As a teacher, you can never have too many holiday read alouds. They’re a fun way to keep students engaged during a very exciting (and distracting!) season. This week we are spotlighting another holiday book, Memoirs of an Elf. I love using this book to teach my students point of view and perspective. They love hearing about the life of one of Santa’s elves, it’s a win-win! - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
Memoirs of an Elf is told from the perspective of one of Santa’s elves. It is Christmas Eve and Santa and the elves are getting ready to go deliver presents. It’s the elves’ jobs to keep Santa on schedule. Santa tends to get a little distracted by all the cookies, dogs and toys. Despite running behind schedule in the beginning, Santa and the elves deliver all the toys in time and head back to the North Pole to celebrate.
As the elves unload the sleigh, the discover that something was left in Santa’s bag. It is Tugboat, someone’s dog! The group must figure out how to get Tugboat back to his family without being seen during the day. Eventually, Santa and the elves return Tugboat to his family and save Christmas!
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
The key to a great read aloud is that it lends itself to teaching a wide variety of skills and concepts. This book can be used to teach grammar, writing, social emotional skills, and so many reading comprehension strategies.
- Teach students to look at the illustrations for added meaning.
- Practice asking and answering questions about details and events in the story.
- Integrate opinion writing by having students form an opinion and back it up with reasons.
- Get descriptive and have students write seasonal poems.
- Introduce new homophones to your students.
- Explore contractions, prepositions and adverbs.
- Discuss how to be a problem solver and why problem solving is important.
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
- 30 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
Our Starts With a Story Book Companion has everything you need to teach detailed and comprehensive lessons with the book Memoirs of an Elf. We know you’re going to love it!
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- Memoirs of a Goldfish by Devin Scillian
- Santa Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins
- Can I Be Your Dog? by Troy Cummings
- Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
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!
