Christmas and the holiday season are right around the corner, and it is one of my favorite times of the year. Students love the crafts, activities, and Christmas read-aloud books teachers often share with them during this time. It is a special time in the classroom, full of magic and fun.
Christmas Read Alouds for your classroom
Read-aloud time is always a favorite in the classroom. It allows students the opportunity to sit, relax and enjoy a wonderful story. It gives them a chance to jump into different settings, characters, and problems. Christmas time is a great time to share some of your favorite stories or get your students into the Christmas mood. Here are 16 Christmas Read Aloud books I am sure your students will enjoy this time of year!
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Cookies for Santa
Who doesn’t love a good mystery? In this enchanting Christmas read-aloud book, the Kringle family cookbook has gone missing, and Santa needs the recipe for the special cookies he makes every year. However, there is one problem, he can not remember the recipe! Kids will love reading this story, plus this book includes a recipe for Santa’s Chocolate Kringle Cookies straight from America’s Test Kitchen. So you could even bake or decorate some cookies together once the mystery is solved.
Grab the book on Amazon HERE.
The Little Reindeer
A little girl’s dream comes true when she meets a lost reindeer in the woods. They set off together to have a magical adventure, and it becomes a Christmas she will always remember and cherish. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful in this story with red foil throughout; it gives it the perfect magical Christmas touch!
Grab the book on Amazon HERE.
A World of Cookies for Santa
I have always loved learning about different holiday traditions around the world, so when I found this book. I knew I needed to add it to my collection quickly. Your students will learn all about different holiday cookies through this book, from the honey-spice cookies of Russia to the sweet potato cookies of Malawi. This book will make your students hungry while they also learn about different cultures and traditions.
Grab the book on Amazon HERE.
How to Catch a Gingerbread Man
Everyone knows the classic story of the Gingerbread Man, but this story is a little different. This Gingerbread Man escapes from the pages of the story and is set free into a bookstore. The fun doesn’t stop there; he helps some friends escape too, like Robin Hood, Peter Rabbit, and more! Your students will love the crazy antics of the characters and will love even more trying to figure out ways to get him back in the book! This a perfect opportunity to bring STEM into your classroom by creating Gingerbread Man traps!
Grab the book on Amazon HERE.
Tough Cookie
Who has ever heard of a cookie that was not sweet?! The cookie in this story is just that; however, the Fox who wants to eat him doesn’t know that until he has tried to take a bite. This story gets students’ minds thinking about what a tough cookie will do when it isn’t as tasty as it should be! Students will learn that even if a person is different, we should still accept them for who they are.
Grab the book on Amazon HERE.
The Silver Christmas Tree
This is probably one of my favorite Christmas stories. Charlie is a character who just doesn’t believe in Santa anymore. But, when his mom’s plans to get the most perfect silver Christmas tree go wrong, he finds himself on an adventure to bring the tree home, and may even receive a little help from the big guy himself. This book is a great read for upper elementary students, who may lose sight of the magic of Christmas and Santa himself. Helping them understand that the magic of Christmas does not always come from presents and a little family fun, good neighbors, and working together can really make a holiday special.
Grab the book on Amazon HERE.
The Broken Ornament
Jack always looks for more… more presents, books, and lights. When he breaks an old ornament of his mom’s, he does not understand why she cares so much. Jack breaks an old ornament, and a fairy emerges from the shattered ornament. Amazing things happen, like flying reindeer, snowmen, and snowball fights, and he thinks everything will be ok. But the fairy can’t fix his mom’s ornament, and Jack needs to realize there is much more to Christmas than just the new things!
I fell in love with this story when I first read it because of its amazing message to children. Showing them how more is not always better and the true meaning of Christmas doesn’t always come from the store and is not always bright and shiny! A great addition to any classroom library.
Grab the book on Amazon HERE.
The Little Red Sleigh
Oh, my heart, this book is a combination of The Little Engine That Could and The Polar Express. Easily teaching kids that their uniqueness is one of their best qualities; with a little hard work, they can use their uniqueness to achieve their goals. The Little Red Sleigh is an amazing story about a little sleigh who dreams of being Santa’s big sleigh. In the end, the sleigh tries to prove everyone wrong, and with some help from friends, the sleigh is determined to achieve her dreams!
Grab the book on Amazon HERE.
Santa in the City
My bet as a teacher, you have heard the question, I don’t have a chimney. How does Santa get into my house? Deja is wondering the same thing in the book Santa in the City. Living in the city, in an apartment building, she is worried he just won’t be able to find her. However, with some help from her family, neighbors, and, of course, Santa, she realizes Christmas is alive in her city. The illustrations in the book are absolutely amazing and it is a great story to teach if you have students who live in the city or do not have chimneys.
Grab the book on Amazon HERE.
The Real Santa
I absolutely love the idea of a book that asks what does Santa really looks like? It is a great question, and students often have different answers too. The Real Santa tries to answer this question while teaching children about the celebration of family, representation, and holiday spirit! This book will get students thinking and realizing Santa may look different from family to family and culture to culture, but it is the holiday spirit and the gift of giving that connect us all!
Grab the book on Amazon HERE.
How to Catch Santa
It is every child’s dream to catch Santa on Christmas Eve, but what does it take to nab the big guy? This book gives tricky kids three tips to help them: be crafty! be clever! be gentle! Students will laugh out loud as you read this humorous book and give them new ideas to help them catch Santa on Christmas Eve. If you love this book, there are five other How-to books to bring into your classroom or recommend to families.
Grab the book on Amazon HERE.
Santa Goes Online
It’s the digital age, and even Santa is getting online, joining social media, and realizing there is a whole new world beyond the North Pole. Santa can connect with relatives, share pictures of the reindeer, and even hire new elves for the factory. This is a wonderful and modern story that is sure to make the children laugh. Plus, it is written in verse and fun to read!
Grab the book on Amazon HERE.
Dasher: How a Brave Little Doe Changed Christmas Forever
This is not your average Christmas story, set first within the circus?! Dasher performs nightly with her family and wishes for something different. She wishes for snow and the North Star. One day she meets a man in a red suit, and her life changes forever! Dasher is a brilliant book showing students how overcoming obstacles and challenges can change your life forever. Perfect for all ages, but really awesome for upper elementary. Help show students they are the writers of their own stories and they can achieve great things.
Grab the book on Amazon HERE.
The 12 Sleighs of Christmas
This is an interesting and fun take on the traditional story of the 12 days of Christmas. Who doesn’t love a little friendly competition? The elves are competing to build the coolest sleigh, and Santa will decide who wins. They come up with some outrageous designs, from motorcycles to zeppelins. The elves let their imaginations run wild!
The illustrations in this book are cute and have so much detail. When looking closely, you may see some hidden gems.
Grab the book on Amazon HERE.
The Merry Christmas Mittens
Another great book to show students that families celebrate the holidays in all different ways! Holly’s mittens get swept away by the wind and spend the day seeing many wonderful things in town. They see ice skating, caroling, and even Santa himself. But, their most favorite things they see are the holiday traditions of the different families, and how holiday cheer is spread across the town. Once again, teaching and allowing students to see every family is different. But, our traditions and our way of celebrating are special.
Grab the book on Amazon HERE.
The Holly-Day After
Everyone is always so concerned about what Santa does on the days leading up to Christmas. But what does Santa do with his family to celebrate Christmas? This book covers the traditions of Santa and his family and what they do during the holiday season. It may be a pancake feast or planting holly-day trees. Santa and his family are full of fun family activities. This book teaches students that traditions you start now can be used for years to come and they can easily create big and small traditions within their families!
Christmas books are some of my favorite read alouds, and I love sharing them with my students. You can add so many fun activities and crafts or just enjoy a book before heading home for the day.
Grab the book on Amazon HERE.
What are your favorite Christmas read aloud books? I would love to add more to my list of Christmas read aloud books.
More December Fun
If your looking for some Christmas fun, then you will love these FREE noun, verb, and adjective word searches. You can grab these grammar word searches here.
Need some more suggestions for Christmas read aloud books? Head on over to Foxwell Forest. She has many great read aloud suggestions.
