December is such a special time in the classroom. It can busy, but you can easily make it feel magical for students by reading Christmas read alouds. Read aloud time is my favorite time in my classroom. I always read my students a picture book when they come in from recess. It is a great transition and students learn to love reading even more from fun read aloud books. Find this whole list of books on Amazon here. Over the years, I have found some fun Christmas themed books that my 2nd grade students have loved. So today I thought I would share 7 of the best Christmas read alouds for elementary plus some low prep extension activities you can do with each book.

Best Christmas Read Alouds For Elementary

 

An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco

 

This book is really tender. It’s a true story about a family that lives in rural Michigan. Frankie is the youngest son of 9 children. They live by a railroad stop that often carries people who are homeless. The family feeds them and sends them on their way. Frankie sees that one man doesn’t have a proper coat. He quietly gives him his special sweater his sister had made him the Christmas prior.

The family waits for their dad to return from the city with fresh Christmas oranges. But a winter storm delays his return. The family worries but continues to do their Christmas traditions. Finally their father makes it with their oranges. The father has the children put the oranges on the mantel place as they go to their church for a Christmas program. It was time to leave when Frankie was admiring his orange when his mother called for him. He put his orange in his packet and left with his family by sleigh. On the ride home, he realizes he lost his orange.

Upset, Frankie tells his mother that he lost his orange and gave away his nice sweater. His mother explains it was a thoughtless thing to lose his orange, but giving away his sweater to someone in need was a noble thing to do. That is was the true meaning of Christmas.

To help Frankie feel better, his brothers and sisters each take one of their orange slices to make him an orange with eight slices. This was a very special Christmas for the family. It was actually Frankie’s last Christmas. He never made it past childhood.

This is one of the best Christmas books for elementary school students because it helps students to learn the true meaning of Christmas – giving and being with family.

I like to challenge my students to find the themes in this book. I have a Reading Comprehension Worksheet we fill out together. First we list out all of the important events. Then we write what we can learn from the story.

For important events I would guide students to come up with: 

1. Frankie gives his nice sweater to a person in need.
2. Frankie loses his orange and feels really bad.
3. His siblings each give him a slice of each of their oranges.

The lesson learned: Christmas is about giving and making others feel good. 

This is also a good book to talk about characters. I have another Reading Comprehension Worksheet that has students write the name of a character, then they write about an event in the book that character went through, and then they write how that character responded.

You can have students write about Frankie and the event of him seeing the man who is homeless without a winter coat. Frankie responded by giving him his nice sweater.

Or you could have students talk about Frankie’s family. The event is when Frankie lost his orange. They responded by giving him each a slice of their oranges.

Find the worksheets I use here. Find this book on Amazon here.

 

Best Christmas Read Alouds

 

Night Tree by Eve Bunting

 

The book shares the story of a family who has a Christmas tradition to go into the woods to find their Christmas tree. Only they don’t chop the tree down and bring it home to decorate, they decorate it there and sing Christmas carols. After going home the little boy imagines the animals in the woods celebrating Christmas around their tree.

The illustrations in this book is why it is on this list of the best Christmas read alouds for elementary. There is a Reading Literature Common Core Standard for 2nd grade that has them using the illustrations to gain knowledge about the characters, setting, and plot. I have a worksheet that I have students complete as we read this story that matches this standard perfectly. We stop on the pages and make notes of the things we learn from the illustrations. Find this worksheet here. Find this book on Amazon here.

 

Santa Duck by David Milgrim

 

This is a fun story where Nichlas Duck wants to find Santa and tell him what he wants for Christmas. He finds a present at his door and it’s a Santa suit. He goes around and as he runs into other animals, they tell him what they want for Christmas. He gets confused about why all the animals are doing this and he doesn’t really like it. So he starts to run away from the other animals and he runs into Santa himself. Nicolas tells him what everyone wants but later realizes that he didn’t tell Santa what he wanted. He gets a thank you note from Santa and it turns out Santa knew what he wanted all along.

For an extension activity with this book you could have students ask questions as you read it to them. I like to give students a worksheet where they can record their questions easily. I challenge students to write a question that starts with who, what, where, why, and how.  Find this worksheet here. Find this book on Amazon here.

 

How to Catch and Elf by Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton

 

These authors do a lot of these “How to Catch” books and my students love them! They have fun rhythm and rhyme. In this book kids set up different traps to try and catch the elf. This would be a great book to do an extension writing assignment. Have students write out the steps on how they would catch an elf.

The Elf on the Shelf A Christmas Tradition by Carol V. Aebersold and Chanda A. Bell

 

This book introduces the tradition of elf on the shelf. This is a great book to read if you want to do that in your classroom. You get an elf and have your class help give it a name. The elf on the shelf knows if students have been good or bad. Before students come to school each day you move it to a different spot. Doing this helps bring excitement into your classroom and helps with student behavior. Find this book on Amazon here.

 

Careful, Santa! by Julie Sykes

 

In this story, Santa is flying his sleigh on Christmas night with his cat and mouse. There was a storm and the presents flew off the sleigh. They worked together with other animals to gather all the presents, but then they couldn’t find the mouse. He was stuck high up in a tree. Santa and the animals spread out Santa’s coat for the mouse to jump into. Then they packed up and started flying again.

This is a good book for students to think about plot. As you read the book, have students think about what happens at the beginning of the book, what happens in the middle of the book, and what happens at the end of the book. I have students record it on a worksheet. Find the worksheet I use here. Find this book on Amazon here.

 

The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever by Steven Kroll

 

This story is about two mice that want to find the biggest Christmas tree ever. They end up finding the same big tree and decide they will work together with their families to bring it back to town and decorate it. This would be a great book to have students ask questions while you read it. Have students record those questions with this worksheet here.

I hope this list of the best Christmas read alouds for elementary school students gives you some ideas of fun picture books you can read to your students in the month of December. It’s a fun and easy way to bring in some Christmas festiveness. It’s also easy to help teach important comprehension skills and strategies. The worksheets I’ve shared about today all follow the common core state standards for reading literature for 2nd grade. Find these worksheets here. Find this book on Amazon here.

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