Reading the book, Snowflake Bentley, was a nice catalyst to helping my students ask questions about snowflakes and really just get them interested in the topic. The week earlier, I had tried to spark their interest through pictures, discussion, and some art projects. While they truly enjoyed the art projects, they weren’t yet asking the questions I was hoping to get to spark deeper learning.
I stumbled across Snowflake Bentley and thought I’d give it a try. I think everyone else may have known about the book, but to be honest, I hadn’t until I saw some cute clip art on Teachers Pay Teachers. Apparently the clip art sparked my own person inquiry...lol. We read the book in somewhat of an unconventional manner. I had planned to just read the book all of the way through, but as we started reading it, my plans changed. Seems to me that some of my best plans happen on the fly during the time I had planned to do something else. Anyone with me? As we read, I stopped to ask questions of the kids that might have been going though Wilson Bentley’s head as he was trying to figure out how to catch and share the beauty of snowflakes. Some questions emerged such as:
*How do you catch a snowflake?
*Can you catch it in your hand?
*If you bring snow inside and it melts, what happens when you put it back outside? Does it turn back into snow?
*Will snow melt if you put it in a jar and close it?
*Do snowflakes just come from the sky?
*How do snowflakes form?
It was the perfect day for this activity because not only did we have snow on the ground, there were flurries throughout the day. We got out our magnifying glasses, making us feel like scientists (hello engagement!) and got to work. Finally, as we read about how Snowflake Bentley captured them in his pictures, we came up with an idea. We got into groups, put black paper on trays, got our magnifying glasses, and went outside. Finally, we were able to catch snowflakes and have them stay together long enough for us to look at them with our magnifying glasses (unfortunately, not long enough for a good picture). Huzzah! We were victorious!
Since that time, we have learned that snowflakes have six points, are shaped like a hexagon, and are formed from tiny specks in the clouds. We have been retelling the main idea and three important details from the book.
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| The headers for our retelling can be found here. They are part of my retelling pack for fiction and non-fiction books. |
We have also been learning about the difference between a magnifying glass and a microscope and exploring both of those tools. Science is cool!
Once we were excited about snowflakes, I put out a Snowflake provocation which sparked some writing as well.
This was so fun after exploring snowflakes!
Happy Teaching,
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