Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for Shmelf The Hanukkah Elf will find this post helpful. It includes resource recommendations, free teaching ideas, and information about the book. You’ll have everything you need to deliver engaging interactive read aloud lessons based on this story.
With themes of inclusion and responsibility, this Shmelf The Hanukkah Elf picture book by Greg Wolfe is a favorite in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. It will be a big hit in your classroom too! Learn more about this book below!
Engage Your Students with Shmelf The Hanukkah Elf Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of Shmelf The Hanukkah Elf. You can find it in the section below.
- Check out the teaching ideas for reading comprehension strategies, grammar topics and social emotional learning skills that can be taught using this children’s book.
- Download the book companion to make lesson planning simple with Shmelf The Hanukkah Elf reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
SHMELF THE HANUKKAH ELF SUMMARY
The story Shmelf the Hanukkah Elf is about an elf named Shmelf who works in Santa’s workshop. Shmelf’s job is to check the naughty and nice list. Shmelf discovers that there are lots of boys and girls who should get presents but aren’t. He learns that those children are Jewish and celebrate Hanukkah.
Shmelf goes to the home of a Jewish family to learn about Hanukkah and its different traditions. When Shmelf returns to the North Pole, he tells Santa everything he learned and Santa decides to make him Shmelf the Hanukkah Elf.
SHMELF THE HANUKKAH ELF LESSON PLAN IDEAS
Each of our 400+ Starts With a Story book companions come with a teacher’s guide to make lesson planning quick and easy, printable worksheets and digital resources that cover ALL of the standards-based reading comprehension skills.
When it comes to writing lesson plans and finding activities for Shmelf The Hanukkah Elf, we’ve already done all of the heavy lifting for you.
We found this book was especially good at teaching the topics listed below.
READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
The text-based Shmelf The Hanukkah Elf reading comprehension questions focus on:
- rhyme | rhythm | repetition
- analyzing setting
- author’s purpose
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- inclusion
- responsibility
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- common and proper nouns
- compound words
- contractions
SHMELF THE HANUKKAH ELF ACTIVITIES
You’ll receive all of the following resources aligned to the story:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
YOU HAVE 2 OPTIONS! WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK COMPANION?
BOOK INFO FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHERS
What are the reading levels for Shmelf The Hanukkah Elf?
- Lexile® Measure: N/A
- Guided Reading Level: N/A
- DRA Level: N/A
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): N/A
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by Greg Wolfe. It was illustrated by Howard McWilliam.
What genre is Shmelf The Hanukkah Elf?
It is a fiction book. You may want to check out our genre activities or read our blog post, How to Teach Genre to Elementary Students.
How many pages are in the book?
The story is 32 pages long.
