Brrr! Winter is here and depending on where you live that could mean more time indoors for students and teachers. On the other hand, your students may experience winter weather that only requires a light jacket or sweatshirt.
Whether you need an extra read aloud for indoor winters or a winter read aloud to remind your students of the change in season, A Loud Winter’s Nap Read Aloud created by The Core Coaches is perfect!
Winter Read Aloud for Kids
What do the squirrels do during the winter? What about the rabbits and bears? These are questions that curious students may ask in class or at home when it starts to snow.
While one way to explain where animals go when winter arrives is to teach a lesson on hibernation, another fun way to explore the world of winter is through a winter read aloud for kids. One of our favorite books to use for read aloud time in the winter is A Loud Winter’s Nap by Katy Hudson.
If you are not familiar with this book, it is a magical story about the world below the snow. Throughout the book, kids follow several animals into their winter homes that lie underneath the snow.
From snow hares and squirrels to bullfrogs and bears this book provides students with an educational look into the habitats of several different animals. The more students dive into these different habitats, the more curious they will become. Therefore, providing several starting points to engage students in discussion and other learning activities.
A Loud Winter’s Nap Activities
Much like the animals that nap during winter, teachers are also in need of a nap at this time of the year! Trust us, we remember! And we also remember the struggle of trying to get enough sleep while still getting enough prep time.
Therefore, to help you get a little reprieve we have done all of the planning for you! Just like with all of our read alouds, the activities you find in our read aloud for A Loud Winter’s Nap are fully planned and ready to teach. In addition, we have provided detailed instructions to help guide you in using each activity in your classroom.
Take a look at all of the fun activities included in our A Loud Winter’s Nap Read Aloud!
- Comprehension questions and whole group responses to text activities: Check for comprehension using whole-class questions such as “what’s that loud noise?” and “who made the noise?”
- Response to text activities: Students will enjoy engaging with language while matching sound words like Tap! Tap! and Tweet! Tweet! with appropriate images.
- Writing pages: Students get a chance to make a personal connection to the book by responding to the writing prompt “My Favorite Winter Activity is…”
- Vocabulary cards and worksheets: Help students increase their vocabulary with words from the book, like “trudged” and “snuggled,” in this vocabulary activity.
- Quiz: At the end of the activities, check for understanding again with this short quiz that is developed with age-appropriate questions.
- Retelling puppets: These puppets represent the different animals in the book and are a fun activity to help students demonstrate their understanding of the book verbally.
- Craftivity template: After all of the lessons above, it is important to provide students with a creative outlet for their learning. This craftivity helps do this by closing out the week of lessons with a visual demonstration of the students’ learning. Furthermore, this is a great way to give students something to take home and share what they learned with their families.
A Loud Winter’s Nap Lesson Plans
While we know your students will love these different activities, we also know it isn’t all about fun. Therefore, all of these A Loud Winter’s Nap Activities are aligned with the common core standards. Therefore, each activity will engage and challenge your students through rigourous critical learning (while having fun and staying engaged).
To get started with the read aloud, simply choose your favorite digital format (Google Slides or SeeSaw) and upload the activities. In addition, you can take a pause from the digital world and print out these activities. Choose what is best for your students and your teaching style.
Winter Read Alouds 2nd Grade
As former elementary school teachers, the majority of read alouds we create are for 1st and 2nd grade. These are not only primary years for literacy development, but let’s be honest, this age range also has some of the best books!
Whether you teach first or second grade, the read aloud outlined above will cover all your needs for the core standards in both grade levels. Moreover, the activities will be engaging for students in both first and second grades.
In addition to this read aloud, we have several other fun Winter Read Alouds for 1st grade and 2nd grade.
Check out these Jory John Read Alouds.
Winter Read Alouds PreK
Beyond the delightful story of A Loud Winter’s Nap, one of the things we love about this book is its ability to work across several grade levels. In addition to using this book in first and second-grade classrooms, it is also a wonderful choice for PreK (or kindergarten).
Like the read aloud packet for first and second graders, our PreK read aloud includes several literacy activities to engage students in the book. These activities follow the same types of activities shown above. However, they have been modified to be appropriate for learners just starting their reading journey.
In addition, our PreK read aloud library is growing! Thereof, you can find several other engaging read aloud activities for preschoolers in our prek store.
Kid Read Alouds for Winter
Whatever grade you teach, A Loud Winter’s Nap is a wonderful addition for winter reading. Moreover, with our ready to teach lesson plans available for PreK through 2nd grade, you can enjoy teaching this book with little prep time.
So, whether your kids are curious about the snow falling in your town or your students have never seen snow before, adding a winter read aloud to your collection is the perfect way to celebrate the season.
