Reading aloud to my class is hands down my favorite thing to do with my students! There are so many fantastic picture books to enjoy! I hope to share with you today some of my favorite read aloud activities!

Every year in December I love to read Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg to my class. We always complete many read aloud activities, but one year I wanted to spend the whole day doing all things Polar Express related! That’s when I came up with a station day filled with math activities, literacy activities, STEM activities related to the story. Of course we also decorated cookies and sipped on hot chocolate while watching the Polar Express movie.

Let me tell you, the station day was a MAJOR hit! The students loved it, the assistants loved it, the volunteers loved, and of course I loved it! I had parents emailing me over winter break telling me how much their child enjoyed the special day.

Today I am so excited to share about our station days with you! All the station days are centered around popular picture books.

Polar Express Day

The Polar Express is one of my favorite holiday books! My class and I have so much fun having a Polar Express Day. We read the book, dress in our pajamas, drink hot chocolate, and have a ton of fun with these Polar Express stations!

Our station day was the last day before winter break. Students came to school dressed in their pajamas (which they loved). Students had a passenger ticket and polar express coloring sheet waiting on their desk when they arrived.

We began the morning gathered on the carpet and read the story, Polar Express. This is a story that students may read in their classroom every year, but I have never met a child that does not love hearing the magical story again.

After the story I explained what our special day was going to look like. I had the stations already in place, so I went around the room explaining each station. I welcomed a few volunteers to come in and help us. This made the day extra successful!

I already had the students split in 6 groups. This put about 4-5 students in a group. There are 10 stations included, so you could easily make your groups smaller or larger depending on how many stations you plan on using. Most (if not all) the stations can be used without the assistance of an adult, but we all know an adult can be very helpful if you have some volunteers wanting to come in.

Once we have completed the stations, it was time for lunch and recess. This was a perfect time to clean up and prepare for the afternoon fun!

After recess, we were ready to watch the movie, decorate cookies, and sip on hot chocolate. Since the movie is a bit long, I started the movie right away. I had the cookie decorating supplies set up at one of our small tables. I found it best to call over a few students at a time to decorate. After the were finished decorating their sugar cookie, the took their plate and cookie back to their table. I told my students to wait until everyone was done decorating to eat. This helped with a few of the “that’s not fair they get to go first” comments.

Once the cookies were all decorated, I passed out hot chocolate to everyone. My students LOVED eating their cookies, drinking hot chocolate, and watching the movie. Seriously, such a special day and so many smiles!

All stations include a station sign with directions and a Polar Express book/movie quote and engaging, differentiated activities!

Polar Express Stations Include:

All Aboard the Polar Express -Students write and draw about their experience on the Polar Express. Word list included! (1 craftivity and 2 writing options)
The Polar Express Round Trip Ticket - Students write and draw about what word would be on their ticket. 2 differentiated options included!
The First Gift of Christmas -Students use their schema and clues given to make an inference on what the Christmas gift is.
Snow Spelling- Students write high frequency or spelling words (not included) in shaving cream.
A Cup of Hot Cocoa -Students read and solve math word problems. Students will glue a marshmallow on each cup when problem is solved. 2 differentiated options included!
The Polar Express Train- Students order numbered train cars from least to greatest. 3 differentiated options included! – 6 games in all!
The Missing Bell- Students select addition and/or subtraction problems to solve. If they select a bell, they keep it. Student with most bells wins!
Graphing with the Polar Express- Students will spin and graph pictures from the Polar Express. Then they will answer questions about their graph.
Hot Chocolate

You can grab the Polar Express Stations HERE.

These stations were such a hit, I knew I had to create MORE!

Spookley the Square Pumpkin Station Day

My favorite read aloud for October is Spookley the Square Pumpkin! There is also a super cute Spookley the Square Pumpkin movie to go along with the book.

Spookley the Square Pumpkin Station Day was completed before Halloween, but I thought about using it before fall break next year. We will see!

All stations include a station sign with directions and a Spookley book/movie quote and engaging, differentiated activities!

Spookley the Square Pumpkin Stations Include:

Pumpkin Patch Writing - creative writing and foladable
Pumpkin Stack STEM - use candy pumpkins and toothpick to create a tower
Pumpkin Shape STEM - use candy corn and toothpicks to create shapes
Roll Away Pumpkins - subtraction word problems
The Square Pumpkin - addition and subtraction game
Spookley Treat - graham cracker, icing, and candy eyes treat with recipe writing page
Meet Spookley - characteristic traits craftivity
My Pumpkin Patch - creative writing
Graphing the Pumpkin Patch - a fun graphing activity
Shape it Up with Pumpkins - pumpkin shape geometry: sides and vertices

You can grab Spookley the Square Pumpkin Station Day HERE.

Turkey Trouble Station Day

Turkey Trouble is a must read in November! It’s always a class favorite!

I am planning to complete Turkey Trouble Station Day with my class before Thanksgiving break.

All stations include a station sign with directions and a Turkey Trouble quote and engaging, differentiated activities!

Turkey Trouble Stations Include:

Turkey Trouble Writing -creative writing and foldable (differentiated)
Turkey in Disguise - creative art and adjectives
Pumpkin Pie Subtraction - subtraction word problems (differentiated)
Save Turkey - a writing craftivity (differentiated)
Turkey Hideout - STEM challenge
Pizza Treat - a delicious snack! 2 options included
Catch the Turkey - a fun addition and subtraction game
Graphing with Turkey - a fun graphing activity
Turkey Retell - correctly place pictures in order OR create a retelling book (differentiated)
Guess Who? - an activity for making inferences
You can grab Turkey Trouble Station Day HERE.