NSTA Standards
Students should understand the basic characteristics of the atmosphere, weather and climate; know that changes in the atmosphere result in weather and climate; have practice in observation of weather phenomena, experimentation, data collection, and making inferences to test ideas; possess a weather vocabulary.
Key Concepts
Students will observe snow crystals and realize that they are all six-sided (hexagons) and are unique. They will also practice using a hand lens and illustrating scientific phenomena.
Teaching Ideas and Tips
Print Observing Ice Crystals and read about an easy way to have students observe ice crystals. Be sure to have plenty of hand lenses on hand and some white drawing paper so students can try to draw pictures of the crystals they are seeing. Be sure to teach them the meaning of these words: hexagon, symmetry, symmetrical, and unique.
You can also make this a bulletin board activity - have students trace over their drawings with a toothpick that has been dipped in white glue. Then sprinkle the drawings with silver glitter to simulate sparkling snow.
Print one copy of Winter Activities. This page has wonderful suggestions for capturing and observing snow and ice crystals. You may want to read both this activity and the one listed above to determine which is most appropriate for you and your students. It also explains how to do a great art activity for a winter scene.
Use Winter Activities for great "starters" for winter stories, a list of snow-related words like "avalanche" and a great science activity involving mittens and math.
Classroom Management
The ice crystals will melt quickly in a warm classroom. Although you should have every child use his or her own glass to dip and place in the freezer, allow students to share the glass when it is still frozen and extend the activity by getting out the second glass for the partners to look at when the first one has melted.
If you don’t want to do the drawing activity suggested in the Teaching Tip above, provide your class with black construction paper and silver gel pens. Have students draw their crystals on the black paper. Then use all of the finished papers to cover a bulletin board and call it "Snowy Night."
Vocabulary
Snow – Snow is water vapor that has frozen into ice crystals and fallen to the ground in the form of "snow flakes."
Crystal – A crystal is a solid that has a pattern of molecules in a geometric pattern.
Hand Lens – A hand lens is a small magnifying glass that is held in the hand.
Illustrate – "Illustrate" is the word used when something is being drawn by hand.
Hexagon – A hexagon is a two-dimensional figure with six sides.
Symmetry – Symmetry is the property of being the same on both sides of a central line.
Symmetrical – An object is symmetrical if everything on both sides of a line drawn down the center is alike.
Unique – Unique means "one of a kind." It is an absolute. Objects cannot be "more unique" or "less unique."
Use this Weather Vocabulary list as a start—add more of your own—and use Make Your Own tools to create your own flash cards!
Printables Resources
Cold Winter Winds Poetry Frame (Skill: Create weather poems using a word bank)
Scat, Winter (Skill: Writing poems about weather without a word bank)
I’m Your Warm Winter Mitten (Skill: Complete blanks to write a poem)
Weather Bingo (Skill: Review weather vocabulary)
Weather Window (Skill: Weather vocabulary review. Make weather word wall or folder)
Such Choices (Skill: Reading and making predictions
Creative Writing Page (Use with smart board)
Weather Activities: Predict the date of the first snowfall
Snowflakes Reproducible Border (Stationery)
Is Your Head In The Clouds? (Skill: Punctuating Sentences)
Assessment
Try printing this Test on Weather Stationery. Or you can also print this Test on your own - copy/paste the Test below into a Microsoft Word document. You can add or remove text and customize the Test to your liking.
Name ___________ Science
Date ____________ Teacher __________
Draw a picture of a snowflake in the space below. Try to make it as much like a real snowflake as you can.
Now answer these questions:
Is your snowflake symmetrical? _____ Yes ____No. How do you know?
__________
Is your snowflake a hexagon/?________ Yes ____ No How do you know?
____________
Is your snowflake unique? ___ Yes __________ No How do you know?
__________
In your own words, tell how a snowflake is formed.
__________
__________
__________
Assess students on their ability to provide the following information:
The snowflake is symmetrical if both sides of the central line are identical.
The snowflake is a hexagon if it has six sides.
The snowflake is probably unique, meaning that no other snowflakes are like it.
A snowflake is formed when a raindrop (actually water vapor) freezes and forms a crystal.
Send Home Letter
Here are two versions of the same letter. In the first one, students would be asked to fill in the blanks before it goes home.
Try printing this send home letter on Weather Stationery. Or you can also print this letter on your own - copy/paste the letter below into a Microsoft Word document. You can add or remove text and customize the letter to your liking.
Dear Parents,
Our class has been studying weather and ice crystals. First we did an experiment. We each __________________. Then we used ________ so we could get a better look at the ice crystals.
We learned that every crystal is unique. That means that ________________. We also learned that all crystals are hexagons. That means that __________________. Last, we learned that ice crystals are symmetrical. That means that ______________.
We would love to do this experiment at home if you could help. We think ice crystals are fascinating!
__________
Try printing this send home letter on Weather Stationery. Or you can also print this letter on your own - copy/paste the letter below into a Microsoft Word document. You can add or remove text and customize the letter to your liking.
Dear Parents,
Our class has been studying weather and ice crystals. First we did an experiment. We each put water on the outside of a glass and then froze it in the freezer. Then we used hand lenses so we could get a better look at the ice crystals.
We learned that every crystal is unique. That means that there are no two crystals that are alike. We also learned that all crystals are hexagons. That means that each one has six sides. Ice crystals are also symmetrical. That means that if we drew a line down the center of the crystal, everything on one side would match everything on the other side.
We would love to do this experiment at home if you could help. We think ice crystals are fascinating!
__________
Homework
Make copies of Comparing Temperatures for your students. As homework, they will complete double-digit subtraction problems and answer questions from the information on a chart.
Print copies of Words for the Weather-Wise. (Skill: Review weather words. Crossword puzzle with a word bank)
When It‘s Cold Outside (Skill: Students write and finish sentences) Students need to draw a winter scene and write three sentences about what people do and what they wear during the winter.
More to Explore
Instant Internet Activities
Be sure to share these incredible photographs of ice crystals with your students.
Go to: Winter Storms – Teacher page for full of explanations for rain, freezing rain, sleet, fog, snow; Also has lesson plans for teachers
Scholastic Interactive Weather Maker
On this page students adjust the humidity and temperature to make it rain, snow or sunshine.
Try these great experiments that are simple and easy to do.
Follow-Up Activities:
It has been a classroom staple for years – and for good reason! Help your students learn how to fold white paper and cut to create snowflakes. Here they will get the full meaning of the words symmetrical and hexagon! Go to http://www.highhopes.com/snowflakes.html for photographs of the steps to creating great snowflakes.
For beautiful, intricate snow flakes that will be a challenge even for adults, go to http://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-Snowflakes/ Show these pages to your students so they can see what a wonderful craft this can be.
Make copies of Comparing Temperatures.
This printable was used earlier in this lesson, but this time, go to page two to find directions for making ice cream in the classroom. Try to get a parent or volunteer to help with this project, but it is really easy and fun for students.
