As we approach the holiday season, the level of excitement in the classroom tends to increase exponentially. One way that I like to help students channel this excitement is by using themed literacy activities. In this post, I’m going to share some of my favorite reindeer activities for second grade. These engaging activities will help your students channel that seasonal excitement into worthwhile reading and writing practice.
Benefits of Reindeer Literacy Activities
Here are just a few reasons why I love to use themed activities in my classroom, especially around the holidays.
Increased Engagement: I’ve mentioned this before on the blog, but there is just something magically engaging about animal reading passages. Students love reading about animals because it’s the perfect combination of a familiar topic with new facts mixed in.
Seasonal Fun: These reindeer literacy activities are a great way to bring some seasonal fun to your classroom without being holiday-specific. For the students who are over the moon excited about Christmas and Santa, this will be a great way to channel that excitement into something productive (even without mentioning the holiday itself). For students who don’t celebrate, it will be a fun animal to learn more about!
Variety: The activities I’m sharing below are a great supplement to your literacy curriculum. They are a fun way to add some variety to your reading and writing practice. Extra variety can keep students motivated and engaged in literacy practice.
5 Reindeer Literacy Activities for 2nd Grade
If you’re looking to bring some additional engagement to your literacy instruction, here are five fun activities that you can try!
1. Reindeer Informational Text
Help your students learn more about reindeer as they practice navigating informational text. I have created a reindeer-themed informational text resource that presents the material in a traditional reading passage format as well as an article format. This gives students the chance to experience text features in different formats.
Your students can also complete a variety of activities based on this informational text. They can answer comprehension questions, fill out a “Knew and New” chart, and color code the different text features in the passage.
2. Reindeer Poetry
Your students can practice a variety of comprehension strategies as they read and analyze a reindeer poem. Students can practice visualizing as a strategy to help them see what the poem is describing. They can also learn more about the elements of poetry as they read this fictional poem about a reindeer.
Another great activity is to have students compare and contrast the reindeer poem with informational text about reindeer. A Venn diagram provides a helpful graphic organizer for this discussion!
3. Fictional Story About Reindeer
A fictional story about reindeer is another engaging literacy activity for second graders! I like to use a reading passage that I have written about a reindeer named Roxie who learns how to ice skate. This fun story gives students a chance to analyze story elements and other important comprehension strategies.
With the additional engagement provided by an animal reading passage, students will be more interested in identifying the author’s message and analyzing the characters. These are reading comprehension strategies that your students will use for years to come!
4. Reindeer Report
After learning a variety of new facts about reindeer, your students can share their knowledge in a reindeer report! Depending on the needs of the students in your classroom, you can provide a variety of pre-writing graphic organizers. These are perfect for students to organize their thoughts as they read about reindeer! They can also write down words that they’re unfamiliar with and need to research before they can use them in their reports.
You can also customize this experience for your class by trying different formats for the report. Students could write informative passages on different topics, creating a book of sorts. They could also create pages with multiple images on each, similar to an article.
You could choose to have students write a one-page summary of interesting facts, presented as an illustrated paragraph or a one-page graphic organizer. The sky is the limit! The important thing is that students will become more comfortable with sharing facts through writing informative text.
5. Reindeer Craftivity
Once students have worked hard on their reindeer reports, it’s always fun to recognize their effort by putting their writing on display. One way that you can do this is with a reindeer craftivity!
The reindeer craft can be mounted to a paper holding the student’s report. This makes it look like the reindeer is holding the finished product. These displays are a great way to recognize your students’ hard work on their informative reports. Plus, they make an adorable seasonal bulletin board!
Printable and Digital Reindeer Activities for 2nd Grade
The informational text, poem, and fictional passages mentioned above can all be found in a printable resource of reindeer reading passages. Each text comes with a variety of activities to support reading comprehension.
You’ll also find mini-lessons that you can use to enhance your literacy instruction when using these reading passages. If you’d like to take a look at everything included in this resource, you can find it in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
The informative reindeer report and craftivity are included in another printable download. You can choose from a wide variety of graphic organizers and report formats to best support the students in your classroom. Once students have finished their writing projects, they can complete the craftivity to create an adorable final product for the bulletin board! You can take a closer look at this informative writing craftivity in my Teachers Pay Teachers shop.
If you’re interested in all of these resources, I have created a bundle of reindeer activities to save you some time and money. You can find the bundle in the product descriptions for both of the resources linked above.
Save These Reindeer Activities for Later
If you’re short on time, be sure to add this pin to your favorite teaching board on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly find these reindeer activities whenever you need them!