"A Visit from St. Nicholas", better known by its first line, was first printed in a newspaper in Troy, New York, in 1823, with no name on it. It gave Santa Claus eight tiny reindeer to pull his sleigh, and gave the reindeer their names. Its strong beat and rhyming pairs make it a good poem to read aloud, and its old words, such as coursers and droll, give children a puzzle to work out.
Nine pages. Pages 1 to 3 are the poem in three parts, its lines numbered from 1 to 56, as Moore printed it in his book of 1844, old spellings and all. Page 4 is a short text on where the poem came from, with questions. Page 5 finds rhyming pairs by line number, and page 6 matches six old words to their meanings. Page 7 puts six events of the night in order, page 8 asks for the eight reindeer in ABC order, and page 9 is lines to copy.
Read the poem aloud and clap its beat. Give each part to a group to practice and perform. Before page 6, let children guess each old word from the lines around it, then check with the match.
Read the poem together on a December night, taking turns line by line. Ask your child to find words that rhyme and words they have never heard.
The whole of "A Visit from St. Nicholas", first printed in 1823, in three numbered parts, with pages on its rhymes, old words and history. Children find rhyming pairs by line number, match old words to their meanings, put the night in order, write the reindeer in ABC order and learn where the poem came from.
Tell us what to make next, or build your own with a worksheet maker.
This worksheet is free to download, print, copy, and hand out in your classroom or at home. You do not need to create an account, and there are no watermarks on the PDF.
