Are you looking for holiday reading comprehension passages and questions for the week before Winter Break or the last day before Christmas break? This winter holiday activities middle school resource includes a Christmas scavenger hunt and a Christmas ELA escape room. In this two-part Christmas reading game, students will read short passages about holiday traditions and celebrations in 10 countries around the world, use their new knowledge to solve the Christmas scavenger hunt, and then complete the Christmas escape room ELA puzzles.
Get students engaged in this nonfiction winter holidays reading comprehension activity that centers around students saving the town holiday festival after someone steals the festival’s famous Christmas lights and leaves a mysterious note with a thrilling mission.
In the first activity, students will work together in a scavenger hunt activity to find the location of the missing holiday lights. Students must search and read ten reading passages to find all 10 code words. Once all the codes have been found, they will have to use them to unscramble and create the final answer code that reveals the location of the lights.
In the second activity, students will find that the thief has set a trap for them at the location of the lights. Once they enter the room, they will be locked in and must solve nine reading comprehension word and logic puzzles to reveal the four-digit code that will help them escape with the lights. All puzzles are text-dependent and use information from the ten reading passages from the scavenger hunt activity.
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Resource:
✅ Teacher Guide with Clear Directions & Tips
✅ Strategies and Activities to Promote Student Collaboration
✅ Student-Centered Activities: Let Your Students Do the Thinking!
✅ Covers ELA Reading Informational Texts Skills
✅ No Prep-Just Print and Implement!
► What’s Included:
➀ Teacher Tips and Suggestions Guide + Set-Up Instructions
➁ PART ONE: Holiday Traditions Around the World Scavenger Hunt
- Teacher and Student Instructions
- Scavenger Hunt Mission: Save the Holiday Festival’s Lights!
- 10 Nonfiction Reading Passages
- 10 Code Word Questions
- Student Recording Sheet and Answer Key
- Final Answer Code (Unscramble Letters Puzzle)
- First Note from the Thief
➂ PART TWO: Holiday Traditions Around the World Escape Room
- Teacher and Student Instructions
- Second Note from the Thief (New Objective in Mission)
- Nine Reading Comprehension Word and Logic Puzzles
- Task #1: Line-W-L
- Task #2: Directional
- Task #3: Cryptogram
- Task #4: TXT MSG
- Task #5: Polybius
- Task #6: Center Stage
- Task #7: Missing X
- Task #8: Hint Search
- Task #9: Extract
- Student Recording Sheet and Answer Key
- Hint Cards for Each Puzzle
- Third Note from the Thief (Identity+Motive Reveal)
➃ Lesson Powerpoint (EDITABLE)
➄ Warm-Up and Exit Tickets
✋ How Can You Use This Scavenger Hunt + Escape Room?
-Before Winter Break Activity
-After Winter Break Activity
-ELA Activities After Winter Break
-December Community Building
-Middle School Sub Plans
-Early Finishers Activities for Middle School
