Short Story Narrative: Christmas in the Barn

This resource is perfect for the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Enclosed you will find five pages of a short narrative story that has a certain rhyme and rhythm to it that students will enjoy! It is a story told from a young girl’s point of view about how she wishes for a horse for Christmas. She is reminded in the story that she will still have a great Christmas even if she doesn’t get a horse; however, she is convinced that one secretly hides in the barn for her. Her mom reminds her about many other children whose parents might very well be away for Christmas. This is a very old Christmas story and was published through Scholastic in 1968. Again, the students will love many teaching and learning activities associated with the story! This story lends itself to several teaching and learning endeavors such as: (1) the use of personification; (2) great vocabulary instruction; (3) sequencing; (4) point of view; (5) Descriptive Writing; (6) research and investigation of several different states discussed in the story; (7) the use of similes to make comparisons; and (8) making predictions about what will happen next in the story based on the context clues provided!