I love reading to my students. Everyday after recess, I read my students a picture book. It’s a great transition activity that helps my students calm down after recess. January can be a long month. But filling it with winter read alouds makes the season really fun. So today I thought I would share the best winter read alouds that elementary aged students love, plus easy extension activities you can do with each one. Easily find all the books listed in this post on Amazon here.

Winter Read Alouds

 

Snowman Magic by Katherine Tegen

This book tells the story of a little boy bored on a winter day. He decides to build a snowman. After he builds it, there is some magic and his snowman comes to life. They play together and had a great time. He went to bed that night and woke up to a warmer day. He noticed his snowman wasn’t quite the same. On Monday, when it was time to go back to school, his snowman had melted. But the next day it started snowing again, and he couldn’t wait to build his snowman once more.

This could be a fun book for students to do a “How To” writing project. Have them write the steps about how to get all bundled up to play outside. Or have them write the steps on how to build a snowman.

You can also do an extension activity that helps students learn comprehension strategies. As you read the story, have students ask questions. What do they wonder about? Challenge them to ask a question with every question word: who, what, where, why, and how. I have my students record these on a worksheet. Then, as we read more of the story, we see if we can answer the questions. Find the worksheet I use here.

 

Snow Day! By Lester L. Laminack

I like to tell my class that this winter read aloud has special powers, because when I have read it to my class in the past, there has been a snow day the very next day! I tell my students they just have to wish really hard and it might happen. When I do this, it brings in a little more fun into reading this book. 

This story shows a family who hears that it’s going to snow from the news. That evening as they hope for a snow day they enjoy drinking hot chocolate and playing in the snow. They are expecting a snow day, but the next morning they notice kids walking to school with their backpacks. They all hurry and get ready. The dad mentions he can’t be late… because he is the teacher!

It’s a funny book because you think it is from the point of view of one of the children, but it turns out to be the dad, who is a teacher. This makes this book a great book to teach point of view. I have a worksheet I have students fill out where they list the characters and their point of view. Find the worksheet I use for this here. Find this book on Amazon here.

 

Best Winter Read Alouds

 

A Loud Winter’s Nap by Katy Hudson

This one is my favorite of all my winter read alouds. In this story, a tortoise just wants to take his winter nap but there is a bunch of noise and distractions being made by other animals enjoying the winter season. He continues to try to find a nice, quiet place to take his winter’s nap but it just doesn’t work out. He thinks he finds a nice bed but it is actually a sled! The sled starts to slide down a hill and he actually enjoys himself. He sleds and ice skates with the other animals and discovered that winter wasn’t so bad after all.

This is a great book to talk about the characters. Have students list a character, an event in the story, and how that character responded to that event. Find the worksheet I use here. Find this book on Amazon here.

 

Ridiculous! By Michael Coleman

In this story, it’s winter and time for Shelly the Tortoise to sleep, but she is not tired yet. She wants to see what winter is like so she goes out. She runs into other animals and they think it is ridiculous to see a tortoise in winter. She ends up sliding down a snowy hill on her shell, hits the shed wall, breaks through, and finds her spot to sleep for the winter.

The Missing Mitten Mystery by Steven Kellogg

This story begins with a little girl out in the snow when she realizes she had lost her mitten. She really wants to find it because this is the fifth mitten she has lost and doesn’t want to get in trouble. She goes with her dog to retrace her steps to find the mitten. As she does so, she keeps coming up with scenarios of an animal that could have taken it and why it could have taken it. She eventually goes inside for some hot chocolate and sees that her snowman outside has a “heart.” It’s her mitten!

This is another good book you can have students ask questions to. Find the worksheet I use here. Find this book on amazon here.

 

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

This book tells the story of a child and their father walking through the snowy woods at night trying to spot an owl. What makes this read aloud so great is the imagery the author uses with words. It’s almost like a song.

To go along with that imagery, the illustrator did a great job literally painting that picture. The book has gotten an award for the illustrations. So this is a great book to have students focus on the illustrations to gain more insight about the setting, characters, and plot. As I read, I stop on a few pages and have my students record any insight we can gain from the pictures. Find the worksheets I use to do that here. Find this book on Amazon here.

 

The Mitten by Jan Brett

In this story a boy named Nicki asks his grandmother to knit him white mittens. At first she didn’t want to knit him white mittens because if he dropped one it would get lost in the snow. But Nicki wanted white mittens so she knit him white mittens. Then Nicki goes off in the snow and of course, drops his mitten. Then animals looking for some warmth go inside the mitten. It gets stretched out as a mole, rabbit, hedgehog, owl, badger, fox, and bear fit in the mitten. A mouse crawls onto the bear’s nose and makes the bear sneeze. As he does, the mitten gets thrown up in the air. Nicki sees the mitten in the air and catches and makes it home with both his mittens.

This book has a very distinct beginning, middle, and end. So I help students understand the plot by writing the important events that happen in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Find the worksheet I use here. Find this book on Amazon here.

 

The Biggest Snowman Ever by Steven Kroll

This book is about two mice who are friends. They enter a contest to build the biggest snowman. At first, they both try building their own but find out it’s harder than they thought. Then they come up with the idea to work together and win the contest.

This is another great book that you can have students write about the beginning, middle, and end. Find this book on Amazon here.

 

The Abominable Snow Teacher by Lisa Passen

This book is about a group of kids who got out of school for a snow day. Their teacher gets hit by some mysterious lights and turns her into the abominable snow teacher. She follows the kids around trying to get them to do multiplication and spell words. Once she takes a hot bath, she is back to her normal self.

Ten on the Sled by Kim Norman

This is one for those fun books where ten animals start off on the sled and one falls off on each page. You could do a fun math facts extension activity with this book. Have students write all the facts that make ten, or do a craft to show all the ways to make ten. Learn more in this blog post: Why Math Facts of Ten are so Important for Students to Know

 

Gingerbread Baby by Jan Bret

This story is about a little boy, Matti, who’s mother makes a gingerbread boy. Of course Matti couldn’t wait and opened the oven door a little early. A gingerbread baby jumps out and says, “catch me if you can.” Throughout the story more and more people and creatures start chasing the gingerbread baby. While everyone is doing that, Matti makes a gingerbread house and sets it out. The gingerbread baby finds it and goes in. Matti finally caught the gingerbread baby!

This is a great story to talk about the plot and have students write about the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Find the worksheet I use with my students here. Find this book on Amazon here.

 

I created these comprehension strategy worksheets so that I could easily teach my 2nd graders the reading literature common core standards. Each one matches the standard perfectly. As you have been able to see, you can find one to match any story book. Find all these Reading Comprehension Worksheets here.

I hope you can bring in the love of reading with these winter read alouds. I know your students will love them as much as mine. Find this whole list of books on Amazon here.

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Looking for other fun winter themed activities to do with your students? Check out this blog post: 5 Math Activities Perfect for the Winter Season

Make a fun door display with what students did over winter break. Read more about it here: 3 Winter Break Writing Activities You Should Start Preparing For Now

After winter break is a great time to review your classroom expectations. Learn my best tips to do so here: Classroom Behavior Management Tips For After Winter Break