Ms. Sen's Skylarks

A lot of what we know about snowflakes came from a man named Snowflake Bentley, who took hundreds of photographs of snowflakes with a special camera. We read about him and were inspired to make our own experiences with snowflakes. Here, students made snowflake patterns with pattern blocks during workstations.

Our wonderful student teacher, Ms. Smart, found a way for us to make crystallized snowflakes out of pipe cleaners. We had to leave them soaking in a hot water and borax solution overnight. The kids were so excited to come in the next morning and see their beautiful frosty creations.

This was one of the first snowflakes we made. We learned that an ice crystal has six sides or branches.

These are tracings of snowflakes from photographs that Snowflake Bentley took.

Making these snowflakes were a challenge, but once they got the hang of it, the couldn't stop making them. These will become the covers of our reflective writing about snowflakes.

The kids have been eager to have an e-slot time all about paper airplanes. We started with some flying tips that the kids shared.
1) Throw from your wrist rather than your elbow. 2) Throw lightly. 3) Dart planes should point up when you throw. Lighter planes you can point straight ahead.
After that we made an airplane together and tested it on the flying strip. The flying strip is marked with foot measurements so we can see how far they went. Then the kids made all kinds of airplanes from different kinds of paper, with different kinds of wings and noses, and with different embellishments like paper clips. Then they got to test all their airplanes!

Making a Sock Snowman. When there's no snow, you have to improvise!