Mrs. Kreul's Fourth Grade Class
Richards Elementary School
Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin

Snow, Snow, a collection of winter poems for children and All You Need for a Snowman


When you live in Wisconsin, snow is a big part of your life from November to March - and sometimes even during April and May! Fourth graders like snow for many reasons - making snow forts, skiing - both downhill and cross-country, ice skating, and building snowmen.

For the Frosty Readers 2005 project, 4K read Jane Yolen's wonderful book Snow, Snow, a collection of winter poems for children. They also read All You Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle, a colorful picture book about children building a snowman.

After listening to and discussing the books, students worked in collaborative teams that had a choice of follow-up activities to choose from. A few teams chose to do an interview or newscast, while others, knowing many classes participating in the project are primary students, decided to do counting or ABC books. As for illustrations, there was a mix of digital photography, KidPix, and hand drawn and scanned images.

We hope you enjoy viewing our projects as much as we enjoyed creating them!

An Interview with Frosty
by Jonathan, Tyler, and Reese

An Interview with Frosty Down by the North Pole in the Elf Newscast interview room, Jingle, the head elf, was on an important call with Frosty the Snowman. The elves were having an interview with Frosty and Santa was going to ask the questions.

"Santa needs the room temperature up to 0 degrees," said Jingle to his team. "I'm on it," said Twinkle, and he ran out of the room.

"OK, see you then, bye," said Jingle and he put down the phone. "Frosty is going to be here in one hour, we have to get everything ready," announced Jingle importantly.

Time flew by quickly, and in less time than they expected, Frosty was stepping out of his automatic sleigh. "Frosty, welcome," said Jingle, embracing him in a hug.

"How was the ride?" he asked. "A bit bumpy, but I'm here." "Here, let me show you the interview room," said Twinkle.

Just then there was a bumpy scratching sound outside the door. The elves went to the door and opened it. "Darn, I always run out of gas at a bad time. Frosty is going to be so mad at me," said a big man in a red suit.

"Santa!" said Jingle. "My sleigh," whimpered Frosty."Oh, ya, sorry," said Santa. "My sled kinda lost control." "Oh, well, it only cost five snowballs, don't worry," said Frosty.

"Now, let's get on with the interview," said Jingle. "Oh ya, that's why ya called me at two in the morning," growled Santa. "It was two in the afternoon!" said Jingle.

"Really, oh, well, let's go," said Santa. "Brrr, it's cold in here." "Frosty needed it this cold so he wouldn't melt," said Jingle. "Now, Santa, here is the question sheet." said Twinkle. "Thanks."

Dingle operated the video cameras and moved them to the right spot. "One, two, three," said Dingle. "And we're live at the Channel Two Newscast Interview Rooms, with an exclusive interview with Frosty the Snowman," said Jingle, stepping in front of the cameras. Then the cameras shifted to Frosty and Santa.

"So Frosty, is it true that you live on a large piece of ice?" asked Santa.

"Yes, that is true, Santa. I built an igloo on top of a very large floating piece of ice," said Frosty.

Just then the light flickered and then went out. "Uh oh," said Santa. "The interview might have to be resheduled to tomorrow," said Jingle.

"All right," said Frosty. "See you then, does anyone know where the door is?"

An Interview with Frosty
by Erica, Nick, and Jack

An Interview with Punxsutawny Phil

Jenny: Hi, everybody. We're here with the amazing groundhog Punxsutawny Phil from Puxatawny, Pennsylvania. So how was Groundhog Day, Phil?

Phil: It was really good, Jenny, but I just most dreadfully hate getting pulled out of my cozy hole.

Jenny: So, did you see your shadow this year?

Phil: Nope, I'm glad I didn't.

Jenny: Do you think you'll see your shadow next year?

Phil: I'm not sure but I really hope not because I love spring.

Jenny: How comfortable is your hole in winter?

Phil: I don't mean to brag or anything but it is very warm, and keep this a secret -

Jenny: But we're on live TV!

Phil: I don't really sleep. My tunnel is huge and I watch DVDs on my 100 inch plasma TV.

Phil: I have my own fabulous kitchen, amazing bedroom, comfortable living room, and I have a football stadium down there too. I play with my friends and I just get food - it magically appears - I wonder why?

Jenny: I think I have the answer. Humans drop food down every time they walk past.

Phil: WOW, OH MY GOSH, THAT'S AMAZING!!!

Jenny: OK then...well, that's all the time we have. See you later. It's Jenny Sprite from Magically Appearing News. I'm out of here!

Winter Counting Book by Amara, Clayton, and Zakyia

1 huge friendly frosty snowman
2 chilly icy igloos
3 snowy trees
4 fuzzy knitted mittens
5 slippery sleds
6 colorful hats
7 frozen icicles
8 smooth skis
9 wet boots
10 snowy small snowflakes
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five
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seven
eight
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ten

Please click HERE to see more of our work!

Project Rubric


� Patricia Knox & Susan Silverman - Frosty Readers 2005