Rooted in Reading Christmas for 1st Grade | December Reading Comprehension

Save TIME and ENERGY this December with these Reading Comprehension Lesson Plans and hands-on reading activities, including Winter and Christmas-themed! Enhance Reading, Comprehension, Vocabulary, Grammar, and Phonics in your classroom as students learn about mental images, analyzing illustrations, learning from information, establishing a purpose, and much more!

Rooted in Reading for 1st Grade gives you everything you need to facilitate a love of reading in your classroom.  We’ve got lesson plans, activities, crafts, and printables that focus around a read-aloud story each week.  

The teacher READS the book throughout the week and models how to think deeply, ask questions, monitor comprehension, and so much more.  Each week we focus on different comprehension skills and strategies that will take your little learners on a reading journey like never before.  All lesson plans and activities are aligned with the Common Core Standards and TEKS.  

This can be used as a stand-alone curriculum OR as a supplemental curriculum.  You can do ALL of what we include or pick and choose the activities that work best for you and your students!  

Want to know more? Check it out below!

Books needed for December (In order of how we suggest teaching the books):

Oskar and the Eight Blessings by Richard and Tanya Simon

The Animal’s Santa by Jan Brett

Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner

The Great Spruce by John Duvall

1st Grade Rooted in Reading Units:

Rooted in Reading 1st Grade: Overview

Rooted in Reading 1st Grade: August

Rooted in Reading 1st Grade: September

Rooted in Reading 1st Grade: October

Rooted in Reading 1st Grade: November

Rooted in Reading 1st Grade: December

Rooted in Reading 1st Grade: January

Rooted in Reading 1st Grade: February

Rooted in Reading 1st Grade: March

Rooted in Reading 1st Grade: April

Rooted in Reading 1st Grade: May

What is included in the DECEMBER unit? Look below!

● Daily Lesson Plans for 4 Weeks

● Book Question Cards

● Reading Passages

● Comprehension Assessments

● Comprehension Focuses:

Mental Images

Analyzing Illustrations

Using Illustrations to Describe the Story

Learning from Information in Pictures

Learning from Information in Text

Establishing a Purpose for Reading

Comparing and Contrasting with the Nonfiction Readers

● Comprehension Printables/Interactive Notebooks:

Comparing Hanukkah and Christmas Flap-Ups

Comparing Animals that Hibernate H-Chart

Comparing Animals that Camouflage Venn Diagram Flap-Book

Comparing Two Trees Graphic Organizers

The Animal’s Santa Character Feelings

Drawing Conclusions Printable

Mental Images Printable

Mental Images Filmstrip

Mental Images Flap-Ups

Analyzing Illustrations Printable

Drawing Conclusions Printable

Drawing Conclusions Flap Ups

Illustrations from Texts Printable

Comparing Genres Venn Diagram Flap-Ups

Establishing a Purpose for Reading Printable

What Did I Gain on the 2nd Read Printable

● Nonfiction Readers

Hanukkah Traditions

Snow Camouflage

It’s Not Just Bears (Hibernation)

Terrific Trees

●  Anchor Charts

Our Mental Images

Let’s Compare Christmas and Hanukkah Traditions

The Animals’ Santa: Illustrations

Animals That Camouflage in the Snow

I Can Learn From the Words and Pictures

Animals That Hibernate

Why Do Readers Read?

Different Types of Trees

● Vocabulary

4-5 Vocabulary Picture Cards for each book

4-5 Vocabulary Writing Prompts

Vocabulary Sentences

Vocabulary Picture/Word Match

● Directed Drawings (with writing pages)

City Skyline

Arctic Hare

Hibernating Chipmunk

Christmas Tree

● Crafts (with writing pages)

Menorah

Santa Claus

Person Skiing

Sleigh with Tree

●  Phonics Focuses

-ill word family and tr blend

-eep word family and cr blend

-eat word family and dr blend

-ay word family and fr blend

● Phonics Activities for each week

Word Family Digital Poster

Word Family Slider

Word Family Picture and Word Cards

Word Family Sentence Scramble

Word Family Writing Practice

Word Family Passage

Word Family Assessment

● Blends Activities for each week

Blend Power Points

Blend Digital Poster

Blend Booklet with Student pages to complete

● Grammar:  Plural Nouns (Suffix: s, es)

Singular and Plural Noun Anchor Chart

Singular and Plural Noun Digital Posters

Plural Noun Add s and es Graphic Organizer

Singular and Plural Noun Flap-book with Sort

Singular and Plural Noun Flap-book

Noun Sort

Singular and Plural Noun Assessment

●  Grammar:  Plural Nouns in Sentences

Noun Sort

Unscrambling Sentences

Singular and Plural Noun Sentence Scoot

Plural and Singular Noun Flap-book

Plural Noun Assessment

●Grammar:  Verb Tenses

Verb Tenses Anchor Chart Sort

Verb Tenses Digital Posters: Past, Present, Future

Verb Tenses Graphic Organizer

Past and Future Tense Verb Flap-book Sort

Verb Tenses Trees

Verb Tenses Game

Verb Tenses Printable

● Grammar:  Pronoun: I

Pronouns: I, Me, My Anchor Chart and Sort

I, Me, My Digital Posters

I, Me, My Pronoun Flap-book

Roll, Cover, Write

I Can Use Pronouns Pocket Book

Pronoun Pick It

Disclaimer About Rooted in Reading Books: We try our best to ensure that the books we select for our Rooted in Reading program will be available to you; however, we cannot guarantee any book's availability at any given time.

We encourage you to check multiple places for the books including but not limited to: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Scholastic, Thrift Books, BookOutlet.com, eBay, Abe Books, Half Price Books, Better World Books, and you can make a project on Donor's Choose or check them out from your public library.

More FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Ⓠ There is SO much included, how do I fit it all in?

Ⓐ:  Please do NOT feel like you have to do everything we put into the units.  We try to include everything that a teacher might want, but we realize it is A LOT!  We suggest combing through the units, looking at the expectations of your school/district/state, and deciding which activities would be best for your students.  We do NOT recommend printing class sets of everything, hoping to get to it all. Choose the things that you think YOUR students need, that will be most beneficial, and start there!  Several components can be used during stations, for morning work, or even as homework. Others you may choose to just set aside for another time or not use at all! That’s okay! We want this to work for you AND your students!

Ⓠ Do you have a year overview and planning guide?

Ⓐ:  Yes!  We sure do!  You can find the list of books for the year, the skills we are going to hit, and the standards (Common Core and TEKS) we will cover below!  Please note that as units are created we may switch things up a bit! The TEKS that the units are aligned to are the TEKS that were adopted in 2017 and will be put into place in 2019.  These are NOT aligned with the old TEKS.

Here is our COMPLETE Book List and Year Overview:

Ⓠ What is included in the first grade units

Ⓐ:  Each book unit (so 4 a month) will include:  

⇢Daily Lesson Plans for Comprehension, Vocabulary, Grammar, and Phonics

⇢Book Question Cards for Classroom Discussion

⇢Comprehension Focus Digital Posters

⇢Comprehension Printables and/or Interactive Notebook Templates

⇢Comprehension Assessment for the Weekly Read Aloud

⇢Reading Passage with Questions

⇢Anchor Chart Templates

⇢Nonfiction Reader

⇢Nonfiction Activities

⇢Vocabulary Picture Cards with Word, Picture, Definition

⇢Vocabulary Writing Prompts or Activities

⇢Vocabulary Printables/Assessments

⇢Craft with Writing Pages

⇢Directed Drawing with Writing Pages

⇢Phonics Focus Digital Posters

⇢Phonics Printables/Activities

⇢Phonics Reading Passage

⇢Grammar Focus Digital Posters

⇢Grammar Printables/Activities

Ⓠ How are these units different from your 2nd and 3rd grade units?

Ⓐ:  We have followed the same format for 1st grade, but we have made it developmentally appropriate for a first grade classroom.  We do not choose read alouds that are on a first grade reading level because the teacher is reading the story to the class, and guiding their discussions, BUT the activities that correlate with the read aloud are first-grade appropriate.  We believe that books read aloud should vary in level so that ALL students benefit from the instruction. Here are some minor differences in the first grade units:

➧Lined Writing Pages

➧Many options for drawing or writing when responding to the text

➧Phonics Included

➧Directed Drawings have simplified steps and a starting page

➧Crafts are easy to cut and assemble

➧Vocabulary Cards have pictures

➧1st Grade appropriate activities, assessments, passages, and more