Holiday Activities and Freebies!
As winter break approaches, student excitement levels are high! One of my favorite ways to embrace some of the holiday excitement while also keeping students engaged is with fun seasonal read alouds. In this post, I’m going to share some of my favorite December read alouds for kindergarten that I know you and your students will love, too!
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There are so many amazing holiday picture books to share with your kindergarteners that it can be hard to narrow it down! That’s why I’ve put together a list of seven of my favorite read alouds for December. I’m also including some companion activity ideas that you can use to enhance the read aloud experience for your students.
The story of the gingerbread man is one of my favorites to share with kindergarteners in December. Students love to follow the journey of the gingerbread man who is working hard to keep from getting caught! The predictable text in the story makes it a very interactive read aloud for kindergarten students, since they can join in as you read the repeated lines.
This read aloud is perfect for practicing the comprehension skill of sequencing. Since the gingerbread man encounters several characters on his journey, students can practice putting them in order based on when the gingerbread man encountered them in the story.
After you’ve had a chance to read the original gingerbread man story, this book is fun follow-up! This story takes place the year after the old man and old woman lost their gingerbread man to the hungry fox. They bake a gingerbread girl but she escapes with a plan to outsmart the fox!
A fun companion activity for this read aloud is to complete a Venn diagram that compares the two gingerbread story versions. The students can cut and paste the different characters to the chart depending on which stories they appeared in.
You can continue to explore different gingerbread read-alouds with your class as you continue to compare and contrast the stories. This version by Karen Schmidt is another one of my favorites for kindergarteners!
After listening to multiple versions of the gingerbread story, your students will be ready to come up with their own story! They will especially love to come up with their own clever ending to the story. Students can use a graphic organizer to plan out the characters and ending to their creative writing. Then, they can write and illustrate their story, complete with a cute gingerbread craft for the front cover!
If you’re looking for a great story to practice problem and solution with your students, Mooseltoe by Margie Palatini is one of my favorites! In this fun follow-up to Moosetache, Moose gets carried away in preparations for the upcoming holiday. He checks off items from his long to-do list as Christmas approaches, but forgets one essential thing!
Students will love to discuss the problem and solution from this story. You can pause the read aloud once the problem is introduced and practice making predictions as well. Students can discuss what they think Moose will do to solve the problem. Once you’ve finished the story, students can write about the problem and solution.
Speaking of solving problems, Santa’s Stuck by Rhonda Gowler Greene tells the story of some clever animals helping Santa out of a tricky situation! In this rhyming read-aloud, Santa eats a few too many sweets and ends up getting stuck in the chimney. The critters in the house and the reindeer on the roof work together to pull him out!
After enjoying this story together as a class, students can practice a variety of story elements with this flip book and craft. Students can write about different story elements and illustrate each page. They can also write about how they would help Santa if they were in that situation. Finally, they can add a fun chimney craft to the top of the flipbook to finish it off.
It’s always fun to read about reindeer during the weeks leading up to the holiday season. Many kindergarteners don’t realize that reindeer are actual animals and not just magical Christmas creatures! This book by Katie Marsico is a great option for teaching students more about reindeer.
After learning about reindeer, students can choose their favorite facts for an informative writing activity. Students can write and illustrate a sentence about reindeer, then add a cover page and craft. These look great on bulletin boards for an interactive holiday display!
The final read aloud that I love to share with students in December is The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. This story is a classic for a reason and it’s a fun classroom memory to make with your students!
In addition to enjoying this story with your students, you can also use it as inspiration for themed skill practice in your classroom! This train craft is a fun way for students to practice sequencing the events from the story. They will love to take the craft home and use it to help them retell the story to their family!
You can find all of the activities from this post (and many more!) in one time-saving bundle of December thematic units for kindergarten. In addition to book suggestions and companion activities, you’ll find a variety of themed literacy and math activities that you can add to your daily learning routine in December.
If you’d like to take a closer look at everything included in this bundle, you can find it in the A Spoonful of Learning shop or in my TPT store.
Be sure to save this post if you’d like to come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite board of kindergarten ideas. You’ll be able to quickly find these read alouds and activities when you’re working on your December lesson plans.
