This week's Book of the Week is "The Jacket I Wear in the Snow" by Shirley Neitzel. I was introduced to this story by another one of my fabulous co-workers (Thank you, Linda!). The majority of this book is a run-down of the clothing the little girl wears to go play in the snow. Toward the end, she is shown sitting on her sled crying and you (or your students) must infer the reason she is crying. Since her sled is right next to a broken snowman, you might assume that she's crying because she broke it or because she got hurt in the crash. This has lead to some interesting discussions between the kids!
So, here's how I use the book:
Making Learning Fun has a ton of free activities to accompany this book. I used the Story Retelling Pieces (photocopied on Zoom, but I'm not sure exactly how much because Linda gave me these as well!) and attached Velcro so we can get the girl dressed:
I show the students the girl. (Insert snickers and super-mature underwear jokes here.) I also get a lot of "She's NAKED!" I take this opportunity to inform the students that, since she is wearing a shirt and undershorts, she is NOT naked! In hindsight, I should have colored her t-shirt and underpants pink or something. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20, right? I explain that she wants to go play in the snow and ask if she is ready to do that. No? What does she need?
I bring out the clothing items as the students name them. My intention was to dress the girl as the story progressed, but the clothes aren't named in the order you would get dressed, but probably a reversed order (e.g., the jacket is first, socks and long underwear come last). So, I ask them to sequence the order in which she should get dressed (as if she was just getting out of bed in the morning). In almost every group, I was told that she should put her jacket on first!! I have to say, this surprised me. With cueing, we've been able to get on her clothing:
And finish up with her outer clothes:
After the story, I see if the students can recall everything that the little girl wore. Then we do a little more with winter clothing vocabulary...
I found this great freebie from Learning and Teaching with Preschoolers. It's meant to be a pocket chart activity, but I used it as a sorting activity. The students each picked a card and answered whether or not you should use that clothing item to go play in the snow. I have to say, some items were hotly debated! (Some students thought socks should go in the "No" hoop because you wouldn't wear socks ALONE to play in the snow...Oh my, we can be so literal at times!).
Looking for other resources for this book? Miss Speechie from Speech Time Fun has a companion pack for this book that can be found for $2.25 in her TPT store. In fact, if you search for "The Jacket I Wear in the Snow" on TPT, you'll find a bunch of materials! (See them HERE).
Do you use this book in therapy? What is your favorite activity to reinforce the story?
