Spring is in the air! We’ve got read alouds and activities to help you hop into spring. This season is filled with plenty of celebrations to weave into your everyday math and ELA lessons. Check out this list of favorite springtime read alouds and activities!
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Saint Patrick’s Day
Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato
written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola
Jamie O’Rourke is the laziest man in Ireland. What’s he to do when he makes a deal with a leprechaun, and finds the largest potato in all the land?
Book Activity: Explore Irish folklore with Fin M’Coul: The Giant of Knockmany Hill, also by dePaola. Compare and contrast the main characters in each story. Read more here about how to teach compare and contrast in the elementary classroom.
Download Compare & Contrast Passages HERE
How to Catch a Leprechaun
by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Andy Elkerton
Book Activity: Have fun building your own leprechaun traps! Here is a step-by-step guide for planning a leprechaun trap activity with your class.
How to Trap a Leprechaun
by Sue Fliess, illustrated by Emma Randall
Book Activity: After you’ve built your leprechaun traps with your class, give our no prep writing passages a try! Students will write about how they would catch a leprechaun on the loose.
Download No Prep Writing Pages HERE
That’s What Leprechauns Do
by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully
What do leprechauns like to do? Find out in this classic book by Eve Bunting.
Book Activity: Leprechauns love to count their gold! Have students practice being leprechauns (minus all the mischief!) with March Math Centers and Math Puzzles for 1st Grade and 2nd Grade. Students can practice money counting skills, compare numbers with shamrocks and leprechaun hats, find the end of the rainbow with sums practice, and so much more with these spring-themed math centers!
Download March Math Activities HERE
Fiona’s Luck
by Teresa Bateman, illustrated by Kelly Murphy
An evil leprechaun has taken all the good fortune from Ireland. It’s up to Fiona to use her smarts to save the day and bring good luck back to the land.
Book Activity: Help save the day like Fiona by putting these mixed-up math puzzles back in order!
Download March Math Puzzles HERE
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover
by Lucille Colandro, illustrated by Jared Lee
Book Activity: Students will love to color along with the March Color by Number pages as you read this silly spin on a classic tale.
Download Color by Number Worksheets HERE
First Day of Spring
When Spring Comes
by Kevin Henkes, illustrated by Laura Dronzek
Book Activity: Take a walk outside and look for signs of spring! Engage the senses as students look, hear, smell, and feel signs of spring. Students can use their writing notebooks to record observations on their springtime walk. Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring is a similar book to use with this activity. Use these sensory details as the building block of a narrative writing piece. Looking for more tips on narrative writing? Check out our post with the best tips on introducing narrative writing in the elementary classroom.
Download Narrative Writing Prompts HERE
Sometimes, Rain
by Meg Fleming, illustrated by Diana Sudyka
This rhyming picture book explores the wonder and joy of the four seasons.
Book Activity: Create beautiful hallway art for any season! Make the Rainy Day Umbrella Craft, and have each student write about their favorite type of weather. You can even play soothing rainfall white noise as the students complete this activity!
William Wakes Up
by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Chuck Groenink
William and his woodland friends wake up from their winter slumber, and get ready to greet the spring! But when one friend doesn’t do his part to help prepare for a party, how will the others feel?
Book Activity: Practice putting the events of the story in order with these sequencing strategies. This book also makes for wonderful readers’ theater. Act out the events from the story to increase student comprehension – and have some fun!
Download Sequencing Activities HERE
If You Plant a Seed
written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
If you plant a carrot seed, you can expect a carrot to grow. But what happens when you plant a seed of kindness? Students will love this tale of growth and friendship.
Book Activity #1: Dig into a unit on seeds and planting. Students will create their own lapbook, filled with vocabulary, drawings, diagrams, and everything they need to know about the life cycle of a plant! Plant your own seeds in the classroom and watch them grow!
Download Planting Lapbook HERE
Book Activity #2: You can also use this book along with an SEL unit on kindness. Have students create a “Kindness Garden.” On a flower cut-out, have students write ways they can be kind. Or write down when they see students being kind to each other. When seeds of kindness are planted, watch how many flowers can bloom!
Download Kindness SEL Activities HERE
April Fool’s Day
April Foolishness
By Teresa Bateman, illustrated by Nadine Bernard Wescott
The grandkids try to ruffle Grandpa’s feathers down on the farm. Will they succeed in pulling off an April Fool’s Day prank? Find out as things get mixed up in this silly story.
Book Activity: Help unscramble this silly story by trying some sentence scrambles of your own! Students will have fun fixing mixed-up sentences with this classroom favorite activity.
Download Sentence Scrambles HERE
Wee Hee Hee: A Collection of Pretty Funny Jokes and Pictures
Jokesters will love this large-print illustrated joke book. It even features a section in how to set up and tell the best joke! Can’t wait to get the giggles going? Check out our favorite list of jokes and riddles to share in the classroom. Perfect for April Fool’s Day, or any day of the year.
Book Activity: Have students practice reading and writing jokes with our Joke of the Day Handwriting resource! You can instantly download these daily jokes from All Access – and that’s no joke!
Download
Easter
The Great Eggscape!
By Jory Johns, illustrated by Pete Oswald
The eggs have escaped their carton! This silly book is all about friendship and being true to yourself. Perfect for springtime, or any time of the year.
Book Activity: Combine an egg hunt with a little math fun! Give the Easter Egg Math Card freebie a try. Students can search for eggs around the classroom filled with math problems, and use the handy recording sheet to write their answers.
How to Track an Easter Bunny
By Sue Fliess, illustrated by Simona Sanfilipo
Book Activity: We love to incorporate STEM activities! Help the Easter Bunny get from basket to basket. Have students work together to create a bridge between two Easter baskets that is strong enough to hold the Easter Bunny (a stuffed animal/weight). Or have a “Bunny Hop!” relay to get students up and moving. Hop on one or two feet to a basket filled with eggs. Take an egg, and run back to the starting line. Drop the egg in the basket as the next classmate takes off! For an extra challenge, fill the eggs with simple math facts or sight words. The first team to collect all their eggs is the winner!
Too Many Carrots
written and illustrated by Katy Hudson
Rabbit loves carrots. But how much is too much? Will Rabbit learn to share what he has with others?
Book Activity: Head on over to the carrot patch to practice some math skills! Practice telling time with the Rabbits and Carrots Center, or find the missing addend in the carrot patch with the Carrot Addition Center. You can find these activities and more in the April Math Centers.
Download April Math Centers HERE
Mother’s Day
Me & Mama
Written and illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera
Simple pleasures, like a rainy day spent inside reading and baking together, make for the best memories. This book follows a mother and daughter as they engage in the magic of every day.
Book Activity: Practice your spelling pattern of the week with “Breakfast for Mom,” a page from our no-prep spelling activities.
Download Spelling/ Word Work Activities
How to Raise a Mom
by Jean Reagan, illustrated by Lee Wildish
Everyone needs help sometimes – even moms! Find out what it takes to “raise a mom” in this funny story.
Book Activity: Practice “How To” writing with the class. Make a list of all the ways they can be a helper around the house. Then, have students make a step-by-step list of how to do that job. Share their writing with the class.
That’s Me Loving You
By Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Teagan White
Mother’s Day can be a difficult day for some students (and teachers!). This book is a thoughtful reminder that we are always surrounded with love, even when the ones we love are not near us.
Book Activity: Have each student choose a family member or friend that they like to spend time with. Practice writing a friendly letter to that person, and then send it in the mail! Check out our blog for more tips on how to teach friendly letter writing in the elementary classroom, and books to model friendly letter writing.
Download Your Friendly Letter Template HERE
Saturday
By Oge Mora
Every Saturday is the best day ever – a girl and her mom always spend this special day together in the same way. But when things don’t work out as planned, they must use flexible thinking to see the best in the situation. They learn that time together is the best, no matter what they are doing.
Book Activity: Students will write about the best day ever. Use the “Best Day Ever” narrative writing prompt from our No-Prep Writing Prompts to get started.
Download No Prep Writing Pages HERE
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