Winter Reading Activities for Upper Elementary

By Rissa Hanneken, Marissa Despins, Rachel Deroche, Marianna Monheim, Tanya Marshall,and Rach Jamison – UPDATED January 1, 2023

Today, I’m excited to share some winter reading activities from a group of amazing upper elementary teacher-authors. They’re sharing their top strategies to enhance your winter reading plans for upper elementary. I’m confident you’ll discover some fresh and effective approaches to try out!

Winter Reading Escape Room

Upper elementary teachers know the importance of keeping students engaged, especially during the winter months when energy levels and attention spans start to drop. That’s when you need fun and engaging winter reading activities that move your students to grade-level mastery! Imagine your students eagerly diving into a series of four enthralling challenges, each designed to draw them back into the passage multiple times. Your students will engage in activities such as reading and defining vocabulary, verifying statements from the text, answering multiple-choice questions, and locating precise information within the text.

This repetition isn’t just fun—it’s a strategic way to deepen their comprehension and mastery of the content. The best part? You will know they are actively building reading skills, and your students will say you are the “fun” teacher!

Non-Fiction Quick Reads

How do you keep students engaged with winter reading activities? Tanya The Butterfly Teacher believes in using high-interest, nonfiction quick reads for her upper elementary students! These fun passages include the twist of color-coding the answers, which makes them less intimidating for students. The extra plus in this approach is that these winter close reading passages can be used in so many ways without much teacher prep! Tanya details how to use them in your classroom in her post 6 Engaging Winter Literacy Activities for Upper Elementary. You can also check out Tanya’s clever reading challenges in this post!

Close Reading Tips and Tricks

Marissa from Creative Classroom Core likes incorporating close reading strategies into her winter reading activities. Close reading involves a careful and deliberate examination of a text and encourages students to read and reread passages, probing deeper with each iteration. This strategy promotes a thorough understanding of the material and encourages thoughtful analysis. For more information on close reading and ways to incorporate it into your classroom curriculum, check out the Creative Classroom Core blog post on Close Reading tips and tricks (and grab a great freebie!)

Informational Text Choice Boards

Wintertime is filled with high-interest nonfiction subjects for upper elementary students. Whether your students are into animals, winter sports, or extreme weather, there’s bound to be a topic that appeals to them. Marianna from Creatively Comprehensive loves pairing passages about engaging winter topics with thought-provoking activities that will get students applying nonfiction reading strategies! By using a choice board to deliver these activities, Marianna is able to create a low-prep center that can be out for the entire winter season! Learn Marianna’s tips and tricks for creating an informational text choice board by visiting the Creatively Comprehensive blog.

Enchanting Reads and Creative Writing Adventures

Rachel from Uniquely Upper loves the winter season. It offers a perfect backdrop for imaginative reading adventures. From diving into a thrilling mystery to exploring the wonder of winter through captivating stories, there’s a world of literary excitement waiting.

This is the perfect time to encourage your students to dig into classic tales like ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’ to modern adventures like ‘The Polar Express.’ Winter-themed stories can transport readers to magical realms that spark their imagination.

Looking for something a little different? Challenge students’ creativity with winter-themed writing prompts. Ask them to compose imaginative narratives about snow creatures or descriptive pieces capturing a beautiful, snowy day.

To add to a cozy atmosphere, find a peaceful fireplace scene with some instrumental music on YouTube and project it on your smart board for a nice added touch. Want to learn more tips on incorporating fun winter reading activities into different seasons? Click to read more at Uniquely Upper.

Winter Reading and Writing

It’s winter, and what’s better than the chill in the air? Rach from Fifth is My Jam suggests reading and writing using one of her favorite winter books! She believes no book is too young for her upper elementary students, especially if they’re inspirational and provide wonderful details. Using the book A Mother’s Journey, Rach teaches her students how to write an informative paper using facts and research from within the text. She further describes what is needed to write the perfect paper in her post How to Use Your Favorite Winter Book to Research and Write an Informative Paper In 3 Easy Steps. You can also check out other animal research and writing activities in this post, too!

Winter Reading Activities

I hope you found several engaging winter reading activities in this post that you can use right away in your classroom! Make sure you save this post so you can come back and grab a few more winter reading activities for your upper elementary classroom!