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| Sadie and the Snowman written by Allen Morgan and illustrated by Brenda Clark |
Sadie and the Snowman is written by Allen Morgan and illustrated by Brenda Clark. This story may be "old," but it is one of my absolute favorites! I first heard about this book while I was teaching preschool in Wrentham, MA. The teacher that I worked with had a few old copies. For the three years that I worked there, it was my job to read it to our class every winter. I feel like students can relate to this story. When we are out on the playground, they want to make snowmen. We have to teach them that it will melt, but you can always make it again when there is more snow.
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| Sadie trying to save her snowman |
Sadie and the Snowman is about a young girl named Sadie who builds a snowman. She uses different kinds of food as the face. Different animals end up taking the food and the sun melts the snowman. When it snows again, she makes the snowman again, but uses a different kind of food for the face. New animals eat the food and the snowman melts again. This happens a couple of times, so Sadie wants to keep the snowman from melting. She tries to make a tent, put it under the porch, and out it in a bowl under the porch. It does not work because the weather is getting warmer.
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| Sadie pouring the water in a plastic bag |
This time, Sadie has an idea. She takes the bowl of water (the melted snowman) and pours the water into the plastic bag. She then places the bag into the freezer. All summer and fall Sadie misses the snowman, but she know that she will see him soon in the winter. The first snowfall of the season, Sadie takes the ice out of the plastic bag that's in the freezer and makes a snowball around the ice. She then rolls more snowballs and makes her snowman again.
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| Sadie making a snowball with her ice the next winter |
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| The new snowman made with the old ice |
I really enjoy reading and discussing this book with students. Many of them can relate to Sadie. They wish that they could also save the snowmen that they make. As a fun activity, I actually have students collect some snow on a day where there is snow. We typically put it in a jar so that we can see the snow.
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| Snow collected in a jar |
We then put it at the observation table in our classroom. Students can look at it throughout the day, as long as they don't touch it. They will see it melt as the day goes on. You can do more than one jar at a time. Students can draw/write what they notice about the collected snow. It usually doesn't take very long for the snow to melt.
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| Our melted snow is now water |
When the snow is completely melted, show your students how to place the water in a plastic bag. Talk to your class about how you are going to place it in the freezer. Have your students predict what is going to happen to the water while it is in the freezer. Personally, I like to have it freeze overnight so that the students have something to be excited about for the next time that they come.
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| The frozen water in the plastic bag |
The next time that the students come into the classroom, take the frozen ice out of the freezer and show the children. Make sure that they see the ice in the bag. Talk about how that is the same water that was inside of the bag, but now it's frozen. Then, open the plastic bag and show your students the block of ice.
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| The block of ice |
If there is still snow, have your students use the ice and roll it into a ball with the snow. They can make a new snowman. If there isn't any snow, save it and keep it in the freezer until it snows again. Hopefully, there will be more snow at some point so that you can complete the activity!
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Our new snowman made with our ice
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Sadie and the Snowman Activities
1. Science Activity: Snow, Water, and Ice (the activity posted above)
2. Write/Draw observations of melting snow
HAPPY READINGS!
Jenna
Hi Jenna, I really enjoyed reading your post about Sadie and the Snowman. I also loved all the activities and different ways this book can be presented. Thank you for including those links as well I found that very helpful. I like the idea of teaching perseverance along with this book, I loved social emotional books when I feel like my students need redirection in their behavior.
ReplyDeleteHi Katie! Thank so much for your comment. I agree! Teaching perseverance with this book is a great idea. Many children have a tough time not giving up, and it's so important to teach.
DeleteI LOVE this idea! So nice to integrate Science!
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