Featured December Teaching Resources
December Teaching Resources for Your Classroom
December is a month filled with joy, reflection, and cultural traditions. To support educators with meaningful, easy-to-implement literacy experiences, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) has developed a set of free teaching resources for December, gathering them all in one place. This hub includes holiday activities, winter-themed book collections, featured resources from Skybrary, RIF’s trusted kids' reading app, standards-aligned lesson plans, and educator-friendly resources, helping teachers quickly find what they need during a busy time of year.
December Teaching Resources and Themes
Monthly Theme: Celebration
December brings a unique opportunity to explore celebrations of light, community, giving, and reflection. This month’s theme encourages students to learn how people honor traditions and share joy throughout the winter season.
Suggested Focus Points
Exploring cultural celebrations
Understanding traditions surrounding light
The spirit of giving and kindness
Observing and appreciating the winter environment
December Book Collections
Explore our themed book collections and free accompanying reading resources.
Celebration of Light Book Collection
Invite children to explore how light is celebrated across different cultures. As they read, they’ll notice shared themes and learn why light is a meaningful symbol in traditions around the world.
Rally to Read: Celebration Collection
As part of the Rally to Read reading challenge, RIF has curated this book collection to help children explore the theme of celebration. Use these titles to spark meaningful conversations and extend learning in the classroom and at home.
Winter’s Day Book Collection
Inside on a cold winter day? Browse our winter-themed lessons, activities, puzzles, read-alouds, and leveled passages aligned to classic seasonal children’s books.
Christmas Collection
Take a look at these books to add some extra Christmas magic to your season.
Curriculum & Standards Alignment
All RIF teaching resources support Common Core State Standards, early reading development and ongoing reading engagement. RIF’s free December literacy activities help students practice:
Identifying key details in informational and literary texts
Comparing traditions across cultures
Building vocabulary around winter and celebration themes
Writing personal narratives and reflections
Engaging in meaningful collaborative discussions
Social and emotional learning (SEL) integration focused on community and kindness
Whether you use Wit & Wisdom, EL Education, Amplify CKLA, or other similar curricula, RIF resources help you enrich learning with adaptable units and flexible tools for your students.
Skybrary Book Feature: Winter Trees
December’s featured Skybrary book is Winter Trees, a beautifully illustrated guide that invites young readers to explore and identify trees during the winter season.
What Students Will Learn
How to observe seasonal changes in nature
Ways to identify trees by their bark, shape, and branches
New vocabulary tied to winter landscapes
Appreciation for the natural world in colder months
Support Materials
Access the full suite of activities, guides, and resources for Winter Trees. You can enjoy Winter Trees on Skybrary, RIF’s trusted kids reading app. Simply create an account on the Skybrary website or download the Skybrary app from the Apple App Store to explore this title and hundreds more.
Literacy Central Teaching Resources
RIF’s Literacy Central is a comprehensive online platform offering free reading resources for educators, families, and students. It serves as a one-stop shop for lesson plans, activities, support materials, and book-specific tools that make literacy instruction easier and more engaging.
Support literacy instruction all month long with classroom-ready materials:
Lessons connected to holiday and winter themes
Vocabulary builders and reading passages
Seasonal writing prompts
SEL-based gratitude and reflection activities
Printable extension activities and worksheets
Teaching Resource Feature: Graphic Organizer Collection
This month’s featured educator tool is the Graphic Organizer Collection, a versatile set of templates that help students break down texts, organize ideas, and deepen comprehension. Use these organizers for:
Story structure
Compare/contrast
Sequencing
Vocabulary development
Main idea and details
Winter-themed reading and writing tasks
Free Printable Teaching Resources
This month, check out RIF’s Celebration of Light Calendar. Discover daily seasonal reading activities this month. Select any day to find printable resources you can use right away.
Enhance Classroom Reading with Read-Aloud Videos
Read-alouds are a powerful way to build children’s vocabulary, comprehension, and love of reading. RIF’s read-aloud video collection makes it easy for teachers to introduce new stories, authors, and topics while supporting any lesson or classroom theme.
Teachers can also access additional read-alouds and free literacy activities through Rally to Read, RIF’s six-month reading challenge designed to inspire and motivate young readers. Rally to Read shares exciting monthly themes, free online read-alouds from your favorite authors, and lots of engaging, literacy-building reading activities.
December Webinars & Professional Learning
RIF hosts webinars all year long to equip parents and educators with practical strategies and helpful literacy resources. Sessions are hosted by RIF’s expert staff and guests including professors, authors, and researchers, covering topics like reading aloud, fostering a love of books, and navigating RIF programs. All webinars are saved in our archive for easy on-demand viewing.
Tips for Social & Classroom Engagement
Classroom Ideas
Create a “Celebration Wall” where students share family traditions
Host a Winter Nature Walk inspired by Winter Trees
Use graphic organizers to compare winter holidays
Celebrate a Classroom Kindness Week