Lesson Plans: The Littlest Christmas Elf
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Roberta Peryea
KISS Lesson Plan #2
EDR315
December 3, 2007
Book: Buss, Nancy. The Littlest Christmas Elf. (1987). Western Publishing Company.
Summary of Book:
Allister, the merriest little elf from Elfin corners, receives the honors of going to the North Pole to help out Santa. When he reaches the North Pole, he realizes that he doesn’t fit in with the other elves because he’s so tiny. Realizing that he cannot do the work the other elves do, he feels useless and is afraid Santa will be mad at him. He runs away and is befriended by a big elf named Nicholas. Allister helps Nicholas in the reindeer stables for a while until one day Nicholas doesn’t show up. He finds out that Nicholas is staying in SANTAS HOUSE! He decides to pay his friend a visit and gets a startling surprise when the front door opens…Nicholas is actually the real Santa! Santa explains his double name and then asks Allister to help him Christmas Eve to deliver all the presents because he’s the tiniest elf and can fit easily into the sleigh and keep Santa company.
Culture: American
Rationale: Students will see that just because you look different from other people does not mean that you aren’t worth something. Everyone has a special job they are meant for but it might not be what you expect.
Objective:
Students will learn to respect others for their differences and find joy within their differences as well.
Materials:
Book- The Littlest Christmas Elf
Index cards for vocabulary words
Various colored Construction paper
Scissors, Crayons/ Pencil and Glue
NYS Learning Standards:
ELA 1,2,3,4
Arts 1
Motivation:
1. Warm up and review
a. We will review sight words from previous days.
2. Introduce New Vocabulary
a. Word choice:
i. Merriest runt
Useless crowd
Chattered visit
Afraid interrupted
b. Word presentation
i. I will write the words on the board and we will sound them out slowly and inquire as to their meanings.
c. Recognition
i. I will say the word once and the students will repeat. I say it two times and they will repeat it twice as well. I will then move on to the next word so to create a pattern of repetition.
d. Analysis
i. We will clap out with syllables for each word as we try to figure out if they are verbs, nouns or adjectives.
e. Automaticity
i. We will keep repeating the words until everyone can say them with out coaching.
f. Phrase presentation
“This year Santa has sent for our merriest elf to join his workshop,” the mayor said.
“Why, he’s just a runt!” said one elf.
“And absolutely useless,” said a third.
Then he pushed through the crowd and ran from the room.
When Allister nodded, Nicholas lifted him up to his shoulders, and the two of them chattered and sang while they fed and watered the reindeer.
So the next morning Allister packed a basket of fruit and started out for a visit.
Allister was afraid to breathe.
The old elf interrupted.
g. Students will choose a phrase that they believe they can act out and present their play to the class
3. Prepare to Read:
a. Looking at the cover
i. Who do you see on the cover? Why do you think the jingle bells are so big compared to him? Why are there reindeer in the background?
4. Read:
a. Students will start off reading book aloud to the class taking turns with every paragraph. They will start to read to themselves when we reach the part where Allister finds Nicholas again.
RT- What jobs did Allister fail at in the beginning? What job did Nicholas allow him to do?
TS- Why did Allister run and hide? Why did he feel comfortable with Nicholas in the stables?
OO- How would you feel if you were Allister, being picked on for his size? If you were the other elves, would you pick on him for his differences or accept him for his differences?
5. Skill Instruction:
a. We will work with adjectives and with which subject they are describing.
i. Merriest, best, special, littlest, tiny, small, big, useless, perfect, old, happy, grumpy, scary, afraid, long, slow.
ii. Students will learn about words that help to emphasize the description of the subject.
iii. Students will the use the adjectives to describe things/ people they see around them.
6. Enrichment
a. students will take a piece of paper and fold it into four boxes. They will then use these boxes as a timeline for the story depicting one scene from the beginning, two from the middle and one from the end. They will be able to use this paper timeline to follow Allister’s journey to acceptance and self-approval.
7. READ READ READ
a. we will continue to read other Christmas stories to bring the theme together.
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Roberta Peryea
Hosted By: SUNY Plattsburgh
Email: rpery001@plattsburgh.edu
Last Updated:
September 24, 2008