Some Favorite Winter Books

We all have them. Books we love to read year after year to our students. Today I am sharing 2 of my yearly favorites with you!

I discovered Jan Brett books back when I was student teaching in 1992 ( yes, I know some of you were youngsters back then!) I was so taken by her illustrations. I can hear all of you other there in blogger land agreeing with me right?!?!

So of course, a tried and true staple in my winter plans is the book The Mitten

Along with the art work, she does such a great job with telling a story within the story. I just LOVE how she uses the sides of each page to give you a peek into what is also going on in the story. That is genius! After reading the story, I like to have my students retell it using these character cards

We use a pocket chart to put the characters in order and then to check for understanding my students complete this

Depending on the level of my students determine which response sheet they will work on. I also use these activities in some of our literacy centers

Then we read The Hat. I like to use the same type of activities for this story as well. Sequencing, retelling and then we add in some comparing.

pocket chart cards

Then for storing I have a big Venn diagram on chart papers where they add their observations to it and complete this character sort.

You can find all the activities and character cards here

I would love to hear about some of your favorite winter books. Leave me a comment below.