speech and language teaching concepts for How to Catch a Santa Claus in speech therapy
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/lf/ final (Elf)
/s/ initial (Santa)

Themes:

Christmas

Book Details:
Diverse Characters: N/A
Age Recommendation: Elementary, Late Elementary

How to Catch Santa Claus

By Alice Walstead

Do you have what it takes to catch jolly old St. Nicholas himself? Santa Claus is getting ready to deliver presents to children around the world, but the wily How to Catch Kids have set traps galore! With the help of his trusty Reindeer and Elf, Santa will have to use all his festive magic to avoid being caught.

This fun rhyming Christmas book pairs well with How to Catch an Elf can be used in speech therapy to address rich vocabulary. It is also great for noticing character expressions as well as for sequencing! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using How to Catch Santa Claus in speech therapy below: 

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

vocabulary​
problem solving​
sequencing​
illustration study​
inferencing​
verbs (actions)
phonological awareness​

Narrative Concepts:

complete episode

Sequencing:

order of elf’s traps to try to catch Santa

Vocabulary:

trap, legend, daylight, time zones, clever, distracted, north pole, festive, cozy, decked out, odd, surprise, important, twist, smirk, plot, snagged, impressive, done, reveal

Grammar:

verbs (actions)

Text Features:

bold letters
capitals
change in font type
change in font color
exclamation points
increase in font size
dashes

Phonological Awareness:

rhyming

Inferencing:

How do the elves feel each time they get caught?
Why is the elf laughing?
Notice Santa’s hand “pushing” elf away. What does that mean?
What does Santa think about all of the traps?
How does elf feel about the Santa Catcher 5000?
Why did Santa tell elf to put the gifts under the tree?

Notice character expressions and body language.

Predicting:

What will they use to try to catch him? What would you use?

Problem Solving:

How will Santa manage to escape each trap?

If you are interested in seeing other Christmas books to use in therapy, then check out the Seasonal Teaching Points Book List for a printable copy.