This week couldn’t have been more fitting for us to finish up our snow studies!  By this afternoon we are forecasted to have around 10 inches of snow.  We already have about 5 inches on the ground now, sealed off with a thick layer of sparkly ice deposited over last night.  The rest of the snow will be coming any minute now.  The kids played outside on two occasions yesterday, but not for too long because the temps were still quite cold.  But it did provide for a few great sled rides down the hill and a walk on the slippery frozen creek.

Ok, on to our snow studies.  Here are a some more things we did to finish up our formal study this week.

Blizzards – When Snow Turns Deadly

We talked about and defined what a blizzard is – sustained or gusty winds of 35 mph or more, and falling or blowing snow creating visibilities at or below 1/4 mile. These conditions should persist for 3 hours.

We also watched a YouTube video on The Great Blizzard of 1977.  Do any of you remember that?  It seemed it affected quite a large area of the eastern US.  I remember being 6 years old and while playing outside I stepped into a low lying area and had snow up to my chin and was so scared!

Notebooking Page – Snowflakes and Snowflake Bentley

We completed a notebooking page for our nature journals on snowflakes and Snowflake Bentley, where we drew and labeled a few different kinds of snowflakes and pasted in a picture of and a quote from “The Snowflake Man”. 

 

 

 

The Science of Snow

We watched a free online video on Brain Pop on the science behind Snowflakes.  And took the quiz at the end.

As the snow is currently falling outside, we are keeping measurements of it.

Experiment – Dew and Frost

We also did an experiment showing how dew and frost are formed.  First we gathered two tin cans (old fruit cans that I had peeled the labels off of), a spoon, table salt, crushed ice, and water. 

 First I explained to the kids that we would be putting ice and water in one can, and ice and salt in the other.  And one can would form frost on the outside, and the other dew.  Then I had them make predictions on their science journals as to which can would do what and why.   We labeled our cans “Can 1″ (salt) and “Can 2″ (water).  Both of the kids predicted that Can 1 would form frost and Can 2 would form dew.  

 Next I gave one child the crushed ice and salt, and the other crushed ice and water.  They filled their cans half way with the crushed ice, then Can 1 was sprinkled with salt, and Can 2 was filled with water just until it reached above the ice. 

 We used the spoon to stir the salt and ice for 30 seconds.  Then we sat and waited just a few moments and found that Can 1 (salt) formed frost, and Can 2 (water) formed dew.

 Can 1

 After that we talked about the science behind why both reactions happened, and then they finished their science journals.

 

 We also looked at a few photos online of frost. Have you ever noticed how beautiful it is?

 Bible Study – Salt of the Earth, Whiter Than Snow

During the above experiment when we we’re learning about the effects of salt on not only the ice but also other things like food, I tied in the following verse from Matthew 5:13:  “You are the salt of the earth…”

 Also we listened to the hymn I Shall Be Whiter Than Snow by James L. Nicholson, and talked about it’s meaning to us.

 I also found a wonderful Bible study on snow.

 OK!  Well, that’s a wrap!  And I can’t leave you without one of my latest snowflake photos!  I really am beginning to understand Mr. Bentley’s passion.

 

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This entry was posted by Melissa on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 2:33 pm and is filed under Snow. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.