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How Santa Lost His Job (Opinion Writing and Craft)

November 25, 2017

Can you imagine what would happen if Santa lost his job? Stephen Krensky has done just that with How Santa Lost His Job. Here is an opinion writing activity and craft you can use with your students after reading this book.
Can you imagine what would happen if Santa lost his job? Stephen Krensky has done just that with How Santa Lost His Job. Here is an opinion writing activity and craft you can use with your students after reading this book.
In the story, there is always a last-minute rush before Christmas. An elf named Muckle takes it upon himself to find a replacement for Santa and creates the Deliverator. The other elves want proof that this machine will make Christmas more efficient, so they create a series of challenges to determine who will deliver the toys on Christmas. You can find your own copy of this story on Amazon.
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How Santa Lost His Job Anchor Chart

The story lends itself to opinion writing, so I set our reading focus on identifying the reasons why Santa is better than the Deliverator. Before reading, I set up a Cookies for Santa anchor chart.
This cookie-themed anchor chart can be used with How Santa Lost His Job. While reading the story, students can add reasons why Santa is better than The Deliverator to the cookies.
As we read and identify the reasons Santa is better than the Deliverator, we record the reasons inside the cookies on the plate. I should mention that I also allow students to use their schema and connections with other texts to provide reasons.
This cookie-themed anchor chart can be used with How Santa Lost His Job. While reading the story, students can add reasons why Santa is better than The Deliverator to the cookies.

How Santa Lost His Job Craft & Writing

After brainstorming as a class, it’s time to put our opinions into writing. Students choose their reasons from our anchor chart and I provide a sheet of sentence starters that help with opinion writing. When the writing is done, students get to add a Santa craft to the finished product.
After reading How Santa Lost His Job, students can create this Santa craft. Then students will add an opinion writing piece explaining why Santa is better than The Deliverator.
You can find all of these activities, plus vocabulary and comprehension questions in this book companion:

This book companion for How Santa Lost His Job contains comprehension questions, vocabulary words, graphic organizers, and Santa craft that can be paired with an opinion writing assignment.

You might also enjoy How Santa Got His Job. You can find an anchor chart idea for this book here.

After reading How Santa Got His Job, I talk with my students about the qualities that make Santa the right person for the job. Now you can do the same and create an anchor chart to use with your students.

Happy Reading!

Can you imagine what would happen if Santa lost his job? Stephen Krensky has done just that with How Santa Lost His Job. Here is an opinion writing activity and craft you can use with your students after reading this book.

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Related posts:

Pinterest2BTemplate.jpgA New Improved Santa Activities & Crafts How Santa Got His Job (Anchor Chart Freebie) The Legend of the Poinsettia Snowzilla The Sandwich Swap Picture Book CompanionThe Sandwich Swap Activities
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