We started off by watching a read aloud of the book Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. Kids loved hearing the story of how he began working with snowflakes and how it took him pretty much a lifetime to accomplish the work that he completed. We talked about how snowflakes are each unique, but all have 6 branches.
- I showed a small group of students who finished their designs first how to use the pens. This allowed me to work with students who were ready to move on in the project and allow others to finish designing. These students ended up teaching many of the other partner pairs how to use them, so it freed me up for troubleshooting and observing!
- I had the students set the pens to 170 degrees on the slowest extrusion setting. We discussed safety and not touching the tip of the pen. I was going for a "Zero Burn Day" with the pens and it was successful!
- Using clipboards and scraps of lamination. The students could clip their drawings to the clipboards and then clip the lamination on top so they could trace their drawings with the 3D pens and not worry about burning the paper.