Bring the Christmas fun into your read aloud times with these favorite Christmas books for kindergarten. These books for Christmas are the perfect fit for both fun and teaching standards-based content.
Let’s dig into the best Christmas books for kindergarten.
Affiliate links are included in this post.
Christmas Books for Kindergarten
If you read the Bear books series to your class, then you’ve got to add Bear Stays Up for Christmas to your list. While bears normally hibernate during the winter – bear’s friends help bear stay up so he won’t miss Christmas day.
I’m a big fan of using different versions. When I stumbled upon A Pirate’s Twelve Days of Christmas I knew it needed to land itself in my 12 Days of Christmas line up. It is the perfect standards based connection to creating our own class version of the traditional Christmas song. (We turn it into a book that I like to gave as a Christmas gift to each kinder.)
I like using There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell as a way to talk about predictions. By December, we’ve read a few other Lucille Colandro ‘Old Lady’ books and have made the connection to look for the common thread that pulls all of the items in the book together. They like to figure out the ending.
New to me this year, but recommended by my awesome readers on facebook is Santa’s Book of Names. It’s a sweet story about learning to read.
I’m a huge Gingerbread Man fanatic. I love capitalizing on the magic of Christmas and we bring gingerbread cookies to life the two weeks before Christmas break. We use an anchor version of The Gingerbread Man and compare so many versions – it’s a blast. Here are my top Gingerbread Man different versions:
If you want to lead your class on a reading and writing adventure too, I’ve got you covered with all of the details in this Gingerbread Adventures unit. I’ll walk you through every step – you’re gonna LOVE it!
A classic like The Polar Express should definitely make the list… if you plan a special Polar Express day complete with pajamas and hot chocolate. We did this on the day that we captured our gingerbread cookies and the pj’s made for the best photos.
The Wild Christmas Reindeer is longer read aloud but is a beautifully illustrated story. If you’ve read other Jan Brett stories, it’s a great one to compare using the side bar illustrations.
Non-fiction Christmas Books for Kindergarten
Do you like to incorporate non-fiction into your instruction before Christmas? Two themes come to mind that are an easy fit.
Here is a list of reindeer non fiction books for kids. These are ideal for kindergarten!
Explore Christmas in other countries right from the classroom. These are neat ideas for read alouds but may not be a perfect fit for every kindergarten class – some are a better fit for first and second grade.
I hope this list of Christmas books for kindergarten is helpful if you’re looking for something new to read this year or just need to save time when you hit up the library with your must-read list in hand.
If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.
Leslie is the teacher behind KindergartenWorks. She believes in teaching kinders how to be pretty incredible along with teaching them to read, write and think for themselves. She enjoys drinking hot tea, making mud pies with her four kids and sharing what she's learned with teachers.
Oh, how I love the things kindergartners say and do. There so many joyful {and hilarious} moments that are unique to working with 5 and 6-year-olds. Here is a collection of some of my favorite things teachers have shared on KindergartenWorks facebook page. The cute and funny things said by their own class of kinders. Because after…
Let’s skip the search and go straight for the most helpful free online games for kindergarten. If you’re in the midst of planning for distance learning or staring down a possible future of eLearning lesson plans, then use these free games and activities online to help you keep your lesson plans engaging for students. Let’s…
Create your own Cinderella retelling activity with this free download for kindergarten. This is how I created a Cinderella What Do You Hear retell activity to go in our retell center as a storytelling option for my kindergarten students. Let me show you what’s in our set and give you the materials to make it happen in your classroom…
In preparation for the first day of Kindergarten, we hold a one hour open house where our kinders can drop off their supplies, see our room and meet me. Talk about a frenzy of activity! But, in preparation for them and their parents, who often need some guidance and last-minute questions answered I’d like to…
Set up and maintain a computer center in your classroom to support your math teaching. Let me show you how to set up a year-long center that is differentiated, open-ended and easy to maintain. If you want to have a computer center in your classroom, go for it! Let’s talk about why you would want…
A guided reading binder helps me keep lesson plans and guided reading group notes both organized and at my fingertips. Here’s how to create a guided reading binder in 4 steps and keep it organized with 6 simple recommendations. I hope you find these tips helpful as you teach your guided reading groups. Create Your Guided Reading Binder 1….
