Winter Literature Focus Unit

1
Winter Literature Focus Unit

• April Larson
• Fall 2007

2
Literature Selections

• Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner
• Snow Day by Moira Fain
• Stella Queen of the Snow by Marie-Louise Gay
• 50 Below Zero by Robert Munsch
• Thomas Snowsuit by Robert Munsch
• The Shortest Day-Celebrating the Winter Solstice
  by Wendy Pfeffer
• When Winter Comes by Nancy Van Laan
• Weather Words by Gail Gibbons

3
Related Literature

• The Biggest Best, Snowman by Margery Cuyler
• The Lonely Snowman by Angela Holroyd
• The Jacket I Wear in the Snow by Shirley Neitzel
• Elmer in the Snow by David McKee
• Sadie and the Snowman by Allen Morgan
• The Big Snow by Bertha and Elmer Hader
• Pink Snow and Other Weird Weather by Jennifer
  Dussling
• Rhinos Who Snowboard by Julie Mammano

4
Author Study

• Students will be doing an author study on Robert
  Munsch, who wrote Thomas Snowsuit and 50 Below
  Zero. Students will look at the other books
  Munsch has written about winter.

5
Unit Plan-Language Arts Web
Students will be directed to websites about
author Robert Munsch and read facts about him and
his books.
Students will read other various books about
winter, snowmen, sledding, etc. They will be
guided to read Robert Munschs books first.
Peer conferencing for poem and story.
Teacher will introduce snow/winter theme,
students will join in and have a grand
conversation on what they like/dislike about
winter, what their favorite part is about winter,
etc.
After reading the book Snow Day, students will be
put into groups to discuss what they would do if
they had a snow day and school was cancelled.
Students will find a book or poem relating to the
theme of the unit, read it, and write a response.
Read Snowmen at Night and have students make
predictions about what snowmen really do at night.
READING
Students listen as teacher discusses winter,
snow, and how/why it happens.
TALKING
Students will participate in readers theatre by
doing The Snowflake Dance.
Students will use the authors chair and read
their blizzard story or snow/winter poems.
Students will create a KWL chart they will add to
and adjust for the length of the unit.
Students listen to The Missing Mitten on audio
tape at the reading center.
LISTENING
Read Snowflake Bentley aloud and then watch the
movie of the book.
WINTER
Peer conferencing for poem and story.
VISUALLYREPRESENTING
Students will make snowflakes out of white
construction paper, decorate them with glitter
and hang them from string across the ceiling of
the classroom.
Students will create a word wall with snow/winter
terms.
VIEWING
Students will write a story about a blizzard.
WRITING
Students will watch the video Rain and Snow and
discuss.
Students go on a walk outside and take picture of
the snow, pictures of them playing in the
snow-making snow angels, etc.
Students will write poems about winter, playing
out in the snow, and their favorite thing to do
in the snow. Students will be taught about
limerick poems and write a limerick.
Students will color a scene with crayons, press
hard, paint with white paint, and sprinkle with
clear glitter.
Students will write an If I Were a Snowflake
poem. Their snowflake poem will be hung with the
snowflakes they made.
Students will participate in peer conferencing
workshops.
Students will view paintings by famous artists of
winter scenes.
Students will watch the video Snow.
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Unit Plan-Cross Curricular Ideas
Students will sing the song Snowflakes Falling
Down (to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat.
Students will learn concept of estimation by
estimating how many cotton balls it will take to
make a snowman on the bulletin board.
Students will take a survey on who likes/dislikes
winter and graph the results.
Students will listen to Winter Wonderland and
choreograph movements.
Math
Music
Students will insulate snowballs using cloth,
packaging peanuts, and other materials to see
which keeps the snowball the longest. .
WINTER
Students will play Toss the Snowball-tossing a
white balloon around a circle, the goal being not
to let the balloon touch the floor.
Science
Phy Ed.
Students will take snowballs and do experiments
to see which is the fastest way to get it to melt.
Social Studies
Students will play Jack Frost tag.
Students will make maps of the U.S. and color the
areas that have the highest amounts of snowfall.
Students will be visited by a local weatherman.
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Language Arts Strategies

• Tapping Prior Knowledge students think about
  what they already know about winter as they
  listen, read, view, or write.
• Predicting students make predictions about what
  will happen as they read.
• Organizing Ideas students organize ideas and
  sequence story events when they read, write,
  view, or listen to stories read aloud.
• Figuring Out Unknown Words students figure out
  unknown words as they read, listen, and view.
• Visualizing students draw pictures in their
  minds of what they are listening to, reading, or
  writing.
• Making Connections students relate what they
  are listening to, reading, or viewing to their
  own lives and to books they have read.
• Revising Meaning students continuously revise
  meaning as they proceed with a language arts
  activity.
• Monitoring students ask themselves questions to
  monitor their understanding as they participate
  in language arts activities.
• Playing with Language students notice
  figurative and novel uses of language as they
  listen, read, and view.
• Evaluating students make judgments aloud,
  reflect on, and value the language arts
  activities in which they participate

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Language Arts Skills

• Print
• Sound out words using phonics
• Use classroom resources
• Consult a dictionary or glossary
• Apply spelling rules
• Capitalize proper nouns and adjectives
• Comprehension
• Categorize
• Classify
• Note details
• Compare and contrast
• Use context clues
• Notice organizational patterns of poetry, plays,
  and stories
• Recognize literary genres
• Language
• Notice compound words
• Use contractions

• Reference
• Use a glossary or dictionary
• Read and make graphs, tables, and diagrams
• Study
• Follow directions

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Technology

• Video
• Primary Science Series Snow
• Weather Fundamentals Rain and Snow
• Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
• Audiotapes
• The Missing Mitten by Steven Kellogg
• Tackylocks and the Three Bears by Helen Lester
• Three Cheers for Tackylocks by Helen Lester
• Winter Fun by Rita Schlacher
• Internet
• The Winter Solstice Trivia- http//fun.familyeduca
  tion.com/holidays-and-celebrations/childrens-scien
  ce-activities/32939.html
• All About Snow- http//www.surfnetkids.com/snow.ht
  m
• The Official Robert Munsch Website-
  http//robertmunsch.com/
• Snowflake Dance- http//www.ipgbook.com/books/WI
  IS.HTM
• -Snow Songs and Poems- http//www.theteachersroom.
  com/snowmen.htm
• Cameras
• Digital camera for taking the walk outside and
  also can be used to document activities
  throughout the week

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Grouping Patterns

• Small Group
• Snowball melting
• Snowball insulating
• Peer writing workshops
• Snow Day activity

• Whole Group
• Discussion of winter
• Read aloud of Snowmen at Night
• Readers theatre of The Snowflake Dance
• Grand conversation about people who like winter
  and people who dont
• Word wall
• Walk outside and snow pictures
• Viewing paintings
• Watching videos
• Jack Frost Tag
• Singing the Snowflakes Falling Down song
• Survey-who likes/dislikes winter
• Estimation activity
• Weatherman visit
• Authors chair
• Winter Wonderland choreography
• Toss the Snowball

• Independent
• Audiotape
• Snowflake making
• Mapmaking
• Poem writing
• Story writing
• Reading other related literature
• Robert Munsch author study
• Website findings
• Writing a response to poem or story
• Painting a winter scene

11
Schedule
12
Assessment

• Spelling test with word wall words
• 61 Writing Traits (Rubric for stories and poems)
• Observation of interaction with small groups
• Report of elements of winter (Rubric)
• Portfolios of artifacts from the unit (Checklist)
• Science experiments (Observation of
  participation)
• Social Studies maps (Quiz on states locations)
• Math graphs (Worksheets on graphing)
• Discussion and questions in a large group
  following videos on snow/winter
• Check for understanding by prompting questions to
  the class as a large group