The Snowy Day




Author: Ezra Jack Keats

Award: Caldecott Award

Genre: Fiction (but brings in ties to American History...since this book was written in the Civil Rights Era, this book is highly recognized for the time period it was written.)

Grades: Kindergarten/First Grade

Subject: Science (I'd incorporate a states of matter lesson with this literature)

Theme: An African American boy is pictured throughout the course of the short story. This is very crucial since this book was written in the mid-20th Century, when African Americans were fighting for equal rights and equality.

Quick Summary: This is a very short story that involves a young boy’s experience on a snowy day. The book emphasizes the many activities that a young child can experience on a snowy day. The story illustrates the magic and wonder of a lovely snowfall, as seen through the eyes of a child, as we see through the eyes of a young child named Peter. This story helps bring back childhood memories of playing in the snow and enjoying the magical time of the winter months.

Pre-Reading Activities:

Have any of you played out in the snow before?

What did you do and why did you seem to enjoy/not enjoy it?

How does the snow stay on the ground and why does it sometime disappear?

How does snow melt?

Discuss with the class what they like to do during the snowy season and why they like to play in the snow. Also discuss with the students that snow has the ability to melt when it is kept in higher substances and it can freeze again when kept in below freezing temperatures. Students will be encouraged to ask questions on why snow melts and any other parts of the story they do not understand.

Post-Reading Activities: After reading, introduce the topics of melting and freezing into a science and English based lesson. Reading the short story to the class in an English-based lesson, but then I would incorporate the idea of melting as a science-based lesson for the students. I would take a Popsicle out of the cafeteria freezer and show the students that the Popsicle, like a snowball, is frozen. I would keep the Popsicle out of the freezer, and the students would check on the Popsicle every twenty minutes. After a few hours, the students and I would discuss what happened to the Popsicle that was once frozen and is now a liquid. The children learned that any substance that is kept in abnormal conditions will cause the object to change. The students learned that when the frozen Popsicle was kept near the window and in a room with a higher temperature than the freezer, the Popsicle melted. We would discuss why this happened and move into a science lesson next.

Assessment: Have the students be able to describe why the popsicle melted and what phase it started in (solid) and ended in (liquid).

Overall, I enjoyed this story. It's a simple story about a young little boy enjoying his day in the snow. This story brings back childhood memories about enjoying a snow day off from school making snow angels, sledding, and loving the winter beauty.

Keats, Ezra Jack. (1962). The Snowy Day. New York: The Viking Press. Grades 1-2.