The First Day of Winter

I sang this to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and was impressed that the kids were trying to sing it with me by the end. Makes me think that this would be a great repeat read so you could teach the kids - they'd love being able to sing it with you by the end. It would also make an excellent flannel. Fleming illustrated the book herself using colored cotton fiber, hand-cut stencils and squeeze bottles. The blue-gray background colors evoke a snowy, winter day with each illustration focusing on the slow dressing of an already built snowman. Since the basic scene remains the same throughout, Fleming varies the perspective to hold interest and includes several friendly forest animals as well as the little boy who is the "best show more friend" giving all the gifts. Charming and good for storytime without being outstanding.

Used for Snow Storytime for four-year-olds at Light of Christ preschool 1/4/11. show less

Not really about winter. This is an omage to the 12 Days of Christmas, where the characters aren't sending birds to their true love. Instead, they are building a snowman, adding something new each day. When the snowman is finished, it comes to life and trots off to find other snowmen. Fun story. Good for younger readers.

This book is about a boy who has built a snowman and on each day of the first ten days of winter he brings something new to put on the snowman. The book could be read in the same tune as the twelve days of Christmas, (which I did and it was very fun reading). Not only did this book make me anticipate winter’s arrival, but it also worked excellent in bringing back the memory of when I was young and built my very own snowman, and the job I had of rummaging through the house for supplies to clothe the snowman.

I really enjoyed this book; it had such fun illustrations, very bright, big, and colorful illustrations that flowed with the story as each piece was brought and placed on the snowman, exactly what you would expect with a picture show more book. The text had a very rhythmic feel to it, of course, that could be because of the twelve days of Christmas tune, nonetheless, it was a fun and exciting book to read, and perfect for teaching children numbers one through ten, or should I say counting backwards ten through one. Also, the last five pages are just illustrations, wordless pictures; my favorite was the two pages that the book had to be turned upright, because the snowman in his complete attire takes up the whole two pages, like a mini-poster.

My class would definitely do a craft project to go along with this book, and it would be a white cottony snowman on poster board. The class would also come up with their own pieces to place on each of their snowmen, for each day to go along with the story. I would have a lively discussion about winter, which would lead into talking and discussing all of the seasons that we have, and ask what types of changes take place outside with each of the seasons. I would also have my class write about their favorite season including why it is their favorite and they would draw a picture to help explain this. show less

The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming is a very cute repetitive story that allows children to reread lines in a 12 days of Christmas fashion. I like the repetition for a beginning reader, allowing them to see a phrase multiple times giving a strong visual reinforcement. A good book for a new reader, but unfortunately it is a seasonal read.

The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming is a very cute repetitive story that allows children to reread lines in a 12 days of Christmas fashion. I like the repetition for a beginning reader, allowing them to see a phrase multiple times giving a strong visual reinforcement. A good book for a new reader, but unfortunately it is a seasonal read.

This is a wonderful children's book revolved around the song "12 days of Christmas". The illustrations are beautiful, with depictions of snow and christmas and animals. The story revolves around a young boy finding all the necessary ingredients to dress a snowman. There is a repetition to sounding out each day of christmas in the song, so I think this will definitely help beginning counters with their numbers.

4yrs.-6yrs.
The book start "On the first day of winter my best friend gave to me ... a red cap with a gold snap". With each consecutive day the snowman is slowly built up and up. It gets two bright blue mittens, 3 striped scarfs, 4 prickly pinecones, some of these additions are alliterative and some just fun to say like, "5 birdseed pockets". With each addition of food or sustenance, winter animals cluster closer and closer to the snowman. When the last verse (it doesn't go as far as twelve) results in 10 salty peanuts it is clear that the snow"man" is actually a rather nice snow"woman". Our last images in the book are of her walking off to have a chat with another snowfellow at the top of a nearby hill.