December 23 reading ideas
Finding reading ideas for this date…
Finding reading ideas for this date…
Champollion’s birthday and the 1947 transistor demonstration connect December 23 with deciphering writing and controlling electrical signals. Spiced-cookie readings and the bald eagle offer additional date-linked choices.
Special date
Pfeffernüsse Day is an informal food observance. This reading traces gingerbread from older spiced honey cakes to European baked treats and later holiday customs. In the fictional mix-up, the painted ornaments are decorations, not food.
5 reading resources
Use Food History Reading Passages as related background or for comparison.
Open collectionStudents can build a timeline showing how ingredients, tools, and baking customs changed across the passage’s historical periods.
Read passageStudents can compare the passage’s historical information with a modern opinion about gingerbread’s flavor and decoration.
Read passageRead a fictional spice-label mix-up and distinguish the tree ornaments made from the first batch from the second batch of edible cookies.
Read passageOn this date in history · 2024
Public Law 118–206, approved December 23, 2024, formally designated the bald eagle as the U.S. national bird. Pair that legal milestone with a reading about the species’ conservation recovery, distinguishing national symbolism from protection laws.
4 reading resources
Explore this topic through Bird Reading Passages.
Open collectionUse Endangered Animals and Conservation Reading Passages as related background or for comparison.
Open collectionUse Washington's Wildlife Wonders as related background or for comparison.
Read passageExplain causes of the bald eagle’s decline and recovery, then distinguish conservation measures from the separate 2024 national-bird designation.
Read passageOn this date in history · 1790
Jean-François Champollion was born on December 23, 1790. Compare his discoveries with earlier and later contributions to deciphering Egyptian scripts.
Explain why comparisons across scripts, names and inscriptions were needed to test a reading.
Read passageOn this date in history · 1947
On December 23, 1947, Bardeen and Brattain demonstrated the point-contact transistor to Bell Labs officials, after earlier successful experiments.
Explain how a small electrical signal can control a larger flow without creating energy.
Read passageMore reading for this time of year, alongside today’s special dates.
6 reading resources
Christmas reading for the December 1–25 teaching window, alongside the day’s own date-specific topics.
Explore themeChristmas reading for the December 1–25 teaching window, alongside the day’s own date-specific topics.
Open collectionChristmas reading for the December 1–25 teaching window, alongside the day’s own date-specific topics.
Open collectionChristmas reading for the December 1–25 teaching window, alongside the day’s own date-specific topics.
Open collectionChristmas reading for the December 1–25 teaching window, alongside the day’s own date-specific topics.
Open collectionChristmas reading for the December 1–25 teaching window, alongside the day’s own date-specific topics.
Open collectionYour topic. Your level.
Have another idea for today’s lesson? Let Pico create an AI-assisted passage with questions and an illustration. Choose the topic and reading level in the creator.
Read the gingerbread history for background on ingredients, tools, and seasonal baking customs. Students can make a simple timeline, then compare the passage’s historical details with an opinion about cookies.
In Peppery Cookie Surprise, follow the fictional problem caused by a spice-label mix-up. Notice which batch becomes decorations and which is edible in the story; do not treat the passage as a factual account of Pfeffernüsse or the observance’s origin.
Read Why the Bald Eagle Came Back to explain the bird’s decline and recovery. Public Law 118–206 was approved on December 23, 2024, formally naming the national bird. That designation is a separate event from the earlier conservation laws described in the passage.
For Jean-François Champollion’s December 23 birthday, How Scholars Learned to Read Hieroglyphs explains why scholars needed several inscriptions and other researchers’ contributions. Have readers distinguish two languages from three scripts and explain why one matching sign was not enough evidence.
December 23 also marks the 1947 Bell Labs demonstration of the point-contact transistor. The Tiny Device That Changed Electronics distinguishes that demonstration from earlier successful experiments. Use the switch comparison to explain control: energy comes from a power source, not from a transistor acting like a battery.
