The snow fell Wednesday night and kept snowing all Thursday morning. I was so excited to take the class out in the afternoon to do some math and science in the snow. The first thing we saw when we walked out the door was some tracks. We saw crows and gulls flying around so the students tried to figure out what kind of bird left the tracks.
Each student had a piece of black construction paper to catch and observe some snowflakes. They weren't the big flakes that were falling the morning but with magnifying glasses, the students were still able to see some shapes and details.
We measured the depth of the snow in some areas that weren't trampled yet. We got measures of 11 and 13 centimetres.
We collected some beakers full of snow to take back in the class to watch how the snow melts inside.
I asked the students to build a structure out of snow - a bridge, a tower or a building. The students made all sorts of interesting structures!
an arch bridge
the Great Wall of China
a hotel with a skateboard ramp
After an hour outside, we headed back inside to change into dry clothes and to record what we did in our notebooks. We watched our snow slowly decrease in volume and then melt into water. One group had a big chunk of icy snow in their beaker when we all checked after 45 minutes and wondered why. A great chance for them to think about the properties of snow!
I asked the students to record some wonder questions about snow. One little guy asked me outside, as he was rolling a very big snowball, why snow was so much heavier when it was pressed together. We also had questions like why is snow white? how come snow is fluffy? what was the longest snowfall?
We're supposed to have a snowy winter this year so I am going to have to get prepared with some new ideas for going outside in the snow!
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