The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats is a classic winter read aloud great for preschool through early reader. In The Snowy Day, a boy named Peter explores the wintery wonderland created by fresh snow. The book won a Caldecott medal for it's wonderfully descriptive illustrations.
You can read The Snowy Day free online at We Give Books.
The pictures in The Snowy Day illustrate Peter's movements through the snow. As he moves, he makes tracks. He points his toes in and out to make his footprints form Vs. He drags a stick and creates a long straight line. He travels uphill and down in the deep snow.
As I was reading this book with my boys, I began to think it would be a great text to use for teaching kids fine motor skills of making marks. Peter's movements could be practiced on paper as children made tracks and drew straight lines and curvy lines.
All of these fine motor skills are wonderful for preschool emergent writers. Children need to be able to make straight lines, curves, slants, and dots in order to create all of the letters in the English alphabet. I've even created a free printable for you to practice these. You can download this from my Teachers Pay Teachers store by clicking on the image or the link. I'd love if you'd follow for more freebies while you are there!
You can use marker or crayon with this printable or you could even try snow paint.
We practiced drawing these lines recently with snow paint.
To make snow paint, combine equal parts salt, flour, and water.
This paint dries and makes a white snow with a gritty texture that looks like snow! I would recommend printing the free printable on cardstock or a heavy paper if painting.
Enjoy The Snowy Day with your preschooler and sneak in some fine motor fun at the same time!
This looks great! And I've never heard of snow paint. My boys will love it!
ReplyDeleteHello Jackie, so nice to visit your blog. I enjoyed looking at the pictures of Greg and your little ones.
ReplyDeleteI would love to talk to Greg. He can find me at matthewpap [at] gmail [dot] com.
Snow paint sounds fun. I hope we get more snow next week!
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My boys aren't itty bitty anymore - but I think the snow paint idea is great for any age - we will definitely try it on our first BIG SNOW Day! I LOVE it!
ReplyDeleteWonderful new blog design! Happy, bubbly, and adorable like you! It fits so well. Great colors and design.
ReplyDeleteI used to have my students have like an obstacle course for the Snowy Day, and each one acted it out while I read it. They love the story. Fun choice of books, as usually!
Can't wait to try the snow paint. My girls have never seen the snow so I know they would get a kick out of it.
ReplyDeleteAwesome new blog design, snowy day activities (LOVE that book!), and free printable, Jackie! Thanks so much for sharing your printable! I featured your prewriting skills printable as the Free Printable of the Day at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LivingMontessoriNow (and on Pinterest)
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