Christmas Craftivity Story Elements

I was browsing Pinterest the other day (it’s not a rare occurrence at my house) and I stumbled upon this adorable craft by Learning with Lizz R that I knew I immediately needed this Christmas. So…I bought it during the big TPT sale last week :).

I have an older caseload this year so this craft fit the bill perfectly for those upper elementary and middle school students. It can be adjusted, however for additional grades, depending on the book you choose.

This creativity comes with:

• Story element graphic organizer
• Blank black and white Christmas light printable
• Christmas light printable with blank story element writing paper attached
• Story element printables with differentiated lines to meet diverse student needs (includes primary-lined writing paper)

I chose the story “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens for my upper elementary and middle school students and we read the summary on Spark Notes.  I. Love. Sparknotes. I know not everyone does but I feel it’s a great resource to teach our kids about. Maybe I shouldn’t admit it, but I used it all the time in college. And, it breaks down longer stories I wouldn’t otherwise have time for in my 30 minute sessions and makes it possible to read them. I will say, it still includes a rather complex vocabulary so I made a list of words we discussed prior to reading the story (Tier 2 Vocabulary anyone?)

• miserly
• frigid
• bitterness and venom
• hagard and pallid
• past, present and future (ghosts)
• curmudgeon (one of Mrs. Allison’s all-time favorite words and one she admits calling her husband at times)
• meager
• specter, phantom, spirit, ghost
• pleads
• generosity

We read the story on my iPad and then filled out the included graphic organizer and discussed each story element: title, author, characters, setting, problem and solution (and it also includes a book review for the students to recommend it or not).

Now the fun part! We transferred our writing to these adorable ornaments (I bought the craft paper at Michael’s) and tied them together with a ribbon.

We decorated them with some fun glitter glue….

And while they’re drying, they provide a nice window decoration for my speech room 🙂

We have quite a few more to do so hopefully my window will be covered soon.