12 Days of Christmas Worksheets

About this resource

Count, add, rhyme and read with the twelve gifts of an old counting carol. This is a complete kit for one theme, built for the table where children need different amounts of support. It starts with a Twelve Days Chart: twelve cards, each with the day number, the ordinal word (first to twelfth) and its own picture, from a partridge in a pear tree to twelve drummers drumming. Children then count groups of pictures, fill in the missing number, put numbers in order, add two groups, solve short stories, match first to twelfth to a number, circle the word that rhymes, read two short passages, fill in words, write about a gift of their own, draw, and cut and paste onto sort mats. It comes with a tracker, a class grid and a family update, so nothing has to be written from scratch.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (32 pages)

• 17 student pages in 13 page types: Twelve Days Chart, Count the Gifts, Missing Number, Number Order, Add the Gifts, Gift Math Stories, Which Day?, Rhyme Time, Read and Answer, Fill It In, My 12 Days, Draw It, and Cut and Paste
• 81 scored items on 15 pages, every answer read from the data behind the page, never typed by hand
• 12 days on the chart, each with a number, an ordinal word and a picture
• 5 math page types (count, missing number, order, add, stories) and 5 literacy page types (ordinal words, rhyme, read, fill in, write)
• 2 short reading passages (A Counting Song, Counting the Gifts) with 3 questions each
• 24 cut-and-paste pieces on 3 sort mats (8 rhyme words, 8 pictures, 8 numbers), each into two labeled boxes
• 2 answer keys, generated from the same data as the student pages
• 1 tracker (page, page type, items right, date) and 1 whole-class progress grid
• 1 team note (a hand-off page between team meetings) and 1 home page
• 1 filled example (an invented student), 1 phrase bank (16 observable-language starters), 1 binder cover and 6 divider tabs with a spine label to cut out
• Start Here and a how-to-read-a-page page

The Page Types, Easiest First

1. Twelve Days Chart (1 dot): twelve picture cards, and two lines for the child to write the gift on day 5 and day 12.

2. Count the Gifts (1 dot): five groups of pictures from 3 to 12. Count and write how many.

3. Missing Number (1 dot): six rows of four numbers, counting up or down, one is a box to fill.

4. Number Order (2 dots): five rows of three numbers. Write them from smallest to biggest.

5. Add the Gifts (2 dots): six rows with two groups of pictures, a plus, an equals and a box. No sum is over 12.

6. Gift Math Stories (3 dots): five short add and take-away stories, with a box for each answer.

7. Which Day? (2 dots): "Find the eighth day. Which number is it?" with four number choices.

8. Rhyme Time (2 dots): "Which word rhymes with ring?" with four word choices.

9. Read and Answer, 2 pages (2 or 3 dots): a short passage and three questions, each with three lettered choices.

10. Fill It In, 2 pages (2 or 3 dots): Set A writes the ordinal word for a day from a box of eight; Set B finishes a sentence from a box of eight (three words are not used).

11. My 12 Days (3 dots): four sentence starters on handwriting lines and a big box to draw in. Any gift is fine, real or make-believe.

12. Draw It (3 dots): read a sentence such as "Draw 7 swans." and draw that many, in four big boxes.

13. Cut and Paste, 3 pages (1, 2 or 3 dots): a big two-box sort mat and a block of 8 pieces that touch edge to edge, so cutting is a few straight lines. Paste 1 sorts rhyme words (rhymes with hen, rhymes with ring); Paste 2 sorts pictures into Birds and Not birds; Paste 3 sorts numbers into less than 6 and more than 6.

A Counting Theme, Not A Religious Lesson

Only the gift names of the old carol are used as a theme for numbers 1 to 12; none of the song's words are quoted. There is no devotional text, no story told as belief, and no date for Christmas itself. Families celebrate in many ways and not every family celebrates Christmas, so the writing page takes any gift a child likes. The pictures are our own drawings: a pear, a dove, a hen, a calling bird, a gold ring, a goose, a swan, a maid, a lady, a lord, a pipe and a drum.

Built For The Child Holding The Page

A big "My name" line, one short instruction, large rounded type, big answer boxes, and dots (not words or colors) to show which level a page is. Nothing on a student page is written for an adult. The writing lines have a top line, a dashed middle and a base line, and the drawing boxes are about two inches tall so there is room to work. The file prints clean in black and white.

No Guessing The Answer

Wherever a child picks among printed spots (which number, which rhyming word, which lettered choice is right, the order of the pieces on the cut strip), the position of the right answer is checked so it does not sit in the same spot three times in a row. Every rhyme and every fill-in sentence fits one answer.

Type In, Or Print

The name line and every answer box are type-in fields in any PDF reader: click one, type, then save. The same goes for the tracker, the class grid, the team note and the home page. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides or PowerPoint file.

Who This Is For

Kindergarten through grade 3 classrooms, self-contained and resource rooms, and any teacher adding a December math and literacy center, small group or morning work folder. The reading is short and simple, and the teacher can read each passage aloud.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A set of counting, number, word and reading worksheets built on a December theme, with the record-keeping around it. It is not a religious lesson, a timed test, a screener, a clinical tool, or a claim about any student's age or rate of progress. There is no IEP goal language or eligibility wording anywhere in the file.