Welcome Spring!

As we approach spring break, my thoughts are turning to the way the earth slowly wakes up from her long winter’s nap each year.  Are you as ready for it as I am?  What better way to celebrate the arrival of spring than by enjoying some books that take us through that lovely process!

Here are some books from my library collection that I like to use with students that beautifully capture the transition from winter to spring.  Click on the book titles to look inside and/or purchase. As an Amazon associate I earn a small commission on your purchase at no additional cost to you.

On a Snow-Melting Day : Seeking Signs of Spring by Buffy Silverman

This lively rhyming book is a poetic ode to the passing of winter.  It’s illustrated with an array of colorful photographs, and the end notes include facts about the plants, animals, habitats, and weather events mentioned in the text.  Take a look at On a Gold-Blooming Day  and On a Flake-Flying Day as well.  Copyright 202, starred review from Kirkus

• Use this poetry-writing lesson plan – written by the author – with your students
• Allow students to identify and discuss the many types of figurative language the author uses
• Pair this nonfiction title with the fictional William Wakes Up by Laura Ashman, another rhyming book which shows little boy William and his animal friends waking up from a long winter nap and seeing signs of spring

 Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal

Not gonna lie, I love all Messner’s Over and Under books, and this is probably my favorite in the series.  It’s a nonfiction title, but it reads like a narrative.  From the publisher: Up in the garden, the world is full of green–leaves and sprouts, growing vegetables, ripening fruit. But down in the dirt exists a busy world–earthworms dig, snakes hunt, skunks burrow–populated by all the animals that make a garden their home.”  Neal’s illustrations are full of fabulous details for the reader to pick out.  Copyright 2015, starred review from Library Media Connection

• Download a reading guide for the book
• Have students draw their own garden illustrations showing what’s growing on top and what’s happening underneath
• Download the Kate Messner “Over and Under” series author study guide
• Pair this nonfiction title with the fictional Caldecott Honor Book Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens, a trickster tale involving Hare getting the best of Bear each season as he plants crops that ensure him a bountiful harvest while Bear is left with the useless stalks, roots, and tops of the vegetables

Snowman – Cold = Puddle: Spring Equations by Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Micha Archer

Salas is known for her innovative approach to writing nonfiction books, and title cleverly features a playful math equation on each page as math meets metaphor with a sprinkling of science to explain each of the signs of spring.  The tissue-paper collage illustrations are a bonus (y’all know I love collage art!), depicting children reveling in a glorious spring world. Copyright 2019

• Download the activity guide for the book
• Visit the author’s website for more information and activity ideas
• Use this STEM lesson from the author to guide students to write their own science equations
• Pair this title with A Leaf Can Be, written by the same author, which depicts a leaf’s various purposes throughout the four seasons

When Spring Comes by Kevin Henkes, illustrated by Laura Dronzek

The perfect pairing of words and illustrations, this book for slightly younger readers reminds us that we must be patient as we look at the bare trees and brown mud and sloshy snow and gray skies, because when spring comes (quickly or slowly, it changes its mind a lot) you will feel it, you will smell it, and you will hear it.  Take a look at his other three “season” books, Summer Song, In the Middle of Fall and Winter is Here, for future story times.  (Fun fact: Kevin Henkes and Laura Dronzek are husband and wife. No wonder the text and pictures are woven together so well!)  Copyright 2016, starred reviews from Booklist, The Horn Book, and School Library Journal

• Use this Story Circle lesson with free printable pocket-chart cards
• Provide sidewalk chalk and allow students to go outside and draw spring pictures inspired by the book illustrations
• Pair this title with Bloom, Boom! by April Pulley Sayre, which is a stunning photographic look at the flowers of spring, described in rhyming couplets, that also contains an appendix with further information that allows it to work as a science resource as well as a read-aloud

Spectacular Spring: All Kinds of Spring Facts and Fun by Bruce Goldstone

Spectacular is right!  I tend to prefer photos in nonfiction books, and these do not disappoint.  This vibrant book is bursting with color, and each page layout is a pleasing mix of text and images.  Topics include the usual plants, animals, and weather, but Goldstone also invites readers to appreciate the sounds, smells, textures, and emotions of spring.  Instructions for 6 spring activities for students are included at the end of the book.  And by the way, don’t miss the other books in the series: Super Summer, Awesome Autumn, and Wonderful Winter!

What are your favorite books about the anticipation of spring?  Please share them in the comments!