Dressing Santa Literacy Book & Activity

One of our Christmas traditions is having my wonderful husband, Doug, come in dressed as Santa.  We do it in a “friendly Santa” model similar to how we teach the children about Firemen during Fire Safety Month.  Rather than having him come in dressed as Santa, which can be scary for some kids, I have him come in dressed in his street clothes.  We explain to the students that he is Santa’s helper. He gets dressed as Santa in front of them using a class-made book called Dress Santa.  

In the story, we sing phrases like “Put the pants on Santa’s legs and say HO! HO! HO! HO!” to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”.

  

The pages in the book help students recall and verbally label clothing items and body parts. Both of which are individual goals for some of the students.  I make the book interactive by having the students identify the appropriate clothing item for the body part the song addresses.  

If you would like the Boardmaker printables for the story, simply send me an email requesting them.  

Money Saving Tip:  Put the pages of the story into sheet protectors so you can use them year after year without laminating them. Then add Velcro to the bottom of the sheet protector so the choices at the bottom of the page are removable.  

Teacher's Tip: Then you can use the template for the pages to make other class-made books and simply slide the pages in the sheet projectors. Then, simply buy a binder with clear plastic cover to slide a title page in and out.  I'll be sharing more story ideas throughout the year!!