THE CRAYONS' CHRISTMAS activities and lesson plan ideas
Our The Crayon's Christmas Activities are now digital for distance learning with editable teaching slides and worksheets based on Drew Daywalt's book. Read aloud the diverse picture book then use the printables or go paperless with Google or Seesaw to practice standards-based skills.
THIS READING UNIT FOCUSES ON USING THE MENTOR TEXT TO TEACH:
◼️READING STRATEGIES
☐ summarize / retell
☐ analyzing setting
☐ identifying genre
☐ sequencing
☐ cause and effect
◼️SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING TOPICS
☐ feelings
◼️GRAMMAR & LANGUAGE CONCEPTS
☐ proper nouns
☐ irregular verbs
☐ compound words
☐ antonyms
SUMMARY OF THE MENTOR TEXT:
Fans of Drew Daywalt’s crayon books will love this Christmas story about their favorite characters. As Duncan and his crayons start preparing for Christmas, they also start receiving letters and packages in the mail. Readers will learn how Duncan, his crayons and their families celebrate the holidays.
The story starts off with a letter from Peach Crayon’s mother who has sent some clothes, knowing that Peach Crayon has always been shy. As Duncan and the crayons start to take out the Christmas decorations, they receive their second letter. This time it is a note from Beige Crayon’s father. He has sent a recipe for Christmas cookies and hot cocoa that the crayons enjoy making. Soon after, readers to learn about Gray Crayon who is away celebrating Hanukkah with family. A note with a dreidel has been sent for Duncan and the crayons.
After the group goes caroling, they return to find that Chunky Toddler Crayon has ordered a present for everyone online, it is a game that they can all play! The very last letter the friends receive is from Estaban and Neon Red Crayon. Duncan is disappointed to learn they won’t be home for Christmas because they’re helping Santa deliver toys. While Duncan is happy his crayons received so many letters and presents, he feels sad they won’t all be home. Thankfully, his crayons are there to cheer him up with a Christmas surprise.
THIS COLLECTION OF ACTIVITIES and LESSON IDEAS INCLUDES:
➜ Comprehension Questions categorized by reading strategy; text-dependent
➜ Social Emotional Learning guidance lesson ideas & discussion topics based on the story
➜ Vocabulary Activities with kid-friendly definitions
➜ Grammar Topics selected to align with the text
➜ Focus Sentences use the book & author's craft as a mentor text to improve writing
➜ Lesson Planner summary, background info and planning space
➜ Story Mapping Printable identify character, setting, problem and solution
➜ Making Words Activity Page use any word from the book
➜ Focus Sentence copy work, identifying elements of the sentence, rewriting)
➜ Design a New Book Cover demonstrate understanding of the text by creating an illustration
➜ Predicting Activity primary-ruled and wider-ruled versions
➜ Summarizing Somebody → Wanted → But → Then → Finally
➜ Comparing and Contrasting using a Venn Diagram
➜ Cause and Effect analyze how events affect one another
➜ Visualization illustrate visualizations from the story and support thinking with text-based evidence
➜ Making Connections identify text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections
➜ Thematic Writing Paper Use with the Writing Prompts... Makes a Great Bulletin Board
➜ 2 Sequencing Activities First → Next → Then → Last and Beginning → Middle → End
➜ 2 Vocabulary Activities Vocabulary Booklet and Word Mapping
➜ 2 Character Trait Activities listing traits and supporting traits with text-based evidence
➜ 30 Text-Based Writing Prompts 3 prompts for each of the following types of writing:
- narrative
- persuasive / opinion
- descriptive
- expository / informative
- creative / story writing
- procedure / how-to
- list making
- letter / postcard writing
- poem
- book reviews
INCLUDED DIGITAL ACTIVITIES:
➜ 5 Teaching Slides to use for instruction (add questions, vocabulary, instructions, etc)
➜ 15 Student Pages for use in Google™️ Classroom or as editable files to create customized printables