HOW TO CATCH A SNOWMAN activities and lesson plan ideas

This HOW TO CATCH A SNOWMAN Activities and Interactive Read Aloud Resource Book Companion Packet includes lesson plans, reading comprehension questions, vocabulary, grammar, phonics, writing and word study activities with both printable and digital student pages.

 Following an interactive read aloud of the picture book, HOW TO CATCH A SNOWMAN by Adam Wallace, choose from the included collection of either printable activities or go paperless and use the digital activities to practice standards-based skills. We've even included editable teaching slides themed to match the book!

THIS READING UNIT FOCUSES ON USING THE MENTOR TEXT TO TEACH:

◼️READING STRATEGIES

☐ SUMMARIZE / RETELL

☐ CAUSE AND EFFECT

☐ ANALYZING SETTING

☐ IDENTIFYING GENRE

☐ IDENTIFYING RHYME | RHYTHM | REPETITION

◼️GRAMMAR & LANGUAGE CONCEPTS

☐ TYPES OF SENTENCES

☐ COMPOUND WORDS

☐ CONJUNCTION

☐ HOMOPHONES 

◼️SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING TOPICS

☐ PERSEVERANCE

SUMMARY OF THE MENTOR TEXT:

In the winter, when an enchanted snow star shines down at midnight something magical happens. A snowman comes to life!

The children in the town try and trap the snowman but will anyone be able to catch him? Throughout the book the children set many clever traps hoping to catch the snowman. They make a net of scarves, use a trampoline and even try and trap the snowman in an igloo. However, each time the snowman is able to escape. 

All day, the children are chasing the snowman but are not successful in catching him. When the sun starts to set, the children are called home for dinner. The snowman has won the contest, no one was able to catch him but he appreciates the children’s effort. To congratulate them for their hard work, he leaves a surprise for them at the library. The snowman created a big snow display of children with a snowman, the snowman’s gift to the children who tried to catch him.

THIS COLLECTION OF ACTIVITIES and LESSON IDEAS INCLUDES:

➜ Comprehension Questions categorized by reading strategy; text-dependent
➜ Social Emotional Learning guidance lesson ideas & discussion topics based on the story
➜ Vocabulary Activities with kid-friendly definitions
➜ Grammar Topics selected to align with the text
➜ Focus Sentences use the book & author's craft as a mentor text to improve writing
➜ Lesson Planner summary, background info and planning space

➜ Story Mapping Printable identify character, setting, problem and solution

➜ Making Words Activity Page use any word from the book

➜ Focus Sentence copy work, identifying elements of the sentence, rewriting)

➜ Design a New Book Cover demonstrate understanding of the text by creating an illustration

➜ Predicting Activity primary-ruled and wider-ruled versions
➜ Summarizing Somebody → Wanted → But → Then → Finally

➜ Comparing and Contrasting using a Venn Diagram

➜ Cause and Effect analyze how events affect one another

➜ Visualization illustrate visualizations from the story and support thinking with text-based evidence

➜ Making Connections identify text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections

➜ Thematic Writing Paper Use with the Writing Prompts... Makes a Great Bulletin Board

➜ 2 Sequencing Activities First → Next → Then → Last and Beginning → Middle → End

➜ 2 Vocabulary Activities Vocabulary Booklet and Word Mapping

➜ 2 Character Trait Activities listing traits and supporting traits with text-based evidence
➜ 30 Text-Based Writing Prompts 3 prompts for each of the following types of writing:

• narrative
• persuasive / opinion
• descriptive
• expository / informative
• creative / story writing
• procedure / how-to
• list making
• letter / postcard writing
• poem
• book reviews

INCLUDED DIGITAL ACTIVITIES:

➜ 5 Teaching Slides to use for instruction (add questions, vocabulary, instructions, etc)

➜ 15 Student Pages for use in Google™️ Classroom or as editable files to create customized printables