Where Does Snow Come From?

Last week, the entire class froze in place in awe and watched the first snowfall of the season.  There is something magical about watching the snow and the feelings of excitement and joy that it stirs inside of us.  

The children were working at the tables when the first snowflake was spotted.  They went back and forth from their work to the windows to admire the wonder of the snow.

With the excitement rising, we decided it was time to adventure outside and enjoy the snowfall for ourselves!  Though we did not stay outside long, it was enough to fill our minds with questions and thoughts about the snow.

When we came back in, the joy about the snow had only heightened!  

I shared with the children that no two snowflakes are alike, kind of like us.  I took advantage of their energy and awake minds and demonstrated how to make symmetrical snowflakes.  With each snowflake that was opened after their cutting was complete, their faces just beamed with amazement and surprise.  They wondered how the shapes they cut along the folded edges changed when the paper was unfolded.  It revealed questions and theories from the children.

After many AND MANY snowflakes were created, I invited the children to the carpet for a class discussion about snow.  I asked them simply, tell me about snow.  The conversation was full of joy and ideas.  The common thread in the conversation that the children kept revisiting and challenging each other on was the idea of where snow comes from.  To help organize their ideas on this question, I began to write down their ideas on the dry erase board.  Next, I shared this thought to the children...I wonder what others in the school think about where snow comes from.  So we went on an adventure after Sofia copied the theories down onto a clipboard and we started asking people in our school community where they thought snow originated.

We asked Mr. Hagan, Mrs. Wilson, friends from the counselor's office, Mr. Langhorn, as well as friends in the front office (not pictured).  

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Sofia asked each person we came across what their hypothesis was about where snow comes from.  She tallied the responses.  When we returned to the classroom, we discussed which theory had the most number of responses.

On this day, there was so much critical thinking occurring relating to the snowfall... Where did snow come from?  How do all the different shapes appear when I open my snowflake up?  How can different theories of snow possibly occur?  What really is snow?  What can and cannot be done with snow and why?

I CANNOT WAIT until the next snowfall to see if their theories change and watch their learning deepen!