Pistes d'exploration

Discuss the items that are used to decorate the snow family. Where are these things usually found?

Talk about things you can make with snow. What kind of snow do you need to make these things? Come up with words to describe the types of snow (e.g. wet, fluffy, icy, sugary).

Make snow sculptures (at recess time) and photograph them. How are they different/similar? Draw or create a snow person collage with interesting elements (add labels). Write a story about your character.

Talk about the weather conditions required for snow to fall. Observe a thermometer and make connections between the temperature and the weather.

Talk about the elements and decorative aspects of the various snow people in the illustrations.

Create a snow person out of sturdy paper or paper plates, using elements from the text for the decoration. With an inside-outside circle structure (from cooperative learning), talk about your character to other students in the classroom.

Post media pictures of snow sculptures around the class. Chose one and create clues to describe it. Share your clues and see if your peers can identify which sculpture you chose.

Perfect Snow, 100 Snowmen, Once Upon a Northern Night

Mots-clés

Picture book , collecting , creativity , illustrations (collage) , lost and found , snow , winter

Commentaire descriptif

Children have been saving miscellaneous objects in a grocery bag, waiting for a big snowfall. When it finally hits, they create an entire snow family using the “good stuff” they have collected: buttons, sunflower seeds, popcorn, bits of wool, corn kernels, birdseed, braided yarn, shoestrings, seashells and more. There are also unusual items from other countries such as a Mexican scrub brush, a Guatemalan belt and tie, and a Peruvian sock. Simple lines of black, bold text are paired with colourful double-page spreads that begin horizontally but invite readers to vertically turn the book for the rest of the story. Mixed media artwork (collage, photography) creates a visually rich text that celebrates winter and all the fun ways that snowmen can be accessorized. The book includes a labelled, double-page spread of all the items used to build the snow family, a few facts about snow, a recipe for popcorn balls and, on the back cover, clippings of old weather reports from the Milwaukee Journal, noting snow accumulation. Children will likely be inspired to create their own “good stuff” snow people.