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Saturday, January 7, 2012

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

5 comments :

  1. Thanks for you ideas. I always love what you share.

    Colleen Patton
    Mrs. Patton’s Patch

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  2. 80 degrees sounds wonderful to me :)

    ❤Jodi from...
    ★★The Clutter-Free Classroom★★
    Helping Teachers Get Organized

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love your ideas. A couple of years ago the snow actually stuck here in Houston. It was funny - They were doing the announcements and the principal kind of studdered and said teachers it is snowing. The whole school went outside and danced in the snow till we were soaked. It snowed again later in the day - and we went outside again - a good number of our kids were in shorts and hoodies.

    Clutter-free you have to remember that 80 in January = 100 in August and even September.

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  4. Ms. Patton-Awww, thank you so much! That means a lot to me.

    Jodi-I know can't complain-sat outside reading with my dog at my feet for about an hour today. :)

    kherbert-I do remember that day-we did the same thing. I have a great pic somewhere my class all trying to catch the snowflakes with their mouths.

    Thank you so much for your comments!

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  5. I so enjoy reading your blog - your ideas are always inspiring. I'm awarding you the Versatile Blogger award. Thanks for putting yourself out there!!

    Jennyfer
    www.teachinginthecouv.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete