SNOW Much Fun!

My team met last month and planned out our first unit of study. YEAY!! We were given time to collaborate and build our unit with the help of some of our administrators after learning about the process. A few months prior, we had received some professional development based on the book Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding (I went cross-eyed a few times while reading/discussing some of the chapters). It took a few (full) days to build this unit and agree on an essential question. Now, we’re definitely on our way to answering it.

We began our unit of study after returning from Winter Break. It’s centered on life in cold climates (Arctic & Antarctica). Many of my students have little to no experience with freezing temperatures or snow. A snow day in Central California?! That’s unheard of (especially this season when our lowest temps have been around 40). So, I decided to make fake snow for my kiddos. You should have seen their little faces when I told them we would be making snow. Of course, one of my little geniuses raised his hand and said, “Wait, are we making it out of paper or something else?” He thought I was pulling his leg. I had to explain that it would look and feel like snow. Holy moly! The whole class started buzzing with excitement.

I stopped at Target to pick up 4 pounds of baking soda, and the Dollar Store for a bottle of hair conditioner. I couldn’t believe how easy and cheap it was to create such a memorable experience for my class.

I was so fortunate to have a couple of parent helpers come in and assist with the activity. They chose students to mix the ingredients and monitored them as they made snowmen, igloos and cakes. The mixture made enough for 10 kiddos to play with and share with the carpet. The other half of my class did a craft, and then switched activities after 15 minutes. I had to apologize to my custodian for all the mess my little friends had left behind. OOPS! Although, I don’t think he minded much because our floors are always so spotless.

On the day of the activity, my students were so excited that the first thing they said to me that morning was “It’s Snow Day!”

I would highly recommend this snow activity if your students have had limited experiences with snow. It has created so much more excitement for our unit of study.

If you'd like a page to compliment this activity, click {HERE}. I'm always looking for ways to get my kiddos writing.

I can't wait to share more about this unit! Stay tuned!