Typically, you probably think of the book, Snowmen at Night, as a book for “little kids.” But this is a fun book to use with the big kids too!
This is a good book to use if you are working on identifying the structural elements of a poem.
I also chose that excerpt of the book intentionally, to enable a focus on punctuation craft- discuss why the author used the long dashes instead of commas (what does it make you do as you read?) as well as the first stanza including parentheses.
This book also, of course, opens up a great writing opportunity! Have the students work on writing their own poem describing what a snowman does at night.
Here is a great video you can show your struggling students to help them understand how to write a rhyming poem. (Although the video is titled as “for K-2” I think it’s still very appropriate for many students who need help understanding how to rhyme.)
Then, bring some art education into the classroom! Check out this fantastic post from A Faithful Attempt about the principle of movement in art using chalk pastels on construction paper! This would be a fantastic display for the hallway with their poems attached!
Not feeling the mess chalk pastels might create? Do this fun torn paper art activity instead found on The Elementary Art Room‘s blog:
I hope your students love this book as much as mine always did! 🙂 Enjoy!
Join the club!
No really… there’s a club!
