As we've been reading Charlotte's Web and some of the books on our Library List, we've noticed that they are organized around the season cycle. If you're completing our Read-Aloud Poster for Charlotte's Web or Little House in the Big Woods, this week's Back of the Poster idea is especially for you. 

If you're new to Back of the Poster (#backoftheposter on Instagram), it's a feature in which we flip a Read-Aloud Poster over and give you another bookish idea to DIY on the back of that poster paper.

Our past Back of the Poster ideas have been for additional chapter books, but this week's season wheel is a way to compare the season cycles in two books. Although we were inspired by Charlotte's Web, we actually chose two picture books from last week's Two-Book Tuesday (#twobooktuesday).

You can choose any two books that have a strong seasonal structure. Here are some pairs that we thought of, but we'd love to hear what you come up with!

• Charlotte's Web and The Year at Maple Hill Farm
• Farmer Boy and Ox-Cart Man
• Little House in the Big Woods and Farm by Elisha Cooper

OR you could compare any one of these books with your family's activities throughout the year. 

Alright....now that you've got your books picked out, it's time to flip your poster over and sketch out your season wheel design.

Here's the sketch:

Because of the size of the poster paper, I was able to make the outer circle diameter 24 inches. The inner circle diameter is 12 inches. (By the way, this is a great opportunity to enlist some kid help and reinforce circle geometry at the same time.... "If I want the circle to have a diameter of 24 inches, what should the radius be? If we divide the outside circle into 12 sections, how many degrees will each section be?"... you get the idea). We used two pens and a string to make our own compass, and a quilting ruler to measure 30 degree angles to divide the outside circle.

We divided the outside of the circle into months for our first book, The Year at Maple Hill Farm. If you choose books that don't have specific activities listed for each month of the year, just leave the both the outer and the inner circles in quarters and draw what happens in each book during each season of the year.

Our inner circle is for Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall and Barbara Cooney. We left it in seasonal quarters to allow more space for drawing. Generally speaking, it's best to choose the book with fewer details for the inner circle.

That's it! Now it's time for you to pick your books and draw your season wheel!

Wait - no poster yet? Why not take your books and some sidewalk chalk out to the driveway and draw a super-size season wheel! If you choose this option, you'll definitely want to choose picture books to illustrate, as it won't hold up for the length of time it takes to read your chapter book.

We can't wait to see your season wheels! Be sure to post pictures on Instagram using #backoftheposter and tagging us @rubyreadsbooks so we can cheer you on!

Happy reading!