The Nutcracker Christmas Story | Reading Passage with Audio
by English with Imagination © 2026
Premier Publisher
Price: $2.5 USD
Subjects: christmas,reading,literature,fluency,litReadingComprehension,englishSecondLanguage
Grades: 1,2,3,4,5
Description
A little girl receives a special present on Christmas Eve. She falls asleep by the Christmas tree and wakes up in a world of magic and adventure. This is the classic fairy tale "The Nutcracker", illustrated with photos that include scenes from Tchaikovsky's ballet. The ebook features audio so that children can listen as they read along. The story is adapted for English learners and illustrated with real photos that will capture their imaginations. You can make the story available in learning centers, project it on the whiteboard for whole-class instruction or assign it for children to practice reading at home. I wrote this story for my students, who are learning English as a foreign language in elementary school. I wanted some ebooks that I could send them to practice reading at home. I found ebooks to buy for my classroom, but none that I could send to families. So I wrote some myself! Meets the following Common Core Standard: CCSS.ELA Reading Literature: .RL.3.2: Recount stories, including fables, folktales and myths from diverse cultures.
Acknowledgements
Copyright © Lauren Hamilton Sáez, English with Imagination, 2026. Based on the following public domain works: - "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" by E.T.A. Hoffman - "The Tale of a Nutcracker" by Alexandre Dumas - "The Nutcracker Ballet" by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Images licensed from Alamy, Deposit Photos, and Canva Pro.