Winter Rigor Ideas

We've been working on our Winter Unit-- which always seems ironic to do in Texas; our winter weather is 80 degrees right now. Our poor kids have never seen real snow. There have been 2 times in the 10 years that I've been here where we actually saw flurries-you Yankees wouldn't believe it, the whole city shuts down. One year the flurries started (literally just flurries, the snowflakes all melted when they hit the ground) and all the parents came and picked up their kids early-I had 4 kids left by 1:00!. I grew up in Pennsylvania and luckily have many pics of the snowmen, snow forts, sledding and ice skating that used to keep us out of trouble during those winter months.

Anyway, some ideas to add some rigor and depth to a winter unit:

1) Writing from the perspective of a snowflake (what it feels like, what they see, etc.). Compare that to the
     perspective of a raindrop.

2) Invent new use for snow.

3) What are the rules for snowflakes?

4) What other materials could we use to make snow, since we don't have "real" snow here in Texas. (Some of them said feathers, polar bear fur, clouds, pillows-I'll post those pics next week).

5) Compare the perspective of an igloo to that of your house/apartment.

6) What are the rules for arctic animals? Using those rules invent your own arctic animal.

7) Look at Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night painting (one of my  faves)-recreate it- but make it Snowy, Snowy Night.

8) Ethics-is it right or wrong that snowflakes melt? Is it right or wrong that penguins can't fly?

9) Perspective of a penguin compared to that of an owl.

10)  Over Time-a snowflake's life