Christmas Worksheets

Reading Comprehension – Holiday

Christmas Worksheets

A reading lesson on the history of Christmas – from its fourth-century origin and the historical Saint Nicholas (270-343) to the 1823 poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas,” the German tradition of the Christmas tree, and the first Christmas card. Comprehension questions follow the reading.

What This Lesson Teaches

Students read a multi-section informational passage on Christmas. The reading begins with the holiday’s historical roots – celebrated since approximately the fourth century, with late December likely chosen to substitute for pagan winter-solstice festivals – and explains why the holiday is observed by both Christians (as a religious commemoration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth) and non-Christians (as a cultural and family tradition).

Additional sections cover the symbols students encounter every December: nativity scenes (Jesus, animals, shepherds, three magi), Santa Claus (traced back to the historical Saint Nicholas, who lived 270-343, and shaped into the modern figure by the 1823 New York poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas”), the Christmas tree (with Martin Luther in Germany credited as the first to bring a tree indoors), and the first Christmas card (created by John Callcott Horsley with the message “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You”).

What Students Practice

• Reading informational text across multiple sections (origin, religious meaning, secular traditions, symbols)
• Social-studies vocabulary – nativity, magi, solstice, saint, tradition
• Connecting historical figures to modern customs – the real Saint Nicholas (270-343) becoming Santa Claus; Martin Luther bringing the first Christmas tree indoors
• Reading historical dates in context – fourth century, 1823 New York poem, John Callcott Horsley’s first Christmas card
• 10 comprehension questions – 5 multiple-choice (recall + inference) and 5 short-answer questions that require returning to the passage
• Distinguishing the religious origin from the secular celebration

How Teachers Use This Worksheet

This is a strong December reading for grades 3-7. Because the passage covers both the religious and the secular sides of Christmas, it works in a wide range of classroom settings – public school social-studies blocks, parochial-school Christmas units, or home-school holiday studies.

• Use as the December anchor reading in a holidays-around-the-world unit
• Pair with Thanksgiving and Halloween for a fall-and-winter holiday cluster
• Read aloud as a whole class for grade 3; assign as guided reading for grades 4-7
• Use the multiple-choice questions for whole-class discussion or as a quick quiz; reserve the short-answer questions (6-10) for written work
• Tie to a research extension – students pick one symbol (the tree, the card, Santa) and research its history further
• Use the answer key page to score quickly, or hand the answer page to students for self-check

Common Student Mistakes to Watch For

• Confusing the historical Saint Nicholas with the modern Santa Claus – the real Nicholas lived in the third and fourth centuries; the flying-reindeer image came from the 1823 poem
• Missing that Christmas predates the modern American traditions – it was first celebrated around the fourth century, more than 1,500 years before the New York poem
• Skimming past the Martin Luther / Christmas tree connection – it appears in the short-answer section and is the highest-leverage detail in question 6
• Treating the holiday as exclusively religious or exclusively secular – the lesson is explicit that both communities celebrate it

Open the Lesson

The full lesson page has the printable PDF, comprehension questions, and answer key for Full Members.

Related Resources

• Christmas Reading Comprehension Lesson – the full lesson page with PDF and answer key
• Thanksgiving Worksheets
• Halloween Worksheets
• Valentine’s Day Worksheets
• Easter Worksheets
• Reading comprehension worksheets hub

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