The winter season is here and you are looking for some easy winter poems for the cold weather! I have a few short poem and lesson plan ideas you can use in your kindergarten and first grade classroom. These winter poems are so much for kids of all ages.
These easy poetry lessons will engage your classroom in shared reading regardless of whether the cold wind is blowing or if you teach in a warm weather area. My original poems are an easy way to help kids focus on fluency during the long winter months.
Teaching poetry in the classroom is one of my favorite things… and it quickly becomes a favorite for students. Research has shown that poetry is a natural way to teach phonics skills, build reading fluency, and engage students in oral language. When students are motivated, they want to explore more! This is why (speaking from experience) you’ll have students keeping you on track and making sure you don’t skip poetry once you begin teaching these engaging lessons!
We don’t limit poetry to just poetry month in April. Instead, each week, students learn a new poem. We placed the poem in a pocket chart or on a bulletin board so so that all students could see the print. Our morning routines offer a perfect time to explore the season of winter through poetry.
Check out this collection of winter poems, complete with daily lesson plans.
You may be a fan of the classic poems of Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson. I remember some of these famous winter poems from my childhood memories. (Some affiliate links have been added to this blog post.)
You can read a few poems that I love by clicking:
Here are a few newer poems for this time of year.
When winter comes in kindergarten, something magical happens. Students seem to come back from the winter break, and they have grown… both in size and in their independence. But one thing they still love is our weekly poem. Winter poetry is part of our good morning routines.
We start by reading the poem, then set the poem to a familiar tune. Ta Da! Now we have winter songs that we seem to hum and sing along to all day long.
Starting in December, we begin to talk about animal adaptations and how various animals behave in the winter. We talk about things like hibernation and camouflage as well!
Some arctic animal poems are just funny poems like this penguin poem.
I’m a little penguin
Black and white,
A sharp tuxedo
I love to swim
But I can’t take flight
So I’ll waddle to the water
To search for a bite!
By Deedee Wills
Your students will have so much fun acting out this poem!
This cute winter poem is about animals that hibernate. Students have a great time moving the interactive images to match the poem.
Here is the winter animal list that is featured in this poem:
Our young learners also add this poem to their poetry notebook.
Not only do we practice this wintery poetry, we can also work on our structured literacy practice of open and closed syllables.
This easy winter poem is another fun one to teach your students when the frosty air begins to blow!
In addition to adding this original poem to their poetry notebook, students also have a little emergent reader that goes with it. In this way, students can take the poem home with them to practice.
This arctic animals poem features foxes, wolves and polar bears. It is a great way to reinforce the science learning we are doing about animal adaptations.
This is another original poem that I wrote.
Probably like most kindergarten classrooms, we study these arctic animals each January. Polar bears are pretty fascinating!
The video version of the poem is available too, so students can scan the code in their notebook and sing along.
When the winter winds blow or we have a snow day, this is a fun poem. It is about my some of my kindergarteners’ favorite things to do in winter time… making a snowman.
When I first introduce this snowman poem, read the poem like a riddle. Look at that chubby snowman drawing!
What is better than one snowman poem? How about another one!
This poem was inspired by the book, Snowman at Night! We love that whole series of books.
Five snowmen came out one night.
After the sun had gone out of sight.
They played games out in the snow.
Until it was time to go.
By Deedee Wills
My kindergarteners got extra thrilled whenever one of their favorite poems is added to our literacy stations for the week. Students work together with their partners to put the poem in order. I may even throw in a word work activity that goes along with the poem, too!
They can also highlight certain sight words that they know. These poems are recorded (can you see the iPhone?) Students can scan a QR code to listen to the song while they are reconstructing it!
Another winter poetry favorite for our poetry center!
There are times when we put the video on and they sing along as well. It is a fun way to start the morning! Those repeated opportunities to see and read (sing) these poems reinforce fluency and prosody.
Students can even watch the poem videos on their own devices. HOORAY for one more way to incorporate poetry throughout the day! (See what I did there… poetry is the best! )
We love adding to our poetry notebooks with each new poem we read. By the end of the year, students have an entire collection of poems they can share and they think it is the Coolest. Thing. Ever!
I hope you found a few new winter poems that you can break out when Jack Frost comes to visit!
You can find these winter poems for kindergarten and first grade by clicking on the pictures in this blog post. OR, check out the mega bundles for poems throughout the year! You will get access to poems, songs, videos, and interactive notebooks. I do have two sets since some teachers have looped with their class and they wanted to have a new set of poems!
Would you like to know more about teaching poetry in the classroom? Here are a couple of blog posts for you!
My teaching career allowed me to experience teaching in different classroom environments and grades. My heart belongs to early childhood education. My job is to make teaching FUN, ENGAGING, and EASIER. Welcome!
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21 Responses
I love it Deedee, you are SO thorough!
Looks like a fun week!
MWAHHHHH!!!!! Thanks for the shout out!!!!! I love your December Poetry Stations!!!!
Looks great, but I get a message that I have to have permission to access. Help!!
Jen
jeneratorj@gmail.com
Yes, I also got a message that I needed permission to access the peek-at-week plans. Never encountered that before. 🙁 How can I get your awesome plans?
Priscilla
dearmswong@hotmail.com
I'm having the same problem with accessing the peek-at-week plans. Thanks, I love your stuff!
So Sorry!!! I fixed the link! EEKK!
I didn't realize you could use your Overhead Station for the Promethean Board…so cool…just added to my wishlist! I purchased your December poetry pack and can't wait to use the gingerbread poem next week….thanks for your great products.
Kelly
Kindergarten Kel
Hi Kelly… yes, I print the pages on white paper and have the students lay them under the document camera. Then I open the Promethean program and set it to transparent.
If I get my act together, I just might scan the documents into the program directly…Ha!
Deedee,
Once again, your Writing Work Stations are a hit with my kids! They were rather peeved when I didn't get the December ones up yet (due to a dead laminating machine)! So, thanks for your great work!
Corinna
Teaching Fabulous Firsties!
DeeDee,
I am a first year teacher…trying to figure out literacy stations. I printed your station cards yesterday(I love how you have smaller groups…and flip the stations I never would have thought about doing that). I also bought your I can station cards which are a revelation to me as well. I would have never thought to give specific tasks at big book, library, and poetry! Wahooooo! I am so excited about finally giving meaning to my stations! I believe its going to give me time for my small groups…which has been lacking because I have had such trouble keeping them on task without a good system.
I do have a question. Do you switch stations weekly? or a longer roation? I have 22 students and to do 2 to a station it would seem that it would need to be longer to get everyone through each station.
I have your writing station (my kids love it!) and just bought your stamping station. I am looking at your games too. I have to work on bringing in one thing at a time. 🙂
Thank you for all your hard work and for sharing!
Traci
Hi Traci, I am so glad you are finding my resources helpful.
I do rotate some stations weekly and some (like the games where I want them to repeatedly practice something) stay longer. I also don't rotate EVERYthing on a Monday (as you can see from my poetry/pocket chart station). I try to keep the tasks familiar and just swap out the materials. This allows me to work with my groups.
I saw somewhere you only do 15-20 minutes per activity. I guess I am just thinking if I have the stamping station out, I want everyone to have a turn at it. If I do groups of two that would take more than one week to get everyone through that page. Am I missing something? Traci
Love all of your stuff – especially your writing workshop! I'm a big Katie Wood Ray fan 🙂 You may like the conferencing forms I use during Writer's Workshop – check them out here : http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-Workshop-Conference-Notes (for free!)
Once again…LOVE it!!
Terri Izatt
KinderKapers
Your wealth of knowledge and your kind heart to share all your items is remarkable! THANKS AND STOP BY ANYTIME!
You are amazing Deedee! I love coming to visit you! I just shared some Christmas poetry *freebies*…I would love for you to come and check them out if you get the chance. My kiddos always love the Polar Express song/poem and Hello Santa. They will still be singing/reading Hello Santa in May!!! Lol! =)
Blessings,
Heather
Heather's Heart
I homeschool and my kids love the poetry stations! We do them together! They loved the Winter's Here Poem (they sing it all day) and now we are the Gingerbread Man poem and I can not get the get the tune right to that poem for the life of me. Can you, maybe…..record you or your class singing it so we can get it right?
Thank you
Oh! My! Word! You have no idea the horror you are about to experience! I have had a cold for a few weeks and I have lost my voice. But I will do it tomorrow with my class! Ha! Will you email me? owens65066@gmail.com
These are really cute poems that will be enjoyed by kindergarten students! I am sure they would love to read these with their classmates and family while sipping hot chocolate.
Thanks for your information!