Illustration of a snowy and a hot lanscape. Text reads, "Snow Mail"
Art by Irina Mileo
Poetry,

Snow Mail

A funny poem about a postal delivery gone wrong

By Kenn Nesbitt
From the December 2022/January 2023 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will read a poem and identify its point of view.

Complexity Factors
  • Purpose & Levels of Meaning
    “Snow Mail” is a humorous poem about the pen pal relationship between two cousins who live in very different climates. The punchline at the end relies on the reader understanding something the narrator does not.
  • Structure
    The poem consists of four stanzas of four lines each. Its rhyme scheme is a, b, c, b.
  • Language
    The poem uses simple language and straightforward rhymes.
  • Knowledge Demands
    The poem mentions having a pen pal.
Featured Skill: Point of View,
Other Key Skills: point of view, text features, summarizing, main idea, inference, interpreting text, rhyme, visual literacy
Standards
  • Common Core
    R.4, RL.1, RL.2, RL.3, RL.5, RL.6, RL.7, SL.1, SL.2, L.1
  • TEKS Grade 3
    1a, 1c, 3b, 4, 6a, 6c, 6d, 6f, 6g, 7c, 7d, 9b, 10c, 10d, 10e

Presentation View
See Student View
Point of View

As you read, think about how each cousin would describe what happens.

Snow Mail

My cousin’s my pen pal. 

 We write back and forth. 

 I live in the south and 

 she lives way up north. 


 In winter, it snows 

 where my cousin is from. 

 I’ve never seen snow 

 so I asked her for some. 


 She packed up a box and 

 addressed it to me. 

 It showed up today. 

 I was eager to see! 


 I’m wondering now . . . 

 did my cousin forget? 

 The box that she mailed me was empty. 

 And wet. 

Reprinted by permission of THE POET. All Rights Reserved.

Audio ()
Activities (3)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Audio ()
Activities (3) Download All Quizzes and Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Can't Miss Teaching Extras

For more delightful poetry by Kenn Nesbitt, share “Shape Poems” and “How to Make an Ice Pop.”

If you’re looking for more poems about winter, check out “The Snowflake” and “Winter Poem.”

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

Table of Contents

1. Preparing to Read

2. Close Reading

3. Skill Building

1. Preparing to Read

Set a Purpose for Reading

  • Read the title of the poem along with the poet’s name. Ask students to describe the illustration and predict what the poem will be about. Review the predictions after reading the poem.
  • Explain to your students that different parts of the country have different climates, or average temperatures, at the same time of year. In the north, the climate is typically colder and snowier in the winter. In the south, the climate is typically warmer in the winter. Review with students the climate where you live.
  • Ask students if they keep in touch with any friends or family members who live far away. How do they keep in touch: with visits, through video chats, over the telephone, with emails, or by writing letters? Explain that the poem is about two cousins who live far from each other but keep in touch by writing letters.
  • Tell students to keep the Think and Read prompt in mind as they read the poem.

Preview Text Features and Vocabulary

  • Go over any vocabulary terms that may be challenging for your students. You might want to explain that the term pen pal in the first line of the poem refers to a person (who usually lives far from you) with whom you keep in touch through letter-writing.

2. Reading and Discussing the Poem

  • Read the poem to the class, play the audio version, or use text-to-speech.

  • Next, ask students to take turns reading aloud each line in the poem.

  • Discuss the Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions. (Alternatively, assign all or part of the Learning Journey Slide Deck, which contains the questions as well as other activities from this lesson plan and a link to the poem.)

Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions

  • Read the first stanza. What does the speaker in this poem tell you about?(summarizing) The speaker in the poem tells you that she lives in the south and writes to her pen pal, a cousin who lives in the north.
  • Read the second stanza. What does the cousin who lives in the south ask her cousin in the north to do? Why? (main idea) She asks her cousin in the north to send her some snow because she’s never seen any.
  • Why was the box sent by the cousin in the north empty and wet? (inference, interpreting text) The box was empty and wet because the snow packed inside had melted in the mail.
  • How does the cousin in the south feel when she opens the box? (point of view) She feels confused because she doesn’t realize that the snow would have melted when the box was mailed. She thinks her cousin forgot to pack the snow in the box.
  • Which words rhyme in the poem? (rhyme) The rhyming words are forth and north, from and some, me and see, and forget and wet.
  • How do the pictures in the top and bottom of the illustration help you understand what happens to each cousin in this poem? (visual literacy, point of view) In the top of the illustration, the cousin who lives in the north is happily packing snow in a box to send to her cousin in the south. In the bottom of the illustration, the cousin who lives in the south is reading her cousin’s letter. She looks confused because she thinks her cousin forgot to send the snow. The open box is next to her. It is empty and the bottom of the box is wet because the snow melted.

3. Skill Building

Featured Skill: Point of View

Distribute or digitally assign our Point of View Skill Builder and have students complete it in class or for homework.  

Text-to-Speech