During our winter theme week I have many favorite winter books and songs to share with my students. Some of them work well with a hibernation theme as well.
I have several felt and magnet sets to go with some of these winter books that I will share sources for below. Photos of book covers will lead you to Amazon. If you purchase through the link I will get a few cents as an affiliate link. These are just a few of the many great winter themed books out there.
Winter Books
The Mitten by Jan Brett is a classic winter tale with incredibly beautiful and detailed illustrations.
To go along with this story I created a white mitten on my knitting loom. You can find a pattern here if you have a loom. I used photos of animals from 1+1+1=1 that I laminated to put into the mitten as we retell the story. Animal figures to go in the mitten are one my wish list.
Other activities related to The Mitten that I have used include:
Mitten Character Classification from Pre-K Pages
The Mitten Letter Mazes from 1+1+1=1
Jan Brett’s Mitten Retelling Pieces with Mitten
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats is another classic must read. The students I teach do not live in a city, so we discussed what told us that he lived in an apartment building as opposed to a house or townhouse.
Story Retelling Cards — These are not the exact same ones I have, but are similar.
The Jacket I Wear in the Snow by Shirley Neitzel is one I use to teach the American Sign Language for our winter clothing words. As I read I don’t say the word after the first time and just sign it. The students sign and/or call out the word to finish the phrase.
The Jacket I Wear in the Snow felt board pieces (as well as other printables)
Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London is one of the many Froggy books we read during the year. This is another book that I use to reinforce American Sign Language signs.
Story Retelling Pieces at Kizclub
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen is a great calm book to read aloud. It shares a night adventure between a child and father looking for owls at night. Each page has hidden animals to watch for.
A Silly Snowy Day by Michael Coleman is a fun story about a tortoise who wants to go out in the snow even though he should be hibernating.
Curious George Snowy Day by H.A. Rey is familiar to many students. Several of my students remembered the skis and snow shoes from this story when they were working at centers later in the week to build those words.
Snowballs by Lois Ehlert has great illustrations made with items as well as cut paper. There is an appearance by the squirrel from Nuts to You! as well.
Snowmen At Night by Caralyn and Mark Buehner follows snowmen as they have a romping good time at night. I am pretty sure I found this one on clearance after Christmas one year at Walmart.
The Snowman by Raymond Briggs is a wordless picture book about the adventures a boy has with his snowman one night.
Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and Mary Azarian tells the story of the man who figured out how to photograph snowflakes. This book is usually a bit long for PreK students, so I will share portions of it when we talk about what snowflakes look like up close.
My Winter Book is a printable book about winter that will give you an individualized book for each student, with each sentence starting with your students’ names. Students really enjoy reading these as well as taking them home to share with family members.
Winter Song Ideas
I really like having printable versions of the songs I use at circle time. It helps me keep the lyrics straight when there are several similar versions out there. The kids also like to hold the lyric sheets to play teacher during centers time.
Teaching Mama has a group of great songs for winter to use at circle time.
I’m a little snowman to the tune of I’m a little teapot can be found at No Time for Flashcards.
For a great quiet down song, try It is snowing.
5 Little Snowmen is a favorite at music time in the winter. Students get to take turns being the snowmen.
If you have a favorite winter themed book or song, please share it with us.
