. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Reading Level: 1    Read Aloud Level: K
Topic(s): nature/environment

TeacherView by Latresa J. Bray
Grade taught: K
Huber Ridge Elementary School
Westerville, Ohio USA

The Review
The Snowy Day is the timeless tale of a little boy's adventure in the snow. Young children marvel at the excitement of going out into the deep, deep snow. Your class can guess what Peter finds in the snow that makes a special track in that snow. Peter makes a snowman, angels in the snow and pretends to be a mountain climber. Your students will be delighted at Peter's fun in the deep snow but will be sad along with him when his snowball melts in the warm house. This book can be found as a paperback, big book, and board book.

The Activity
In the story, Peter makes a little snowball and places it into his pocket. To his surprise, after some time in his warm house, the snowball is no longer there. Have students tell what they think happened to the snowball.

Do a class experiment by having students make snowballs, place them in sandwich bags (closed tightly), and predict what will happen. For an extra challenge, have them predict how long they think it will take for their snowball to melt. Place some snowballs closer to a heat source. Ask students to predict what will happen to those snowballs. Make a few of the snowballs very big. Have students predict how long it will take for the larger snowballs to melt. Record the data on a graph.

TeacherView by Katy Smith
Grade taught: 3
Pratt Elementary School
Montgomery, West Virginia USA

The Review
Peter is excited about the snowfall. He bundles up and enjoys playing in the snow. Later he goes inside, enjoys a steamy bath, and then looks for the snowballs he brought inside. As he goes to bed, he remembers the pleasures of "a snowy day."

The Activity
Many years ago I worked with a group of second and third graders to create a video promoting independent reading.

  1. The students and I wrote out a list of scenes, cast two students as Peter (who can be a boy or a girl) and mother, and filmed it.

  2. One student read the story while Peter and mother acted it out.

The video was used at the school as a promotional tool for encouraging parents and students to read independently.


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