Pistes d'exploration

Make a list of rhyming word sets from the story. Add more words to each of these sets.

Discuss the elements of a cumulative story. How many articles of clothing was the girl wearing? Do not count the zipper. What other pieces of clothing could she have worn (ear muffs, neck warmer, snow pants, etc.)?

Introduce the 5Ws & How questions. Formulate questions for each (e.g. Who helped her get dressed? Where do you think she was playing? Why did she cry? How did she get tangled up?)

As the story is read aloud, join in the recurrent passages.

Discuss the articles of clothing by learning the words or looking at the pictures. Bring in a variety of clothing with the textures from the book: itchy, soft, woolly, stiff. Play a sensory game to identify the various textures.

As the story is read aloud, join in the recurrent passages. Act out the dress-up part, right up until “These are tears in my eyes. . . .”

Label a picture of the girl and her clothing. 

Describe your own winter clothing, noting colours and textures.

Make a personalized version of the story about getting dressed for winter. Use a planning tool or pre-made template such as: These are the ___, ___and ___.

Red Is Best, The Mitten: A Ukrainian Folktale, The Snowy Day, Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain, Thomas' Snowsuit, The Snowy Day

Mots-clés

Picture book , clothing , cumulative stories , rebus , snow , stories in rhyme , winter

Commentaire descriptif

This cumulative rebus-style story showcases the many bulky, uncomfortable layers of clothing a little girl must put on before heading out to play in winter. Of course, when her mother rescues her after a tangled tumble off her sled, all those layers must then be removed. A warm snack and some TLC save the day. Cheerful pastel-hued illustrations are rendered with watercolour, coloured pencil and black ink. Each item of clothing is first presented full-page, “This is the scarf, woolly and red,” after which icon-sized versions are integrated into the text, thereby encouraging even the youngest students to read along. The rhyming text employs rich but simple language and a repetitive structure that grows as each of 10 basic items of clothing is introduced into the story: “. . . stuffed in the boots too big for me, that cover the pants stiff in the knee, that go under the jacket all itchy and warm, that meets the mittens that hang from each arm . . . .” Fun for early readers or as a participatory read-aloud, this multi-purpose book can easily lead to discussions about weather and the seasons.