How to Catch a Reindeer is part of our Starts With a Story Collection, which includes more than 550 picture book companions based on high quality children’s literature that support you in delivering highly-engaging interactive read alouds with follow up activities. Learn more about this children’s book below! - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
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SUMMARY
"How to Catch a Reindeer" by Alice Walstead takes place on Christmas Eve and Santa and his reindeer team are out delivering presents. Comet the reindeer has been a part of this team from the start and she loves Christmas. In her time working with Santa, Comet has seen just about everything. This year, she has heard that children are setting traps to try and catch Santa, an elf or a reindeer. Throughout the night, Comet encounters many different traps set by children in hopes of catching a reindeer but Comet is clever and none of the traps are able to catch her! Throughout the night, Comet enjoys dancing and playing in the snow with the other reindeer. However after some fun, Comet doesn't want to keep Santa waiting and she heads back to the sleigh after a fun filled night. Comet looks forward to doing it all again next year and children will look forward to hearing the adorable story again when the holiday season approaches again next year!
 USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Our read aloud lesson plans for this picture book come with reading comprehension questions (with sample student responses), 30 writing prompts, teaching ideas for grammar skills, social emotional learning discussion ideas, and more. Check out our list below to get a sneak peek at some of the skills this resource teaches.
- Have students identify the point of view and discuss the benefits of the narrator.
- Practice making inferences throughout the story and after reading.
- Encourage students to use their summarizing and retelling strategies.Â
- Have students sequence the important events in the story. This is an important skill when it comes to retelling a story.
- Practice making predictions throughout the book. Encourage students to check and see if their predictions were correct.
- Teach a lesson on the different types of sentences.
- Discuss the importance of teamwork and what a good teammate looks like.
NO-PREP PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES:
If you are looking for “ready to go” activities for the first day of school, be sure to check out the book companion. With it you’ll receive all of the following resources to align with this specific book:
- comprehension questions
- 30Â writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
This book is a must have for your school or classroom library. Your students are going to love completing these activities for the book and you will be impressed with how much they learn. You will want to read this book to your class every year.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will love the similar books listed below, which can all be found in our free picture book list.
- Olive, The Other Reindeer by Vivian Walsh
- The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett
- Imogene's Antlers by David Small
- Dasher: How a Brave Little Doe Changed Christmas Forever by Matt Tavares
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
It's hard to explain how amazing the Starts with a Story book companions are because there is just so much goodness included in each one. It's best if you experience using one for yourself. Sign up below & we'll send you an entire book companion to try out for FREE!
