Monday, January 28, 2013

Snowflake Inquiry

We had a wonderful snowfall here last Friday and on the way home from school the children noticed the perfectly formed snowflakes sticking to the van windows. This interest in the formation of the snowflakes became the provocation for some exploration outdoors.

We used black construction paper that I popped outside while the kids dressed. This way the paper would be cold and could easily catch the snowflakes without melting them. 


Because the snow was falling so gently it was easy to quickly fill up our papers.


We brought our magnifying glasses outside with us in order to see the formation of the flakes even more clearly.


We also noticed that there were hundreds of perfectly formed flakes on our black BBQ - making it even easier to view the snowflakes up close! This was also a great chance to talk about why the metal BBQ was better at keeping the snowflakes cold and formed compared to our construction paper.



Once inside we looked up some nonfiction information about snowflakes. Highlights Kids has a great article here!

Cadence was eager to represent the snowflakes we had observed outside, so after making some out of various kinds of paper (printing paper, parchment paper, wax paper) we stuck them to our back window which had been covered with sticky contact paper.


We now have a beautiful collection of snowflakes decorating our door and reminding us of the beauty we observed outside!


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