Engage Students with this Christmas Mad Lib
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It’s time for another fun, free teaching resource – a Christmas Mad lib for the traditional holiday poem ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. This resource has both a Google Slides version and a printable pdf – use what works best for your classroom! This Christmas Mad Lib is FREE for 24 hours, so be sure to grab it right away! Click here and grab it now!
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What is included with the Christmas Mad Lib?
This resource includes so much more than a Mad Lib. The resource features a copy of the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, which is more commonly known as ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. You also get several activities to use with the poem. It is a perfect activity for upper elementary and middle school students.
Probably my students’ favorite activity is the Mad Lib of the poem. It’s such great grammar and parts of speech practice, and their poems are hilarious! The resource includes supports for teaching the parts of speech and for helping students complete the Mad Lib. You also get a Word Search and a Reading Response to the poem, which includes practice with similes! Everything you need for a fun English lesson right before the holidays is included. Just print and teach if you are using the printable, or assign the Google Slides, and away you go! Simple!
How Can I Use this in My Classroom?
Whether they know it or not, many of your students’ ideas about Santa Claus originated in this poem and it has inspired other artists, writers and musicians for 200 years! This poem is a wonderful way to help your students connect to tradition, and it’s just so much fun!
I like to begin with a shared reading of the poem, having students listen and read along with their own copy. When they hear the poem, they have a wonderful opportunity to experience language, and also to hear the rhythm of the poem. Here are two of my favorite online renditions.
- Click here to listen to Michael Buble’s reading of the poem.
- Perry Como also has a terrific version of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.
The resource includes supports focused around the parts of speech and similes – two important concepts that intermediate students need to master. Once students have listened to the poem, ask them go back to the poem to read it again, this time focusing on finding the similes. There are many, many of them! It’s important to give students a purpose when asking them to reread a text so that they understand it is not busy work. They have a goal – find the similes.
Once they have found the similes, collect them on the board, and lead a class discussion about how the similes enhance the poem. Then, ask students to reread the text again, this time finding and circling the words from the Word Search. And of course, they complete the Word Search!
I usually spread this lesson over two days. On the second day I begin by discussing the parts of speech handout and having students brainstorm the parts of speech. Mad Libs are such a perfect way to practice parts of speech. I have students work with a partner to do the brainstorm, and they really get into deep discussions about each word and if it is, or is not, the correct part of speech. That discussion is key for cementing the concept, and of course, you are walking around the help resolve any differences of opinion.
Students use the brainstormed words to complete the poem, and I have them read their poem aloud to a partner. They are hilarious, so be ready for laughter! Students have now heard the poem once, read it twice, and read aloud their mad lib version. That is a lot of exposure to the text, and students should be able to complete the reading response independently. It makes a great formative assessment, but if you don’t want to grade papers over the break, just send them home. I won’t judge!
You can do all of this with the printable or the Google Slides. The instruction doesn’t change, just the mode of delivery.
Want to explore Google Slides further? Check out these blog posts for more tips, tricks and ideas!
Love this? Check out these other great resources!
This time of year it is hard to keep kids learning, but these resource can help. Plus, they are all easy to prep, and don’t take a lot of your time. Good for you and good for your students! Click to check them out!
Make sure you don’t miss a single FREEBIE this December! Follow this blog by clicking the black button to the right, and follow me on Instagram too! While you’re at it, forward this post to your teacher friends and share the love. Everyone deserves free resources this December!
I hope this Christmas Mad Lib, and the other free resources I’m giving away in December help you have a wonderful holiday season, and your students too. Happy teaching!
Susan