms Today, Christmas tree farms are a big business. In 2012, U.S. farmers planted 46 million Christmas trees. Farmers plant about 2,000 trees per acre. Then they wait for the trees to grow. It takes about 6 to 10 years for the trees to mature. Oh Christmas Tree! Shared Reading 15 16
When the holiday season returns, Christmas trees will again pop up all over towns and cities. People will set them up in their homes and decorate them with shiny ornaments, tinsel, and strings of bright lights. When Christmas is over, many trees are recycled. People reuse them in different ways. Some are ground into mulch and used in gardens. Sometimes animals eat them at the zoo. Some people buy living trees with roots and replant them after Christmas. Oh Christmas Tree! Shared Reading 17 18
Glossary banned (v.) stopped allowing (p. 14) boughs (n.) custom (n.) decorate (v.) branches of a tree that have leaves or needles on them (p. 7) an accepted way of doing something in a culture (p. 8) to make something more attractive by adding color or an ornament to it (p. 4) evergreen (adj.) having leaves that remain green all year (p. 7) As people gather around the sparkling tree, it will cheer them just like the evergreen boughs of old. Someone might even start singing O Christmas Tree, the words of the old German carol. flickering (v.) holiday (n.) mature (v.) tinsel (n.) shining with a fluttering light; moving quickly (p. 8) a special day of celebration or remembering (p. 5) to become grown or fully developed (p. 15) thin strips or threads of shiny metal foil (p. 4) Oh Christmas Tree! Shared Reading 19 20