A Sleighful of Christmas Lessons AND a giveaway

We have been busy, busy, busy with Christmas activities, but I have to say that I've been enjoying them for the most part! Unfortunately I don't have ANY pictures, but I thought I would share some a lot of the things that we've been doing in case you still need ideas to get you through the last few days. Only TWO more mornings to get up and go to school!

Last week, I spent a lot of time using Silver Packages which is my new favorite Christmas book and I wish it wasn't out of print and costing over $100 when I looked it up because I REALLY want my own copy!

I used some great resources from Carla at Comprehension Connection. She's another reading specialist from VA that I met through Andrea, and she also works with older kids. I snagged this for free, but I probably would have bought it if I needed to. It has enough activities to last at least a few days, and they are very well put together!

Actually, I liked Carla's things so much that I ended up also using her Gingerbread Friends unit this week with my third graders. It worked out perfectly because there is a great sequencing activity, and my little group is REALLY struggling with that right now. Any practice we can do is perfect!

Actually, we have been practicing sequencing with Christmas-y stories since last week. 

I found this really fun book that you may not have heard of last year after meeting the author when she came for an author visit at our school. She's SUPER sweet and actually bought the packet that I created (even though I had already sent it to her for free). Anyway, this packet includes an elf writing craft, sequencing cards from the story, and a little game to review sight words from the book.

Today, we will be reading The Polar Express and using my sequencing cards that are part of my entire Christmas Literacy Centers pack. I almost wish I could stay in their room all day and enjoy the other Polar Express activities. Especially if they have yummy hot chocolate!

Yesterday was Grinch Day in fourth grade, so I whipped up a cute little sheet with the lyrics to You're A Mean One so we could do some close reading. This is really new to me, but it's the second Christmas song we've done (One Horse Open Sleigh with my 5th graders last week along with Erin's unit I mentioned here and here). Funny story? Both songs mention drunkenness (a sot is a drunkard, FYI). That is bound to get the attention of a 4th or 5th grade student, right? I can't post the lyrics I put together because Dr. Seuss's clipart is all copyrighted, but there are lots of great resources on TPT or you can just print out the lyrics from online if you're strapped for money right now from all the Christmas shopping like me and want to go that route.

In 5th grade yesterday, I got to read one of my favorite Christmas books from childhood:

I decided my packet needed a little facelift, so I also worked on that. It just wasn't quite up to my new standards for products, and I have more resources now to make it prettier. The kids were starting their new versions as I left, and I will have to peak in today to see what they came up with!

I hope you're still reading (or at least skimmed through to the bottom) because my BBB, Andrea, is having a giveaway over at her blog where you can win a lot of great literacy resources. Best part? It's all winner's choice, so you get to go SHOPPING!!

Hang in there! Only 7 more days until Christmas!