Teaching elementary-aged children is a rewarding experience, but as educators and parents, finding the time and resources to create engaging lessons can be a challenge. That's where this podcast comes in. Welcome to Naturally Teaching Elementary.

I'm Victoria Zablocki, a certified elementary teacher turned outdoor educator. With over a decade of experience coaching teachers on effective teaching methods, I'm passionate about teaching the whole child with authentic and place-based experiences in school and home settings. Join me as we explore strategies for teaching with practical teaching tips, insightful interviews, picture book reviews, and more.

So let's grow together. Hey everybody, welcome back to the Naturally Teaching Elementary podcast. My name is Victoria Zablocki and I'm your host.

So spring is nearly here and your students are so ready for it. Much like us, kids start to feel the drain of winter and are ready for warmer days, more sunlight and puddles to splash in. Embrace that need by getting them thinking about the changing of the seasons with spring picture books.

So picture books are a great way to explain how plants and animals react to the shift in weather and the amount of daylight. And guess what? I've got you covered because in this episode, I'm going to describe nine spring picture books that share seasonal signs and what plants and animals do in spring.

And if you're looking for a mini spring unit for kindergartners to go along with these books, check out my Spring Picture Book Companion for Kindergarten in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. This mini unit includes made for you ELA and science activities aligned with the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards. It includes a suggested picture book list as well as activities that can pair with almost any picture book about spring.

These activities include a simple literature study, a guided opinion writing, sorting seasonal signs, a spring weather foldable data booklet, plant needs observational study, animal needs outdoor play lesson, designing a nest, and building their nest out of natural materials. And if you've listened to my other episodes about picture books, I'm sure that you've caught on to the fact that I'm very passionate about teaching science concepts with the help of children's literature. And for good reason.

Research has shown that integrating science and literacy has many benefits including saving teachers time in their schedule, improved attitudes of children towards science, better overall performance in reading and science, and so much more. For more information about benefits and methods for integrating science and literacy, check out my blog post, “Teaching with Books: How to Integrate Science and Literacy for Elementary Classroom.” All right, now let's get into it.

[4:13]

Book number one is Spring Thaw by Steven Schnur, illustrated by Stacey Schuett. This book is about the changes happening on a farm when the seasons shift from winter to spring. So starting in the nighttime, a warm breeze shakes snow off of branches, water trickles down from the roof, a raccoon comes out of its winter sleep, and a pregnant doe walks nearby.

Then during the day, a cardinal sings, geese gather in the field, ice cracks, maple sap is gathered, and more. So this is a great introduction to the shift from winter to spring, and a great way to show what the transition may look like for kids that are learning to observe changes in nature. So if you're looking for a book on early spring signs, Spring Thaw has a nice way of presenting a lot of different signs all in one easy-to-listen-to storyline.

Plus, the illustrations by Schuett are very vivid and telling. One thing I tried to do while organizing this list of books was start off with books that introduced the changing of the seasons from winter to spring, and then move into books that are about spring signs that can be seen when winter has faded completely, kind of like a timeline. Hopefully, this will help you find a good fit for whichever time of the season you're looking to highlight for your learners.

[5:20]

Book number two is Spring for Sophie by Yael Werber, illustrated by Jen Hill. This is another book about early spring that follows a very curious little girl named Sophie and her quest to find spring. Sophie asks her mother when spring will be there and her mother shares that spring arrives slowly, but one of the first signs to know is to listen for the birds to sing.

So she listens and once she starts hearing the birds, her father tells her she needs to feel the ground with her feet to turn to a soft muddy feel. After she feels the ground change, her mother tells her to use her eyes to look for the snow melting and her nose to smell for earth and rain in the air. And the book ends when Sophie finds spring by seeing the world in green, smelling the earth in the air and tasting the rain as it falls.

This is one of my favorite spring books for early childhood learners. The intertwining of the senses and the signs of spring really make the shift relatable to young learners. One of the best ways to experience the seasons is through senses, and Werber does such a great job bringing that to life in this book.

It also kind of gives you a guide as to how you could introduce the idea of spring coming. You could take your learners out for a hike listening for birds. Then you could go out feeling the ground for changes. Then you could look for melting snow and smell the air for changes. It really is an amazing book.

[6:33]

Book number three is Mud by Mary Lyn Ray, illustrated by Lauren Stringer. This is another book to help introduce the early signs of spring, but this one is focused on mud through the lens of seasonal changes. Signs of spring that are shared include the earth becoming unfrozen, a sweet smell from the ground, leaves loosening from the ground, small pools made in grass, the colors returning to nature, and then the creation of mud. This book has a sensory experience to it, both with the words that Ray uses, as well as the vivid illustrations by Stringer.

Although mainly focused on how mud is made, there are several spring signs in both the words and the pictures. It's a fun celebration of the changing of the seasons and will definitely resonate with your young learners.

[7:15]

Book number four is Abracadabra, It's Spring, by Anne Sibley O'Brien, illustrated by Susan Gal. And this is a gatefold book that helps with the magic to reveal the different spring signs. And if you're not familiar with a gatefold, it's an oversized page that folds down to the same size as the rest of the book, and can be opened up when reading to reveal something. And in this book, it's the magical sign of spring.

O'Brien uses words normally associated with a magician's act to share amazing ways that we know spring is here. She uses words like Hocus Pocus, Alakazam, Presto Changeo, and more to engage your readers and get them excited to find out the magic that's happening in the season. She also uses rhythm and rhyme to share seasonal signs.

Some of the spring signs included in the storyline are melting snow, blooming flowers, leaves opening on trees, birds singing, nests being built, eggs being laid, and more. This is a really engaging and beautiful book to share with your early childhood learners. Between the colorful illustrations of Gal and the incorporation of the fun magical words, this book will get your learners excited to hear the next seasonal sign.

My only qualm with this book is that there is a page about cocoons holding a surprise, and then to rhyme with the word surprise, O'Brien uses butterflies. Technically speaking, butterflies emerge from chrysalises and moths emerge from cocoons, but this is just one small thing to note.

[8:31]

Book number five is Worm Weather by Jean Taft, illustrated by Matt Hunt. And this book is specifically about the weather that can be found in spring, which if you listen to last week's nature note, that's just about every kind of weather. The storyline follows two young children and their adventure with the changing spring weather, starting with rain on their block, then enjoying the puddles and mud made by the rain in their backyard, then a thunderstorm and lastly a rainbow created when the storm stops.

This is a simple storyline, but it's such a sweet little book to introduce the changing spring weather. It's another good book for your early childhood learners and has so much value. The changing weather is presented in rhythm and rhyme and short sentences for your earliest readers. It also shows safety measures by having the characters go into a pizza place when the thunderstorm starts.

I love this little book and use it frequently for spring learning. And if you love this book too and you're looking for engaging activities to do alongside of it, check out my Worm Weather Picture Book Companion for kindergarten. This companion has made for you ELA and science activities that are aligned to the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards.

It includes a guided story retelling, a rhyming words activity, a guided opinion writing, a fact and opinion sorting activity, a sorting weather pictures activity, identifying weather science note-booking, creating a mud day recipe, a worm needs outdoor activity, and worm walk data collection. Suzanne gave it five stars and said, “this was a great and easy to prep addition to my weather unit.” And Ashley also gave it five stars and said, “a great product we'll be using again and again and again in my classroom. Students loved it.” If you want to check it out, I'll make sure to put a link for it in the show description and the show notes.

Book number six is Snowman - Cold = Puddle by Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Micah Archer. This book is an interesting take on seasonal science. Salas uses the idea of mathematical equations to share how winter changes to spring. So using the title as an example, if you have a snowman in winter, it needs the cold to stay snow.

However, if you take away or subtract that cold, the snow will melt and create a puddle. Salas does this with a variety of seasonal signs, such as flooding in a stream due to snowmelt, woodpeckers claiming their territory, maple syruping, beavers having babies, geese migrating, flowers blooming, the weather becoming more windy, insects pollinating, birds laying eggs, rain, the creation of rainbows, and more. Salas separates this book into three chapters, if you will, early spring, mid spring, and late spring, to share seasonal signs throughout the whole season.

Like I said, this book looks at seasonal signs in a very interesting way and can get your learners thinking about how the changes in the seasons make the equation work. I, as an adult, appreciate the creativity in the equations and have put a good amount of thought into how each equation represents each seasonal sign. Salas not only included these unique equations, but she also included insets on each page that explain the seasonal sign more in depth, making it more appropriate for upper elementary aged learners.

The other books so far on this list that I've mentioned would be more appropriate for early childhood learners, so this book stands out due to its content and representation of seasonal signs.

[11:41]

Book number seven is It's Spring! by Linda Glaser, illustrated by Susan Swan. This book follows a child as they discover a variety of spring signs. There are a lot of different seasonal signs, including melting ice and snow, creeks and streams flowing again, puddles forming, pussy willows blooming, green sprouts shooting up, animals waking from their winter sleep, migrating birds returning to their nesting grounds, birds building nests, people planting seeds in the garden, days growing longer, frogs singing and more.

This book packs a lot of seasonal signs into the storyline, but not in an overwhelming way. It balances the narrative as well as the scientific information. Between the words and the pictures, your learners will be walking away with a lot of seasonal signs to keep an eye out for this season. This is another book that would be appropriate for upper elementary age children since it's so rich with so many signs and some of the lesser talked about signs so far as well.

Glaser also includes some ideas at the back of the book for spring activities that you can do with your learners, including watching birds, putting out bird feeders, watching for animals that change color, creating a worm jar, planting a garden and more. Also, if you like this book, she's published a similar book for each season including It’s Fall!, It’s Winter! and It’s Summer!.

[12:58]

Book number 8 is Sixteen Miles to Spring by Andrew Pelletier, illustrated by Katya Krenina. This book is a fairy tale that gives one “explanation” for how spring comes to be. The book starts with a scientific explanation of the spring season and then starts in on the fantastical storyline following a little girl named Maddie. She noticed that the calendar said that winter was over, but it was still cold and snowy. Her and her father set out for a drive and come across an old green truck with the name Sixteen Miles to Spring on the side of it.

Maddie and her dad get out of the truck and chat with Wilbur and Wiley, the owners of the truck. They share that they come from a sunny place south of the place that Maddie lives, but they drive 16 miles north each day. As they talk, Wiley removes his hat and butterflies fly out from it and up into the sky and a robin lands on Wilbur's head.

At one point, Wilbur pulls out his pocket watch and comments that something is right on time and then it starts to rain. Then the two men, Maddie's dad and Maddie, grab some stuff out of a sack from the back of the truck and throw it up into the air. Suddenly the rain stops, the sun comes out, the snow melts, puddles are made, the grass turns green, flowers start blooming, and birds start singing.

This book shares a variety of spring seasonal signs in a very fantastical way. I found it a refreshing shift from the other books that have a more scientific approach to their narrative storylines. And because of the fairy tale aspect and the length of the passages on each page, it's probably a better fit for upper elementary aged kiddos.

[14:27]

And lastly, book number nine is Bloom Boom!, words and pictures by April Pulley Sayre. This book is set in spring with a simple and short storyline. Sayre shares the life cycle of the spring flowers by sharing how seeds sprout, stems come out, leaves emerge, and the flowers bloom. She also shares things for the reader to look for in spring flowers, such as different shapes, animals that visit, flowers, and different colors.

So since spring is synonymous with flowers, this book is a great option to talk about plants in spring. It's also very interactive with the rhythm and rhyme that she uses to share about spring flowers. And you can get your learners into repeating “Bloom Boom!” at the end of each stanza.

She also uses photographs to illustrate her points, and it really brings the book to life. At the end of the book, she has information about each of the different types of flowers that she featured, which is nice to look closely at with older learners. And if you like this book, she also has a fall book Full of Fall that I mentioned in episode 16: 10 Fall Picture Books to Introduce Seasonal Signs, Falling Leaves, and Animals in Autumn. And she also has Best in Snow for winter.

[15:31]

So in a nutshell, today we talked about nine spring picture books to introduce seasonal signs, plants and animals in spring. Titles that were summarized include Spring Thaw by Steven Schnur, illustrated by Stacey Schuett; Spring for Sophie by Yael Werber, illustrated by Jen Hill; Mud by Mary Lyn Ray, illustrated by Lauren Stringer; Abracadabra, It's Spring by Anne Sibley O'Brien, illustrated by Susan Gal; Snowman - Cold = Puddle by Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Micah Archer; Worm Weather by Jean Taft, illustrated by Matt Hunt; It's Spring! by Linda Glaser, illustrated by Susan Swan; Sixteen Miles to Spring by Andrew Pelletier, illustrated by Katya Krenina, and Bloom Boom! words and pictures by April Pulley Sayre.

And if you're looking for more spring picture books, check out my article, “A Fantastic Spring Picture Book List for Elementary Teachers with 20 Titles”, on naturallyteaching.com or follow the link in the show notes. And don't forget, if you're looking for a mini spring unit for kindergarteners that coordinate with these books, check out my Spring Picture Book Companion for Kindergarten in my Teacher's Pay Store.

So thanks for taking time to listen today. I know you're busy and I truly appreciate the time you take to tune in. If you have any questions, wonderings, or spring picture books that you like to read, get ahold of me on Instagram at Naturally.Teaching or you can email me at victoria@naturallyteaching.com.

And don't forget to check out the show notes for this episode at naturallyteaching.com/episode43. So thanks again for joining me today and until next time, keep exploring, keep learning and keep naturally teaching. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of the Naturally Teaching Elementary Podcast.

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