Snow by Cynthia Rylant: Review and Free Activities

Inside: A beautiful book by Cynthia Rylant that you DON'T want to miss. Plus! Two writing and two art projects.

Hello! I have the most beautiful winter book to share with you today.

Snow by Cynthia Rylant. Book review and free follow-up writing and art activities for K-2.

Snow
Written: Cynthia Rylant
Illustrations: Lauren Stringer

Publishing: Harcourt Books, 2008,

Ages: 5 to 12

Themes: Snow, Imagery, Realistic Fiction

Opening: "The best snow is the snow that comes softly in the night, like a shy friend afraid to knock, so she thinks she'll just wait in the yard until you see her. This is the snow that brings you peace."

Brief Synopsis: This is a beautiful look at a day in the life of a young child and her elderly grandmother. It explores different kinds of snowy days and how they make you feel. It also briefly touches upon the fragility and impermanence of life: "And the snow, while it is here, reminds us of this: that nothing lasts forever except memories."

Why I Like This Book: The illustrations are soft and dreamy. The text is typical of Cynthia Rylant, with a lovely rolling feel to it. This book just makes you feel peaceful.

Resources:

A free pdf made by me with some snow writing activities.

The first is a snow poem your kids you could write.

Use the book as an inspiration and brainstorm all sorts of lovely poetic words about snow, such as "softly falling", "dry and powdery", "white, swirling" .

Let the kids choose their favourites to add to the template to create their own snow poem.

I used a primer font so that they can trace the words.

The next writing activity is a little snow booklet your kids can make.

Begin by brainstorming all the places snow can fall on, such as tree tops, heads, cars, roads, dogs, etc.

Then have your students choose their favourites to write in the blanks. The booklet ends with "Snow on me!".

Last step is to illustrate a beautiful picture to go with each page.

DOWNLOAD: SNOW WRITING PDF

Learn How to Paint Snow:

If you're interested in using liquid watercolours (which are gorgeous!) then you'll love this project by The Artful Parent, where she shows you how to teach your kids to paint snow.

And finally, here's a sweet snowy art project you can find at Deep Space Sparkle.

Thank you for reading!

Pin Me, Please :)

If you enjoyed this post be sure to sign up for email updates.

13 comments

Unknown13 January 2012 at 19:25
LOve those paintings!
Runde's Room13 January 2012 at 19:34
WOW!!! That art is FANTASTIC! (might have to steal it) ;)
I hadn't heard of that book before, but the language sounds beautiful!

Jen
Runde's Room
Traci Clausen13 January 2012 at 22:00
That Snow book looks beautiful. Definitely going to have to look into adding that to my collection.
♥ Dragonflies in First ♥
Joanna14 January 2012 at 00:34
Barbara, that polar bear painting has me speechless. What talent! I'd be happy to hang that on any wall in my house... I too love the lyrical, gentleness of this book. Great choice!
Dee14 January 2012 at 05:50
Isn't Cynthia Rylant amazing? I didn't realize there was a book activity guide. Thanks for the the link!

Dee
First Impressions
Susanna Leonard Hill14 January 2012 at 07:53
This book sounds beautiful, Barbara! I love Cynthia Rylant, and this looks like a lovely quiet, dreamy book, just like those peaceful snowfalls. I love your suggested activity. And that polar bear - WOW! A first-grader? That is truly impressive! Thanks so much for sharing this worthy addition to our list!
Penny Parker Klostermann14 January 2012 at 18:17
The opening was enough to hook me. Thanks for bringing this book to my attention.
Patricia T.15 January 2012 at 14:40
Somehow, I missed commenting on your book, or it appeared added after I checked out the list. I love Cynthia Rylant's book "Snow," it has such a pristine nature about it. And it is so lyrical. Very nice choice for cold weather. And, I can't believe a child drew the polar bear! WOW -- a budding artist.
Robyn Campbell15 January 2012 at 15:59
Cynthia Rylant is awesomely lovely!!!!!!!!! I'll have to get this book.

And I cannot believe that a first grader did the polar bears. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *sigh* I can't even draw a stick figure. *envious* :-)

*waving*
Anonymous15 January 2012 at 18:59
Barbara, this is a great choice-my teachers are looking for "snow" picture books this time of year-I have a pretty sizeable Cynthia Rylant collection, but I didn't recognize this book-we opened the library on 2007 and must have just missed this one in our opening collection. Will have to add it for sure-looks great! Thanks so much!!
Beth Stilborn15 January 2012 at 19:37
This book sounds wonderful -- and like so many others, I am absolutely astonished at the polar bear art piece! wow.

Thank you, Barbara!
Anonymous20 January 2012 at 13:51
Just wanted to let you know that I had my kids do the painting with one red object and a tree and snow after our unit on The Snowy Day and Ezra Jack Keats. It was awesome. I love doing art with them about literature. Thanks!

First in Maine