Holiday Short Story Unit A Kidnapped Santa Claus

Item description

Looking for a fun and educational way to celebrate the holidays with your Secondary ELA class? A Kidnapped Santa Claus is a short story unit that will help you focus on academic reading standards while getting into the holiday spirit.

A copy of the story is included with this unit, so you can easily incorporate it into your lesson plans. The story itself is a delightful, unique holiday story your students are sure to enjoy. But it also provides ample opportunities for learning, with a focus on plot, vocabulary, discussion questions, critical reading, and more!

This HOLIDAY short story unit includes:

Author Study

At the beginning of the activity is a short paragraph that is intended to introduce the student to the author.

Pre-reading activity

A pre-reading quick write will help set the tone for students to engage in All Summer In A Day. The question is designed to help students think about the anticipation the children are experiencing as they wait for the one hour of sunshine.

Vocabulary Words

Five words from the story have been selected for further study. The words were based on necessity of understanding the story and the likelihood of students seeing the word again in other readings. Students will find the words in the reading, research the definition, and use the word correctly within a sentence.

Stop N Jot

This is a fabulous activity that helps keep students focused on the reading. There are two pages devoted to stop ‘n jot. At the end of each reading page, (All Summer In A Day is usually 4 pages long depending on publisher and number of pictures included in text.) students are to stop, think about what they’ve read and then jot down the main ideas, questions, thoughts and feeling they had as they read. Additionally, there is a space for students to sketch a picture to help them recall the story.

Plot Diagram

To continue building on literature skills, a plot diagram is included. This could be used as an extension activity, whole class activity or independent work depending on the level of understanding your students have.

Text Evidence

How does Santa respond to each Daemon that visits him and tried to persuade him not to deliver the toys? Students look for text evidence to complete the graphic organizer enclosed.

Clarifying Questions

Students analyze the story by creating questions then using their knowledge of the characters, write a possible answer to the question.

Discussion Questions

Six questions are included that could be answered based on student thinking but are intended to be small group or partner discussion questions.

A Kidnapped Santa Claus is part of the public domain. I’ve created a PDF version of the story which is included in this product.