During the first snow
fall, Mrs. Ralph read the question “What
is Snow?” from the book “Our Seasons” by: Grace Lin and Ranida T.
McKneally. Nothing further was
read. The question was posed to the
students. Mrs. Ralph and Ms. Powell were
very curious about the initial knowledge and theories the students had about
snow.
“It comes from when clouds
get white, that’s where snow comes from.” K.W.
“Snow is snowflakes.” E.E.
“Snow is water and when it
freezes it opens up and snowflakes come out.” D.S.
“When it is a purple sky
it snows.” W.E.
“It is actually water that
comes from the clouds and freezes, then it gets warmer and warmer and changes
into snowflakes.” A.M.
“It’s little bits of ice.”
A.P.
“When I throw the snow it
feels fluffy when it falls. It’s thick
and cold.” G.B.
“Snow comes from
Antarctica where there is a lot of snow.
It comes here because there is a lot of wind there and it blows it all
the way here.” B.S.
“Snow comes from the
sky. It falls down from the clouds where
it grows and then the cloud gets heavy and all the snow falls down.” M.P.
“Snow is, like if you put
water in the fridge it becomes icy and when you put it outside it turns into
snow that’s puffy.” R.W.
We then read the book “The
Little Snowflake”, by: Steven Metzger, and one page in particular stood out to
the students and initiated a discussion about snowflakes and snow.
“There are no two
snowflakes that are the same.” E.S.
“But I see this one (on
the back cover of book) is the same like this one (inside book).” G.B.
“How can we find out?”
Mrs. Ralph
“We can bring our
magnifying glasses and go outside and see what each snowflake looks like!” G.B.
The students then went
outside to explore and observe the freshly fallen snow that accumulated in the
school yard!
“When you squeeze it, it
melts!” O.S.
“There’s snow on the top
and ice forming on the bottom of the branch.” G.M.
“Snow looks like
sparkles.” E.E.
“There are bubbles in the
ice.” A.P.
“Snow turns into ice,
because when you see it and feel it, it looks and feels like snow but it’s
ice.” E.S.
“It’s a piece of ice
because it is cold.” E.E.
“I know it is ice because
it is clear.” R.H.
“I know it’s ice because
it’s hard.” E.H.
“When you squeeze the ice
water comes out!” A.T.
After the outdoor
exploration, the students sat in a circle and shared some observations with each
other:
“I looked carefully and noticed snow is
ice. It’s tiny flakes of ice.” E.S.
“I saw that the clouds
made snow.” M.P.
“When I used the
magnifying glasses, I saw that the snowflakes are actually snow.” A.M.
“The snow is also frost.”
W.E.
“I saw some ice on the
rock and I saw that the bushes were sparkly.
I think it was snow.” E.E.
“I know that snow is
slippery. I saw it on the ground.” A.P.
“Snow is parts of the
cloud and some water.” E.S.
We continued to gain more
knowledge by reading the book “Millions of Snowflakes” by: Mary McKenna Siddals. The story initiated many wonder questions and
theories to explore and ponder further.
“I wonder how snowflakes
melt?” G.B.
“I wonder why snowflakes
melt on your tongue?” H.S.
“I wonder how snowflakes
fall from the sky and land on your eyes?” P.I.
“How do clouds make snow?” C.M.
“Why do clouds get dark
and then it snows?” W.E.
“How does ice break?” E.E.
“I think snow is water and
when it’s cold in the sky it freezes and turns to snow.” A.M.
“That is a good idea that
A.M. said. When it gets too cold in the
cloud, the rain has to have time to turn to ice. Then it falls as hail. Hail is a different kind of snow.” R.W.
“How do snowflakes fall
down?” K.W.
“Why do snowflakes look
blue or grey?” C.D.
“Why are snowflakes
white? Because they are made of water
and water is clear? A.P.
“Maybe the water is making
the snowflakes white.” E.E.
“I think up in the clouds
a little bit of the clouds go inside the snowflakes and makes them white.” A.M.
“The clouds are white so
when rain goes in the clouds at winter time maybe some of the white from the
clouds go into the snowflakes and turns them white.” B.S.
“When snowflakes join
together, they turn white, but when they are alone, they are clear.” D.S.
“Snow is ice but made out
of water. If we put water in the freezer
for a bit it turns into snow. If you put
it for a long time it turns into ice.” A.P.
B.S. was so curious about
snowflakes, he continued to inquire about them at home. The next day he was so excited to share his
new found knowledge with the class:
“Last night I was looking
at the computer with my mom to find how snowflakes are made. We found out that in the clouds it gets cold,
then a tiny hexagon shape is made and arms start to grow out of the hexagon. Then a snowflake appears after the arms
grow. Then two or three days later, that
snowflake will come out of the cloud.
Some of the white from the clouds are used to make the shape.” B.S.
Ms. Powell also had a wonder question and asked the
students: “Why can we feel rain and hail fall on us but not snowflakes?”
“I know why you can feel
rain and not snowflakes, because rain is heavy and snowflakes are light. Hail is also heavy and falls straight
down. Snowflakes wobble and catch air
and fall slower.” E.S.
“The hail is faster
because it’s a circle and circles usually fall faster. The snowflake is flat and the ball
isn’t. The snowflake catches the breeze
and makes it go back and forth.
Snowflakes are lighter like paper.” O.S.
The students decided to
try out their theories by doing an experiment.
They made their own snowflakes out of paper and made hail by crumpling
paper into balls.
Before the experiment, the
students were asked to predict what they thought would happen?
“The hail will fall to the
ground first because it’s smaller.” P.I.
“The snowflake will catch
the air and the hail won’t. The hail
will fall to the ground first.” O.S.
“The ball is heavier so it
will touch the ground first because it’s bigger and faster.” E.H.
“The hail will touch the
ground first because it’s bigger and faster.” G.B.
“I think the hail and the
snowflake will fall and touch the ground at the same time.” E.E.
“I think the hail will go
faster because I tried it and it went faster.” W.E.
“I think that the hail
will touch the ground first because the snowflake is flat and the wind will
push it up and make it float.” B.S.
“I think that the hail
will fall first because the wind only catches the snowflake and makes it fall
slower.” A.M.
“The hail will touch the
ground first because it will go faster.” M.P.
Snowflake Experiment 1 from
Anamaria on
Vimeo.
Snowflake Experiment 2 from
Anamaria on
Vimeo.
“What did you notice when
we did our experiments?” Mrs. Ralph
“The hail dropped down
first I think it was heavier.” E.H.
“The hail went to the
ground first because it’s smaller and the snowflake went second because it’s
bigger.” K.W.
“The hail touched the
ground first because it’s little.” E.E.
“The hail dropped to the
floor first because the snowflake catches the air and the hail has more weight
and is harder.” D.S.
“If the hole of the
snowflake is bigger then it will go down faster. If no or the hole is little, it will catch
the air and go down slower.” A.P.
“The snowflake catches the
air because it has holes and the hail has no holes so it didn’t catch the air.”
R.H.
“I think the ball landed
first because it’s heavier and it doesn’t catch air and the snowflake does.”
O.S.
“The hail touched the
ground first because the air doesn’t catch the hail.” A.M.
“I think the hail fell to
the ground first because if the hail has little holes it would catch the air
but it doesn’t.” G.B.
“The hail dropped first
because it doesn’t have any holes.” A.T.
The experiment continued to supported
the students’ knowledge and understanding about
snowflakes.
After reading the book “Snowflake Bentley” by: Jacqueline Briggs Martin, the students became quite
intrigued by the patterns and designs of snowflakes. Using various art materials, they created
snowflakes of different hexagonal shapes containing six points.
Our snowflake inquiry
continues! More explorations, observations,
and investigations to come!
