Genre: Picture book
A young boy was waiting to hear Santa’s bells on
Christmas Eve, and he hears a train instead gathering all the children who
believe in Santa to come aboard. They go to the north pole and meet Santa,
Santa gifts the young boy silver bells and he thought he lost them on the way
home, but the morning of Christmas, the bells were under the Christmas tree,
anyone who believed in Santa could hear them chime.
Discussion questions:
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Why is it good to believe in something?
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How did the boy lose the silver bells?
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Could his parents hear the chimes? Why/Why not?
Activities:
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Draw Santa’s sleigh, what would he have on it?
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Write a letter to the North Pole
The author Chris Van Allsburg also wrote other interesting books like:
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Jumanji
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Zathura
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Two Bad Ants
Allsburg, C. V. (1985). The Polar Express. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Kelly,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed exploring your literature blog. One of my favorites is your blog about The Polar Express. My favorite holiday is Christmas, so I'm sure you can understand my excitement over this selection.
Two extended literature activities for The Polar Express:
1. Class Timeline Scavenger Hunt
-After reading The Polar Express, hide pre-made strips with all the events of the book on them. During literacy circle, have students find the hidden timeline strips and place them in order on The Polar Express poster board at the front of the class. Once all the strips are found, discuss the timeline and if everything happened in the order that it is placed on the board. This is a great way to have a class discussion about the book while having fun.
2.The Polar Express 2.0/ Student Writing Assignment
-It’s December 24th…. Everyone in your house is sound asleep when suddenly you see a flash of blinding light shining through your bedroom window. It’s a giant train sitting in your front yard waiting to take you to the destination of your dreams… Your assignment is to finish this story. Let your imagination guide your writing. This story can be as whacky and outrageous, or as warm and setimental as you want it to be. Let us see what your Polar Express adventure would entail!