The Snowy Day
by: Ezra Jack Keates
This classic book is still one of my favorites to read in the winter, and especially during a
particularly snowy week. It's a simple and sweet, and young children are sure to connect with the experiences of the young boy in the snow.
Read-Aloud Tips: The illustrations in this book help to tell the story just as much as the text. Asking questions while you read can help draw the students attention to the illustrations, and make connections within the story. For example, I usually ask about the boy's footprints. We act out walking with our toes pointed in and out, and then when his two tracks turn into three, I ask what could be making the other track in the snow? The ending is another great time to make predictions and inferences about what is happening in the story. Although most kids are quick to guess that the snow melts, we often spend time discussing the connection between that and his pocket being wet.
Literacy Connection: Writing trays are a great sensory way to practice fine motor and handwriting skills. We filled this one with epsom salt to pretend like we were making tracks in the snow, just like in the story.
Extension Art Activity: I have always loved the colorful depiction of the snow and snowflakes, contrasted with the bright colors of the boy and his neighborhood. We spent three days creating this art project inspired by the illustrations in this book.
Step One: Background Snow
We mixed colors into shaving cream, and then either made prints with our paper or scooped the colorful "snow" onto the paper, and then scraped it off to leave behind a marbled effect.
Some kids turned it into an even deeper sensory experience by digging in with their hands.
Messy and fun!
Step Two: Snow Hill
After the prints had dried, we drew a curvy line onto the paper, and then cut it to make our snow hills. This was followed by gluing it onto a blue paper for the rest of our background.
Step Three: Snowy Layer
Then we used homemade snowflake stamps, duplos blocks, and a bumpy roller to add a layer of snow onto our pictures.
Step Four: Add Yourself!
We used
this template to create some little people that the kids could color and add to their pictures. Some kids also chose to cut out circles and make a snowman.
I just love how these turned out- from the beautiful colors to the fact that each child was able to create and explore these processes in their own way. It was such a fun way to connect to this sweet story.
