School Sparks - Kindergarten Readiness

Why I love Christmas worksheets

Children enjoy practicing skills with colorful worksheets. In December, however, children are easily distracted by store decorations, the Santa Claus characters on street corners, and the busy activities at home preparing for the holiday. So Christmas-themed worksheets are just the thing to keep children engaged in skill practice during this exciting time of year.

Tips for using the Christmas worksheets

To introduce your child to Christmas sight words, show him the entire list first and ask him to pick out any words that he already knows. You may be surprised to find that your child can recognize a few of these sight words already, having seen them repeatedly on cards or in store windows. Set the familiar cards aside and then introduce two new cards at a time. As you show your child each new word, read the word to him and ask him to repeat it after you while he looks at the card. He can spell the word, touching each letter as he spells to reinforce the word's formation.

Introduce the tracing worksheets to reinforce holiday words and provide writing practice. Your child can first trace over the letters with the pointer finger of his dominant hand to remind him of the letter formations before using a pencil to trace the words.

As you introduce the visual discrimination worksheets, encourage your child to discuss the details in the holiday pictures. Talking about Christmas symbols can be an enjoyable way to bring in the holiday spirit as your child works.

The worksheets that ask your child to follow directions will allow him to practice auditory processing skills while he thinks about Christmas. After he completes the worksheets, discuss the illustrations with him for added fun. Which illustrations are his favorites? Which are your favorites? Why?

Finally, matching letters and their sounds with holiday pictures can be an enticing way to increase your child's phonemic awareness skills. Extend his learning by following some of the activities suggested in the tips on the worksheet pages.

Additional activities to supplement the Christmas worksheets

After your child has completed all 10 Christmas worksheets, let the learning continue! Using simple items such as the variety of holiday cards you have likely received, you can further challenge your child to hone his emerging skills.

• Challenge your child to read at least one word on each holiday card. The words Christmas, merry, jolly, or Santa, for example, likely appear on many of the cards and are words he just learned with the Christmas sight word flashcards.
• Give your child a marker and challenge him to trace over some of the large words that appear on the cards, honing his handwriting skills.
• Using the words on the holiday cards as his models, encourage your child to try to write his own holiday card. Simple phrases such as “Ho, ho, ho!” or “Santa is coming” would be easy for a young child to attempt.
• Challenge your child to put the cards in a particular order based on verbal instructions you provide. For example, you could ask him to put the card with the ornaments to the left of the card with the red present.

The opportunities for learning are endless!