SNOWFLAKE
INVESTIGATIONS

Science Wonder Investigation:
"Do snowflakes have parts?"

All year long we have asked the question...
 "Does ________have parts?"  

So far we have discovered many things in our science investigations. We have looked closely, using science tools such as magnifying glasses and toothpicks, and then recorded our findings. In September we looked closely and took apart a leaf, in October we repeated a similar investigation and took a pumpkin apart. November we repeated our question and discovered a lot about feathers- and the job of different parts of the feather. So it was only a matter of time before we decided to investigate snowballs and snowflakes after reading "The Snowy Day" and "Sadie and the Snowball." We have also read about "Snowflake Bentley" who was the first person to successfully photograph a single snowflake. Then we made our own snowflakes based on what we learned; enjoy some samples of these on display above. It was so surprising to all of us how many shapes we have studied in math are in each and every snowflake! Nature is the ultimate math wizard and artist extraordinaire.

We have also been reading books about animals who live in the arctic. When we read about polar bears, orca whales and walruses we kept hearing about how "blubber" keeps these animals warm in the icy waters of the north pole. So we tried out how fat can keep our thumb warm in a bucket of ice water- using Crisco.