Holiday Reading Comprehension Using Rap Song

The holiday season is a great time to reinforce reading skills. And holiday reading comprehension activities can and should be fun! Let’s help you set up a fun reading activity for your students using our history of winter holidays, rap song.

Play the song for your students and have them listen to the description of each holiday in the song. The song explores the origins of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s Day. As students listen, have them write notes about each holiday.

Next, have them compare the information about each holiday to see what is the same and contrast the information to see what is different. You can even assign students a holiday to take notes on then have them compare and contrast their notes with a student who was assigned a different holiday. You can use your own graphic organizer or download ours for free below.

Make it a competition: which group of students can find the most similarities and differences between two holidays using the song. Or have students find as many similarities between the four holidays mentioned in the song for a whopper of a challenge! And if you think of any other activities, let us know and share them with others in the comments.

Students can then write a text-structure paragraph using transitional words, comparing and contrasting the holidays. They may even add in their own background knowledge to reinforce their connection with the content.

If you would like more holiday reading activities, click here! And remember to get your monthly freebies using the form on the right!

Thanks for reading! More great content is coming soon. Until then, happy teaching! And remember to get your monthly freebies using the form on the right!