Winter Fun with Winter Books

Let it Snow!

One of the reasons I live in the Arizona desert is the snow-free winters. I don’t hate snow, I just don’t want to live with it. But these snow-free winters mean a lot of our students have never seen snow and that’s a shame because the snow can be a lot of fun. 

So…. I use books to bring the fun of snow into the classroom without living in the cold and mess!  

Thomas’ Snowsuit by Robert Munsch, Very funny book about the difficulties of putting on a snowsuit.  (You can listen to the author the book aloud on his website!)

The Story of Snow by Mark Cassino. This link will take you to a free teacher's guide!

Snow by Cynthia Rylant,  a young girl enjoys a day in the snow. this link will take you to a brief activity guide for the book.

Snow Day by Lester Laminack, This delightful story puts a twist on "Snow Day."

A Perfect Day by Carin Berger, This book paints a picture of a perfect day in the snow.

Snowballs by Lois Ehlert In this beautiful books students will enjoy the collages used to make the pictures.  The link goes lesson ideas for this book.

Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner, A wonderful informational text about life over and under the snow. The link will take you to lesson ideas.

Blizzard by John Rocco This book is based on true experiences by the author.  The link will take you to a book trailer.  

The Missing Mitten Mystery bySteven Kellogg, After a day of playing in the snow a little girl discovers one of her mittens is missing!  Where could it be?  The link goes to a site with free lesson ideas.

Polar Bears by Gail Gibbons Another wonderful book filled with interesting facts about these giants of the north.

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen In this nighttime adventure a girl and her father go searching for owls on a moonlit winter night. The link takes you to lesson plan suggestions.

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Brigg,  (the link takes you to Snowflake Bentley's official website)  I saved my favorite book for last.  This beautiful book was introduced to me by a good friend who lives in Vermont.  One year she sent me the book along with a snowflake print from Bentley's collection as a Christmas gift.  I instantly fell in love with the book and used it in my classroom every year.  
You can download a free activity to go along with this very special book.

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Snow Day!

Snow Day!

Jessica from Literacy Spark posted this topic on her blog and I thought it sounded fun, even for someone who doesn't live in the snow anymore.  I have lots and lots of wonderful memories of staying home from school because of the snow piled up outside. 

Here in the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona we don't ever have a snow day.  I kind of miss them from growing up in Missouri. What a treat to get up and find out you don't have to go to school that day.  I don't know if the kids or teachers liked it more.  What was funny, we usually drove out to visit our cousins who lived just outside of town to play in the snow with them!  So much for hazardous driving conditions.

Since we don't have school canceled for any reason out here one of my colleagues came up with a really fun idea to give her students a snow day.  She usually has this day the week before winter break when the kids can't focus very well anyway.  The kids come to school in their pjs because they get to "sleep in" on a snow day.  Other activities through out the day include building forts with blankets, pillows, desks and chairs and snowball fights with soft fuzzy balls or crumpled up paper.  The kids get to eat icicles which are otter pops hanging from a rope strung between two posts in the outside hallway.  The kids always have a great day with their snow activities.

This idea inspired me to put together a packet of activities for a snow day.  You can have the activities ready to go on days when the students are stuck inside with the bitter cold and snow outside.  Or, kids in the warmer climates will enjoy using them on pretend cold and snowy days.

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Snowman Ideas

An Avalanche of Snowman Ideas

  Brrr!  Its cold outside.  Well, not really.  Here in the deserts of Arizona we like to pretend it's cold outside.  One way we get in the winter spirit is to bring some fun "frosty" activities into your classroom.

Who doesn't love snowmen!  I grew up in the Midwest and remember spending the day outside building a snowman and then clomp, clomp, clomping back into the kitchen where my mom would pour me a cup of hot chocolate.

 

 

Since my students can't build snowmen outside, we do it in our classroom.  My favorite is the snowman fence.

1. Get a free paint stick for every student from your local home store.

2. Students paint the sticks white.

3. They can use markers for the eyes, nose and mouth.

4. Cut off the finger tip from a knit glove (I buy the really cheap ones from Walmart or Walgreens) This will be the knit hat. Top off the hat by gluing a small pom pom at the top.

5. For the scarf cut strips from any scrap material. Glue a few colorful buttons down the front.

6. The snowmen are adorable on their own but I taped them to two long board (painted white) and then set them in my window. I love them so much I didn't let the kids take them home until the end of February!

 

Check out these snowman crafting ideas on my Pinterest board.

http://www.pinterest.com/dsrtdeb/let-it-snow/

 

Love these crystal snowflakes.  They’re super easy and looked so sparkly hanging in front of our windows.

They’re super easy and looked so sparkly hanging in front of our windows.

For the crystal snowflakes you’ll need:

pipe cleaners, 5 for each student, 3 long pieces and 2 cut into smaller pieces

string

pencil

wide-mouth jar, one for each student

Borax

boiling water 

Steps

1.  Twist three pipe cleaners in the center to form the six sides of the snowflake.  Cut (with wire cutters) three pipe cleaners in half.  Twist each of these smaller pieces around the end of the original six sides.  This adds a little more dimension to the snowflake.  Tie a string around one end of the snowflake and one around the pencil.  Hang it down into the jar to test the length.

2.  Add boiling water to the jar.  Let students stir in about 3 tablespoons of borax.  Let then stir very gently until the borax is dissolved.  You may need to add more borax.  The ration is about 3 T borax for every cup of water.

3.  Now hang the snowflake in the jar.  Let it cool overnight.  The next morning you should have beautiful crystals on the snowflake.  If the crystal didn’t form you probably didn’t have enough borax in the water.

 

Need a fun writing idea?  Try this creative snowman writing prompt.



 

 

 

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