I love sharing a silly book that will keep my students laughing. This always creates so much engagement as students are glued to the words of the story. This week we are spotlighting the hilarious Christmas read aloud, Santa Bruce. If your class is already familiar with Bruce they will love this holiday edition. Teachers can use this engaging book to keep students excited about learning during a time of year where their minds are elsewhere (Santa, presents, and vacation!). - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
Santa Bruce is the hilarious story about a bear with a mistaken identity. Bruce the bear does not like winter or the holidays. He wants to stay inside and sleep but his family wants to celebrate Christmas. When Bruce is outside with his long underwear and hat, a racoon mistakes him for Santa! Within no time, all the critters in the forest are at Bruce’s house wanting to sit on Santa’s lap. The mice in Bruce’s house even promise that Bruce will deliver presents to everyone. Despite all his protests, Bruce is stuck acting as Santa and must give out presents all around town.
Students will laugh out loud during this fun Christmas story about a bear that doesn’t like Christmas.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
We love Santa Bruce because it lends itself to so many different lessons. Here are just a few of the skills you can use Santa Bruce to teach:
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Practice making predictions as you read through the story. This helps keep students engaged because they’re excited to see if their prediction comes true.
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Analyze the point of view in which the book is told.Â
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Engage students in narrative writing related to the holidays. This is always so fun for students.Â
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Write poems related to the book. These would look great on a bulletin board!
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Introduce new prefixes and suffixes.
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Explore what onomatopoeia is and how authors use it in their writing.Â
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Discuss the importance of self-advocacy and strategies students can use to advocate for themselves.
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
Let’s be honest, teacher friends, it’s not just your students thinking about the holidays. There is just so much to do between shopping for gifts, wrapping presents, preparing food, and cleaning your house for guests. Planning a new read aloud was always the last thing on my list in December. With so many options in this resource, this will be a gift that keeps giving year after year!
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins
- Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin
- Memoirs of an Elf by Devin Scillian
- We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins
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!
