So far this winter has been a bit disappointing for us in terms of snow accumulation. We have had a little snow, but not enough to truly get outside and have fun sledding and playing outside. Just cold enough (and some days icy), to be better off inside where it is warm. As the forecast for this weekend and next week includes the potential for some significant snowfall in our area, I thought it would be fun to do a snowflake activity with my 4th grade friends.
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.
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.
After watching the video and having a brief discussion about snowflakes, I told the students they would be working with a partner to create an unique snowflake using a 3D printing pen. Before I even showed the students how to use the pens, I asked them to work with their partner to create a snowflake design on a scrap piece of paper. Some things that worked really well for us in this activity:
- 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.
Since we were creating snowflakes today, I decided to wear my fun snowflake leggings (with my simple example to show them before beginning the project). The kids loved them and thought it was cool to see different patterns...what I did not expect was to constantly be turning around and having a student staring at my calves...I mean snowflakes. I guess I walked right into that one! :)
