Snowflake Shadows


Last week our students were really appreciative to find a response to our "Snowflake Surprises" post from Mrs. Lowe's class in Winnipeg Manitoba.  They too were working on snowflakes and sent us a link to their class blog at http://room8-adventuresinkindergarten.blogspot.ca/2012/11/symmetrical-snowflakes.html for inspiration.


Here is what they did with math pattern blocks which they showcased in their "Symmetrical Snowflakes" post:


Our students were very interested to try this out on our light table, overhead projectors, and on our math carpet.  We thought that we would visit the library first and ask our librarian if we could use some more books to inspire our pattern block snowflake creations.  Our librarian (Mrs. Reeves) is nothing short of amazing!  She always has the right book(s) available at the exact moment that we need them!  And believe me, we visit her a lot with all of our new wonders...

Mrs. Reeves suggested "Here Comes Jack Frost" as another way to encourage students to revisit their initial theories about snowflakes and snow and see if they had adjusted or developed any new theories.


After we read the story the geometric creations and snowflake shadows began to take form:













Our students continue to place "stop" signs when they want to preserve
their work and return to it at a later time. 

We thank our friends in Mrs. Lowe's class for providing us with our most recent snowflake spark!  If you would like to join our "We Can See" project, we would be happy to provide you with all of the information for logging in.

This coming week we plan to visit Mrs. Malkoske's blog http://200awesomedays.blogspot.ca/2012/11/bag-up-manitoba-results-and-snowflakes.html from Winnipeg, Manitoba to continue to improve our snowflake shadows.

Are you learning about snowflakes, snow, or winter?  We would really love to hear about it!

Share your thoughts :

  1. You have no idea how excited I was to see your comment on our blog!

    The way that you took our learning and built on it and are now going to look at Erin's blog, is so inspiring! This is the way learning should be! I'm going to see Ms. Dowd tomorrow (her blog is also a favourite of ours, and was the class who built various designs during their music listening time) and share this with her.

    I am so excited to show this to my students tomorrow and get out our overhead projector too! I believe we even have some transparent pattern blocks that could possibly lead to some connections with colour mixing.

    You continue to inspire me everyday!

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    1. THANK YOU CONNIE!

      I am really grateful to have you as a blog visitor. It means a lot to me and my teaching partner Mrs. Ham that we are able to inspire other passionate educators like yourself. That is our main goal!

      Sharing is what it's all about!

      Delete
  2. We already blogged about what you inspired next...

    http://room8-adventuresinkindergarten.blogspot.ca/2012/12/exploring-light-and-snowflakes.html

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    1. Wow this is fantastic!

      I will show my students today!!!

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  3. The timing is perfect! Our poem for the week is "Jack Frost":
    Jack Frost is a fairy small.
    I'm sure he is out today.
    He nipped my nose
    And pinched my toes
    When I went out to play.
    This imagery led to a lot of curious discussion. I think it's time to find that book, and also to introduce the idea of making snowflakes at our (tiny, home-made) light box. So many sparks going on in my classes right now - such an exciting time to teach kindergarten!

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    1. I couldn't agree more! What an exciting time to teach young children every day all day!

      Thank you for your comment. I love your poem and it couldn't have connected better! We will read it today!

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  4. We haven't any snow yet but here is a link to a post from last January where we examined pictures of snowflakes on a light table.
    http://strongstart.blogspot.ca/2012/01/play-trays.html
    I photocopied them from a book from Snowflake Bentley.

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    1. Lots of amazing ideas!

      Thanks Maureen. Your blog is very inspiring!

      I will show this to my students as well and try to find the book you suggested.

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  5. What an incredible response! Thank you for making this blog interactive. I sincerely could not have hoped for more!

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  6. Hi Joanne!

    I love all the snowflake posts, looks like a lot of fun! I also love the book Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin! It is a very cool book and even talks about photography!!! I think you would really like it, I hope you can find it at the library!

    Say hello to everyone, and hopefully the holiday will bring more snow to explore!

    Ms. Kerr

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  7. Hi Ms. Kerr,

    Thank you for your comment! I will look into that book, and love how it connects with photography!

    Happy holidays to you and your family.

    I hope that we get some snow tomorrow,

    Ms. Babalis

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