Whether you live in the icy North or amongst swaying palm trees, you’ve likely had a recent encounter with snow. Perhaps it was just in a photo on a holiday card or an image in a movie. Or, like me, you encountered snow this very morning as you shoveled your walk.
It’s December and a great time to read and learn with students about the fascinating phenomenon of snow. Picture books and discussions about snow can dovetail with science, health, art, music, English language arts, and history lessons for students of varied ages. Explore the following online resources to bring both online multimedia resources and picture books about snow into your curriculum.
History/Science/Biography: Share with students the fascinating biography of Wilson Bentley who intensely studied and photographed snowflakes throughout his life. Listen to this Book Reading and explore the Caldecott-winning book Snowflake Bentley (Houghton, 1998).
Music: Use this Book Guide to perform a participatory “group reading” of the book Snow Music (Greenwillow, 2003) by Newbery Award winning author Lynne Rae Perkins. Students make music and sounds to accompany the story being read aloud.
Art: Accompany a reading of the Caldecott-winning book The Snowy Day (Viking, 1962) with the collage and critical thinking activities outlined in this Book Guide. Discuss collage as a picture book illustration technique, compare and contrast collage with other illustration techniques.
English Language Arts: Perform Reader’s Theater of Lois Ehlert’s Snowballs (Harcourt, 1995). Assign parts and have students perform the book aloud with this script.
English Language Arts/Health: Enjoy the fun sound effects and repetition in this Book Reading of Froggy Gets Dressed (Puffin, 1992). Discuss the importance of dressing appropriately for the weather.
Science: Listen to this Book Reading from The Big Snow (Macmillan, 1948) and then explore the illustrations in this Caldecott-winning book. Discuss how animals prepare for winter.
Art/Health/Science: Read Caldecott Honor Book Snow (FSG, 1998) by Uri Shulevitz and try out the cross-curricular activities in this Book Guide.
What are your favorite books and activities that focus on snow? Leave a comment below this post to share your ideas with other educators.
Posted by Danika Brubaker, MLS, Web 2.0 Content Producer
Great collection of books and activities. We subscribe to TeachingBooks.net and are glad.
Hi Allison,
Thanks so much for your comment. I’m glad this post was useful to you and hope we can continue to provide relevant resources for you and your colleagues.
Please contact us any time with questions, suggestions, or to let us know which authors and books you’d like to see more online resources for via TeachingBooks.net.
Thanks again and best regards,
Danika Brubaker, Web 2.0 Content Producer
Terrific suggestions! Thank you. Even if there’s currently nothing in the TB database about these next two books, I suggest adding “Oh!” by Kevin Henkes and Laura Dronzek (Greenwillow, 1999) to your general list of picture books about Snow. This lovely, quiet picture book captures perfectly the wonder and pleasure of a snowfall. And so does “Our Snowman” by M.B. Goffstein (Harper, 1986)for anyone lucky enough to have a copy. Warmly, Ginny
You can also visit our website for illustrations fresh out of the printer.
Wow! Here is such good collection of books. Thanks for sharing this nice post.