Colorado finally received a good dumping of snow this week! I was beginning to get worried. Perfect timing for Homeschool Nature Study & learning all about snow.
Snowflakes
No two snowflakes are the same – like fingerprints. I didn’t know all snowflakes are symmetrical having 6 sides because of the hydrogen bonds. Homeschool truly is a second education. Granted, I finished high school in Florida, so we never discussed chemical reactions in snow. Never too old to learn along with your homeschoolers! We watched an interesting TedEd video on snowflakes.
We also learned why snow looks like shiny diamonds. It’s because the sun reflects off the individual ice crystals in the snow. That’s pretty cool! Similarly, in FL the sun reflects off the Quartz in the sand to make sand sparkle.
I tried to get my 14 yr old to do some hot glue snowflake art fun, I’ve never tried before and wanted to do it. Somehow I missed it the first time around with my oldest. Probably because i fear the hot glue gun. I have burned myself many times with that blasted thing. Sadly, I lost my art buddy after making chalk pastel groundhogs. Not to ‘flake’ on myself, yes I just said that, I did it alone because I wanted to play with watercolors. This is a great reminder homeschool mama – you can art, read, and keep learning without it being part of the assignment! Have fun!!
Groundhog vs Prairie Dog
This week Phil saw his shadow and declared 6 more weeks of winter. No kidding. We got 8″ of snow on Groundhog Day. We don’t have groundhogs out here in Colorado. We have millions of prairie dogs. What’s the difference? Besides a yankee accent? I’m from NY I’m allowed to say that!
I shared the differences on my IG post. Let’s just say I have the personality of a prairie dog. We used the Similar Yet Different Worksheet. I’m really happy I updated that sheet. We’ve used it a few times already this year and I’m already thinking what we can compare & contrast next.
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