Christmas Unit Study 3 - Language Arts

Language Arts Activities for Christmas 

Christmas Theme Unit from ABC Teach

ABC Teach has wonderful resources - some free, some with membership - all of them enhance learning in an enjoyable way!

~ Acrostic Poem Forms ~ Candy Canes, Toys
~ Bookmarks
~ Book Units ~ The Polar Express
~ Coloring Pages ~ Advent Candles, Angels, Baby Jesus, Bells, Candy Canes, Christmas Stocking, Elf with Present, Gingerbread Man, Jingle Bells, Manger Scene, Ornament, Santa, Star, Tree, Wise Men, Wreath
~ Crafts ~ Advent Wreath, Photo Boxes
~ Dot-to-Dot ~ Christmas Sleigh, Santa
~ Gift Tags
~ Graphs ~ Christmas Carols
~ Literacy Centers
~ Mazes
~ Picture Reading
~ Reading Comprehension ~ French Christmas Traditions, Making Christmas Ornaments
~ Rebus
~ Sewing Cards
~ Shape Books ~ Christmas Blessings, Gingerbread Man, Locomotive, Ornament, Winter Holiday Words
~ Spanish
~ Story Starters
~ Unscramble the Word Puzzles
~ Word Searches
~ Writing Paper ~ Christmas Joy, Santa
~ Writing Prompts ~ Christmas is ..., Christmas Traditions, I am Rudolph, Mary & Jospeh, Ornaments

*Christmas Crafts & Printables

Enchanted Learning is one of the best websites for teacher resources! The Christmas page contains mini books for letter identificaiton, phonics, reading, and penmanship, spelling activities and worksheets of Christmas and winter words, find the missing letters, unscramble words, syllables, cloze activities, reading comprehension activites, read and follow the directions sheets, drawing pages with writing prompts, quizzes, and rebus rhymes! You will also find all sorts of crafts, cards, place holders, mini books related to several subject areas, coloring and drawing worksheets, math worksheets, foreign languages. links to winter, snow, and holiday pages.

Christmas Clipart

A variety of pictures to use for various projects

Christmas Worksheet Unit

This 41 page worksheet unit on Luke 2:1-20 from Kids Domain contains alphabetical order, crossword puzzles, word unscramble, word decoding, vocabulary, spelling, vowels, syllables, word search, Scripture word search, shape words, fill in the blank Scripture, and cloze activities. All pages have an answer key.

Literature Unit Studies 

From Homeschool Share!

*Christmas Around the World

This is actually several country unit put together as a mega cool unit! Numerous books and materials are given to make a long, thorough unit! I have this one also listed on my social studies for Christmas lens.

The Legend of the Candy Cane

This delightful story tells about the beginnings of the candy cane. Find out the red and white colors, the shape, and the true meaning of Christmas!

"A stranger arrives in town one dreary November and begins hammering and sawing away at his newly rented storefront. When a small girl offers her help, she's in for a childhood fantasy-come-true, as it turns out all the shelves and counters are being built for a candy shop. After offering young Lucy gumdrops and lollipops, Mr. Sonneman launches into the history of the candy cane. With his guidance, she discovers that the upturned candy is in the shape of a j--for Jesus. Right side up it looks like a shepherd's staff. And the red stripes? The blood of Christ from his terrible whipping. Lucy and Mr. Sonneman set out on a quest to share this story with everyone in town." - book by Lori Walburg

The Christmas Day Kitten

Read about this adorable cat on Christmas Day in England. "One of the most beloved children's books of all time. Popular Yorkshire veterinarian, James Herriot, tells the story of Buster, an irresistible kitten who finds a new home on Christmas morn."

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathon Toomey

Many language arts skills are developed along with other areas.

Annika's Secret Wish

Study about Swedish culture among other topics. - book by Beverly Lewis

Chita's Christmas Tree

"A warm wintery Christmas story set in turn-of-the-century Baltimore. Chita's Christmas story celebrates the timeless joys of the season, and most of all, the delicious anticipation of a tree... a deep green pine with branches that tickle the sky." - book by Elizabeth F. Howard

Cranberry Christmas

Enjoy this Christmas in New England! "Mr. Whiskers faces a gloomy Christmas until Maggie and her grandmother help him straighten out his house and find the answer to his problems in the process." - book by Wendy and Harry Devlin

Marta and the Manger Straw

"In a Polish custom hundreds of years old, tradition has it that a bit of straw at the Christmas feast will bring good fortune in the coming year. In World War II Poland, a young girl receives straw at the Christmas Eve service to bring to her impoverished family. But on the way home, Marta meets others who are much poorer than she, and she shares her piece until there is nothing left. In spite of the lack of straw - though perhaps because of her generous heart - Marta finds riches she never expected." - book by Virginia Kroll

The Gingerbread Baby

"Impatient for the gingerbread man to bake the full eight minutes that is specified in the cookbook, Matti opens the oven door prematurely and a doughy baby jumps out instead: "I am the Gingerbread Baby,/ Fresh from the pan./ If you want me,/ Catch me if you can." The cherubic child remains at home while his parents and a smattering of animals lead a cumulative chase through the Swiss countryside, depicted in minutely detailed pictures." - book by Jan Brett

Please see the large Jan Brett Christmas Literature Unit Study link on this page!

The Wild Christmas Reindeer

"Little Teeka's attempts to train Santa's reindeer for their Christmas ride meet with disaster until she realizes that she needs to work with the animals in a new way. "Tomorrow," she says, "no yelling, no screaming, and no bossing, I promise," and with her patient teaching, on Christmas Eve the "wild reindeer rise up together and carry the sleigh off into the night." " - book by Jan Brett - please see my large unit on Jan Brett.

The Night Before Christmas

"Award Winner Robert Sabuda brings Clement Clark Moore's classic tale of The Night Before Christmas to life in this festive pop-up edition, sure to become a perennial favorite." - I have this also listed in the Jan Brett unit.

The Nutcracker

Choose any version you prefer to use with these scholastic activities.

The Nutcracker & Tchaikovsky Unit Study and Lapbook

This one is from my music blog, Joyful Songs. It is a full month music unit about this fabulous ballet and story that contains materials for every subject area.

An Orange for Frankie

"Autobiography melds with history in this poignant tale of a family tradition, set around Christmastime during the Great Depression. Polacco introduces the Stowell family, a brood of nine living on a farm just outside of Detroit. Though they don't have a lot, the family never hesitates to share its good fortune, often feeding hungry hoboes as they pass through the nearby train station. Frankie, the youngest son, even gives one of them his favorite sweater. When Frankie loses the precious Christmas orange given to each child, he tells his mother about his error and also fesses up about his missing sweater. His family is so moved by his charitable gesture, that they rally to make sure Frankie has the most special gift of all. Polacco illustrates the story in her trademark watercolor-and-pencil style, with key elements picked out in bright color against more muted backdrops. Like many of Polacco's picture books, this holiday story about gifts and giving is based on a chapter from her own family history." - book by Patricia Polacco

The Trees of the Dancing Goats

"During a scarlet-fever epidemic one winter in Michigan, a Jewish family helps make Christmas special for their sick neighbors by making their own Hanukkah miracle." - book by Patricia Polacco

Christmas Tapestry

"Jonathan has made a good adjustment to life in Michigan after his father takes over as the pastor of a rundown Baptist church. The whole family has worked hard to renovate the building and restore the congregation. The boy becomes distraught, however, when a snowstorm causes a leak and ruins the wall behind the altar just before Christmas. In a series of events that would strain belief in anything other than a holiday story, he and his father find a tapestry to cover the wall and bring about a reunion between two Holocaust survivors who had used the hand-stitched cloth as their wedding canopy." - book by Patricia Polacco

The Quiltmaker's Gift

"A generous quiltmaker finally agrees to make a quilt for a greedy king but only under certain conditions (which will change his heart)." - book by Jeff Brumbeau

Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story

" In Appalachia each Christmas, a boy named Frankie waits beside the tracks for the Christmas Train, which will bring presents to the children who live in coal towns and hollows. Year after year, Frankie hopes that one particular gift a very special gift will be tossed to him from that train. It is this enduring hope that will guide him to the true meaning of the season." - book by Cynthia Rylant

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Lapbook materials

The Long Winter

Make a lapbook about this children favorite about the Ingall family - book by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

ABC 

Candy Cane Alphabet

These large letters (4 per page) may be used for a variety of alphabet activities, games, or bulletin boards.

Advent / Christmas Alphabet

Use this chart to count down the days until Christmas, as a coloring page, or use for alphabet activities.

ABC Christmas Book

Cute mini book

Christmas Alpahbet Game

This file folder game allows students to match alphabet cards to the letters on the gameboard.

A Christmas Alphabet

Read a Bible verse for every letter of the alphabet. Bible references are included.

Christmas Alphabet Activity Book

Reinforce learning letters of the alphabet, tracing and writing them with holiday words, and complete letter matching fun activities in this packet from Donnette Davis.

Penmanship, Phonics, Spelling, Vocabulary 

Christmas Picture Activity Dictionary

Donnette Davis always creates colorful, fun booklets for children to learn! This 37 page dictionary contains pages with large graphics that children will love. Each page has a Christmas related word, a place to trace, and lines to practice copying the word. Great for children just learning to read and write! Grade pre-K to 1.

Christmas Phonics: Reading, Writing, Tracing Activity Book 3

Another book by Donnette which includes 61 pages of reading Christmas words, coloring, tracing and writing them, word wall cards, picture flash cards, fun pages to practice more tracing and writing of the words, write the word with the pictures, word searches, word unscrambles, alphabetical order of word list, writing sentences, cut and paste pictures to words, bookmarks, picture match, and more. Your early elementary student will know these words very well after completing the workbook!

Christmas Bible Verses

Use these to study the Scriptures and use as penmanship / copywork. Many verses are listed from Isaiah and the Gospels along with several notebook pages (primary and secondary lined) for students to practice writing.

Donnette Davis' Documents for Christmas

She has so many wonderful materials that I can not possibly list them all, so here is a collection of here Christmas booklets you will find useful!

Candy Cane Acrostic Poem Form

This colorful form from ABC Teach is ready to be filled in with your student's creativity.

Christmas Traditions

ABC Teach created this writing prompt to get your writers started.

Christmas Poetry & Reading 

Christmas Tree Story

This story is a Christmas poem all will enjoy!

Christmas Alphabet

Two Christmas acrostic poems are found with practice on alphabet, and tracing penmanship activities. Blank notebook pages are included for uses of your choice.

The Christ Child

Use this beautiful poem for Bible study, poetry, reading, or copywork.

Santa's Prayer on Christmas

Beautiful poem to read, enjoy, and study!

Christmas List

Christmas List is another touching Christmas poem you will treasure.

Joyuex Noel de Christmas

Find here a one page reading selections, comprehension questions, and vocabulary with answers.

A Search for the Meaning of Christmas

Melissa from Lilliput Station suggested this site ~ It has full texts of classic Christmas literature, poetry and stories that your family will enjoy. Thanks, Melissa! :D I can't wait to dig into these with the kids!

Creative Writing for Christmas 

'Tis the Season for Writing

Find some fun easy writing lesson for Christmas!

Christmas Traditions

Try this simple writing prompt for kids from ABC Teach.

Christmas Ideas

From Homeschool Helper, find numerous notebooking pages to writing, many coloring pages, and units.

More Christmas Literature Resources 

Christmas Literacy Centers

Make these fun easy center from ABC Teach.
Center 1 ~ Reading & Following Directions
Center 2 ~ Sequence of Events (Word Strips)
Center 3 ~ Compare Using a Venn Diagram (Describing)
Center 4 ~ Make Rudolph (Reading & Following Directions)

*An Integrated Literature Unit for Advent and Christmas

4RealLearning has created a 4 week unit study on the Christmas books of Tomie de Paola. It uses a large selection of his books and contains activities for each of the weeks.

The Velveteen Rabbit Unit

Make a Christmas unit with these ideas for language arts, science, social studes, and extras from Homeschool Helper.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas Unit

This unit study from Homeschool Helper also has a nice variety of lesson activities in several subjects.

Cookie Mini Unit

Use several different 'cookie' books to create a yummy unit about cookies - from Homeschool Helper.

Word Puzzles & Games 

The First Christmas Word Search

Enjoy the search with Kid Explorers!

Christmas Word Game

Pick a word starting with only the letters given. I do not know where this page originated, but if someone knows please leave a message so I can give proper credit.

Christmas Printable Worksheets

DLTK has so many wonderful activities, crafts, and worksheets for children to learn and have fun! Check here for word searches, word mining puzzles, word ladders, tracers, mazes, cryptograms, crossword puzles, and anagrams.

Christmas Mini Books

Scroll down the page to find 3 Christmas related mini books ~ The Gingerbread Man, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, and Christmas Riddles.

The Polar Express 

by Chris Van Allsburg

The Polar Express

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt provides a wonderful unit for this famous story!
~ Read a summary of this classic story.
~ Find out about the author, Chris Van Allsburg, and his other books.
~Download a free 4 page teachers discussion guide on The Polar Express.
~Try the interesting activities for reading, creative writing, grammar, science, geography, art, and music.
~Play games, do some activity worksheets, follow a recipe, or check out the countdown calendar (it starts on December 1).
~ **Don't miss the free 17 page "Party Kit" which contains educational and fun stuff! It may be downloaded from the library page.) **

Ride the Polar Express

What a wonderfully entertaining unit study! You will find: skip counting train games, alphabet train games, story order manipulatives, bell stationary, word searches, train ticket, story sequencing strips, vocabulary cards, related emergent readers, reading log, craft, crossword puzzle, and many links to additional resources. This is written for early elementary level.

Polar Express Activities

Located here:
~ "Book Title Sign" which would also make a great notebook or lapbook cover,
~ Locomotive shape book with labels for beginning, middle, and end, and
~ locomotive shaped word search puzzle.

The Polar Express Train Adventure

Be the train conductor in a fast paced game!

Train Unit & Theme

Many subject areas are covered in this unit for trains in general and the Polar Express.

Polar Express Math?

Students will enjoy these mathmatical word problems to solve about events in the story.