Tami Koerner
Snowflake Bentley
H! I am a kindergarten teacher in Montana. In the winter we get a lot of snow so my class always enjoys taking a deeper look into how snow is created and what it looks like. I always begin the lesson by reading my students Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. After reading the book I then show several actual snowflake images taken by Bentley. We discuss the differences we see in the snowflakes. After we discuss the differences I teach them about the different kinds of snowflakes there are such as branched star, needle, column, snow groats, radiating dendrites, plates, stellar plates, dendrites, stellar dendrite, star, simple star and then I have them draw a snowflake of their own. Once they know there are different types of snowflakes they are very creative in their drawings.
After they show and share their snowflake drawings I teach them how to make a snowflake. Cutting folded paper is a great way to strengthen little kindergarten hands! They may need a little help at first. In the end they are very excited about their creationk!
