Christmas Reading Comprehension for 2nd Grade

Finding engaging texts for students on varying levels can be so hard in the primary years–especially during the holiday season! You want to make sure you’re addressing standards and learning targets, but also keeping things fun. I want to share how I’ve kept my learners on track during our small group and whole group lessons leading up to Winter Break with Christmas reading comprehension for 2nd grade.

Christmas reading comprehension for 2nd grade

Teaching about different holiday traditions and celebrations around the world can be a very engaging topic for readers on all levels. With so many countries to explore, these informational texts are a great resource for practicing close reading with paired questions that address several second grade skills. Let’s take a look at how these texts can support learning for SGI or whole group lessons during the holiday season!

Practicing close reading of informational text

Resources for Christmas reading comprehension for 2nd grade should allow students to practice the routine of close reading. Small group instruction time is the perfect time to reinforce this reading strategy for second graders.

Since the passages are one page each, there is time for students to read the text multiple times for deeper understanding. Students have an opportunity to reflect on their reading with two different sets of questions that address information in the text as well as text structure.

Text-dependent questions & comprehension questions

I love the use of color coding to find evidence for text-dependent questions. It allows students to make an important connection between the words in the texts and the questions being asked.

A useful component of these passages for Christmas reading comprehension for 2nd grade is the addition of comprehension questions. These questions address key skills for second graders, so there is a great opportunity to push learning further and reinforce more skills.

The Holidays Around the World texts are great for addressing standards like main idea and comparing & contrasting. Since the texts use words from other languages and words specific to the topic, it’s a perfect opportunity to teach and practice context clues, too.

There are also several nonfiction text features that can be taught through these texts as well. Each text has vivid and detailed photographs that bring the information to life. The images have detailed captions. The text is separated into sections with subheadings, so there are plenty of text features to discuss! The passages are overall an enriching opportunity to include Christmas reading comprehension for 2nd graders in your lessons this holiday season.

Differentiation with leveled passages

Each country has passages for three different reading levels ranging from beginning of the year 2nd grade to mid-year 3rd grade. The passages are easy to differentiate and ready to use for small group or whole group learning.

In this Christmas reading comprehension resource, the questions are the same regardless of the level of the text. This way you can use the passages and answer the questions whole group while students are reading on their individual level.

Since the questions are all the same, you can discuss the questions and answers as a whole group. This is perfect for the limited time allotment in small group instruction. It can also help wrap your lesson up each day.

Social Studies connections

It can be so difficult to fit in time for teaching social studies in the primary grades. That’s why I try to incorporate social studies concepts into my Christmas reading comprehension for 2nd grade.

The passages have a ton of details and interesting facts about a variety of cultures around the world. It’s easy to see why the social studies connection works so well here!

Click here for the leveled Christmas around the world reading passages.

Whether you’re using the passages for whole group or small group learning, you can extend your social studies connections further by watching videos or reading read alouds from this list I compiled.

You can also use the videos to take your students on a virtual holidays field trip!

If you’re looking for additional Holidays Around the World resources, you’ll love this extensive holidays unit that includes lesson plans, teaching slides on PowerPoint, digital and print activities, and crafts!