Primary Chalkboard: Picture Book Science Lessons: Over and Under the Snow

Hi! It's Ari from The Science Penguin.

I've been working on a new blog series, Picture Book Science Lessons. Each post contains a favorite picture book for teaching science concepts and activity ideas to accompany the book. This post contains affiliate links.

Topic: animals in winter, animal adaptations

Literacy Connections: figurative language, descriptive writing

Focus: First of all, the illustrations in this book are beautiful. I love how the story shows a boy's observations of life above ground in the winter as well as life under the snow. Students learn how living in the subnivean zone helps animals survive through winter.

Title: Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner

Discussion Questions

After reading the text aloud to students, have a group discussion or mini-discussions in small groups.

What characteristics do the animals seen above the snow have in common?
What must shrews, voles, and deer mice do to prepare for winter?

Research

Group students in teams of 2-3. Assign each group one of the animals from the story to answer the essential question: How does each animal survive winter? Present new information to the class. Information about many of the mammals can be found on Hinterlands Who's Who.

Observations Chart

On the first or second read-aloud of the story, students write the information about each animal discussed in the text.