Christmas Letters and Position Words – Christmas Positional Words
LETTERS: Print all the pages of the file linked above for your children. The children can color Santa and the present pictures on page 3, if desired. Ask your students what letter/sound the word S A N T A begins with. Say the letters with your children and practice the sounds each of the letters make. Invite the children practice stamping (have very young children stamp the letter on the line below each letter in the boxes) or writing the letters in the boxes below the word S A N T A on page 1 (repeat for the word P R E S E N T.) The children can cut apart the individual letter boxes and try to spell the words SANTA and PRESENT (for very young children, spell the words for them using letters from the boxes and see if the children can find the letters and place on top of the words.) The children can also play a matching game by shuffling all the individual letter cards and matching the letters from the individual boxes to spell each of the words.
POSITIONAL WORDS: Have the children cut out all the positional words on page 2 of the file linked above. Say the position words for your children and demonstrate the position using the Santa/present pictures on page 3 of the file. Read the sentence (pg. 2) to all of your children and let them decide, as a group, which position word card would best complete the sentence. After playing as a group, invite the children to partner with a peer and use the Santa and present to play position word games. Lay the sentence strip out on a table or a floor along with the individual position word cards. One child must place the Santa/present in a particular “position” (i.e. next to, beside, etc.). The second child must then try to choose the card that completes the sentence and read the sentence out loud.
For mixed-age groups, invite the younger children to position the Santa/present. The older children must then look at the position and find the appropriate position word card to complete the sentence.
Christmas Color Words and Item Match – Christmas Color Word Match
Materials needed: One Christmas Color Word Match.pdf for each child and scissors.
Print the Color Sentence Strips/Pictures on heavy paper and laminate for durability if desired. Read the sentence strips to all of the children and discuss the colors that are used. Have the children cut the word strips and pictures apart (pre-cut or assist younger children). Encourage the children to lay the sentence strips out on a table and place the picture cards face down. The children must then pick up a picture card, one at a time, and place next to the corresponding sentence strip. For example, “The star is blue” sentence strip would be matched up with the pictures of the blue star.
Extension idea: Reverse the directions and have the children look first at the picture card and try to determine which sentence strip it goes with.
Christmas ABC Tree – Christmas ABC Tree
Materials needed: One Christmas ABC Tree.pdf and crayons or markers (blue, red, yellow and green).
Print the Christmas ABC Tree.pdf for each of the children. Read the instructions to the children and have the children color the tree according to the color/letter indicated in the text. Older children might use other colors of their choice and add separate shapes/letters to their tree. Finish coloring the tree green. The trees make nice displays for the classroom when mounted on red construction paper.
For more ideas for literacy, math, or science, see the Christmas or Gingerbread theme downloads via this blog!