It Snowed...Just Enough To Learn Something New!

We began our unit on winter this week. On Thursday we had BIG snow flurries! We gathered around Mrs. J's computer screen & did an Internet search on snowflakes. We stumbled on 2 sites with pictures of snowflakes that were taken with "high tech" microscopes. The pictures were AMAZING! We learned that snowflakes have 3 or 6 "arms." No two flakes are alike. "They really look fancy," said one of the students. Check out the pictures for yourself at
http://www.snowflakebentley.com/ AND http://chemistry.about.com/od/snowsnowflakes/ig/Snowflake-Photo-Gallery/ . Afterwards we bundled up & with black construction paper, headed outside. The snow was dry and powdery. As the flakes landed on the paper the students could see the detail of each flake. They were so excited! All wanting Mrs. J to look at the snowflakes that had fallen on their paper. Describing each detail they observed. It was priceless!!

It was SOOOOO COLD!The students entered the room ahead of me. As I walked through the classroom door I quickly snapped this picture of my little ones warming their frozen hands in front of our fire place video. i never laughed so hard!! Each student took the black piece of paper that they used outside to write about their experience. Then they illustrated their writing with snowflakes that they saw. They were very detailed. I was so impressed! What a learning experience! By 3:10 the flurries had vanished but our pictures live on.