Winter Solstice Activities

About this resource

The winter solstice is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. This pack teaches that one fact in a way a K-3 classroom, including a self-contained special education room, can use all week: a short reading page, a day-or-night sort, a Day and Night Circle craft, and writing at three levels.

Children read "The Shortest Day" (three short paragraphs, each with a picture): the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, in the Northern Hemisphere it is about December 21, the sun stays low in the sky, and after this day the days slowly get longer. Then they circle the answers, sort pictures, build the circle, put the shortest day in order and write.

This pack teaches the science fact only. It does not teach a holiday or a tradition, and every sentence is descriptive.

Three writing levels, so every child can do the same unit:

• Level 1: trace and fill in. Three sentences about the shortest day, a word bank, and a blank for the missing word.
• Level 2: three picture boxes (draw the short day, the long night and a light) with a sentence starter and writing lines beside each.
• Level 3: free writing. "On the longest night I..." is printed; the child draws and writes in their own words.

Every student page has a name line and one short instruction with a picture, so a paraprofessional can run the center from it too.

WHAT'S INSIDE (17 pages)

• Start Here: a five-day plan, the three writing levels, the facts used on the pages, ways to make it easier or harder, and prep
• Read "The Shortest Day": three short paragraphs with pictures, and a diagram of the sun's low path
• Check your reading: three circle-the-answer questions, then draw the sun and write one fact
• 6 vocabulary cards to cut (sun, moon, day, night, lantern, solstice) and a trace-and-write page for the same 6 words
• Day or night sort: 8 pictures to cut and glue on a day mat or a night mat, then two sentences to write
• The Day and Night Circle: 8 pieces to color and cut, then glue each on its faint twin in the circle and write "The day is" and "The night is"
• The shortest day in order: 4 glue boxes (First, Next, Then, Last) and 5 pictures to cut (4 steps plus 1 that does not belong), with a sentence line for each
• Three writing pages, one for each level
• Compare two days: a winter solstice day and a day in June, with a sky to draw the sun in and sentences to finish
• A family letter to send home, with a draw-and-return box
• A "Who Did What This Week" data page with the answer key
• A credits page (art and font licenses)

Cutting Built For Small Hands

Every cutting page has 5 or more big pieces, lined up in a grid edge to edge so each cut is one straight line. 27 pieces to cut in all (6 word cards, 8 sort pictures, 8 circle pieces, 5 step pictures). Every glue box is the same size as the piece that goes in it.

Who This Is For

Kindergarten to 3rd grade classrooms, self-contained special education classrooms and paraprofessionals who want a winter science, reading and writing unit with real sorting, sequencing and three levels of writing, ready to print.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A printable PDF (print and cut). It is not Google Slides, Docs or PowerPoint, and it has no fillable fields. Print on paper; card stock suits the circle pieces. The date and the length of daylight depend on the year and on where you live, so the pages give "about December 21" and no hours. It is not a claim about any student's age or rate of progress.