The Polar Express Unit Study
All aboard for a magical learning adventure with a Polar Express unit study! If you haven’t already read or seen the Polar Express book or movie, you’re missing out on a sweet holiday tradition.
Imagine transforming your learning environment into the Polar Express! In our city, we even have a train that runs during the Christmas season, offering a complete Polar Express experience. When I was teaching, we’d take our class to the IMAX theater every December to see the movie. Upon returning to the classroom, each student found a silver bell waiting on their desk. Those adorable first graders were captivated by the magic.
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If you don’t own the book or want to take a trip to the library, you can grab it below. Or catch the reading of the book here.
Practice Reading Comprehension and Listening
After you have read or listened to the story, have your student work on their story mapping skills by doing the story map. If you haven’t already spent some time discussing with your student the vocabulary of story mapping, do that first. Talk about the setting and what that looks like in this story and use examples from other stories that you may have read together. Fill in the characters, problem and then write about how the problem was solved by the end of the book.
Read the book and Summarize
Once they have filled out each of the story map components, they can then practice their comprehension by explaining what happened at the beginning, middle and end of the story.
Creative Writing with the Polar Express
Get your student’s imagination going by having them imagine what would happen if they were woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of jingle bells. Have them tell their story on the Polar Express writing paper.
And then, if you dare- do this worksheet twice. Print it off first and have your student write out how they would make hot chocolate and then let them make it, using the directions. Then have them write down the directions again if they left out any steps the first time, make sure they include them this time.
Polar Express Math Lessons
Then switch gears and work on some math skills with this telling time matching worksheet and practice number order with the Polar Express Tickets worksheet.
More Ideas to study The Polar Express
Reading and Analyzing the Book: Dive deep into the story, exploring themes of belief, friendship, and the spirit of Christmas.
Creative Writing: Encourage children to write their own Polar Express adventures or letters to Santa. Science Experiments: Explore the science of sound with bells, or the physics of train travel.
Hot Chocolate Science: What makes the perfect cup of hot chocolate? Experiment with different temperatures and ingredients.
Geography: Map the Polar Express journey and learn about the North Pole.
Arts and Crafts: Create your own silver bells, design Polar Express tickets, or paint winter wonderlands.
Grab this Unit Study Below
Looking for more Winter Fun Activities? Check out these great resources
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Are you looking for more Grab and Go Holiday Lessons? Check these out!
Angela is the Homeschool Encourager for the Overwhelmed & Under-Caffeinated and the Chaos-to-Confidence Specialist behind Schooling with Grace. With a no-fluff approach, a dash of humor, and a whole lot of heart, she helps homeschool moms cut through the chaos, ditch unrealistic expectations, and teach with confidence.