My Snowy Day

1

Introduce students to the lesson by reading The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Discuss as a class the events of the story. What did Peter do on his snowy day? What does he see around his neighborhood? What type of media did Keats use for his illustrations? As a class compare what Peter does to what they enjoy doing on a snowy day.

2

Give students squares of white paper. Have students fold papers one fold at a time demonstrating for them. This process works best for primary students in their first attempt at making original snowflakes. Once they have 3 or 4 folded papers, allow students to start cutting up their snowflakes.

3

Hand out one sheet of 12"x18" blue construction paper per student, this will become their backgrounds. Hand out half a 12"x18" sheet of white paper for every two students. One student of the pair can cut the white paper in a wave along the horizontal axis. This will be their snow.

4

Have each student glue the white snow along the bottom of their blue paper and one or two of their best snowflakes in the sky.

5

Using oil pastels, have students draw themselves on their papers doing their favorite thing to do on a snowy day. Remind students that they should be dressed in their winter gear. Have them think about what their hats, snowsuits, mitts, etc. look like.

6

As a finishing touch to the art, add glitter glue and/or extra snowflakes with white paint or white Crayola® GelFX Markers to the background.

7

Ask students to present their art to classmates and describe their favorite winter activity orally.

Adaptations

Have each student write a story to accompany their piece of art. Students interview an older family member to see what they liked to do on snowy days as a child to compare common winter activities then and now. Tie this activity in to math by having students graph what the classes' favorite winter activities are using their art as the information provided.