Chasing snowflakes

I write this blog and think about the pictures I should have taken.  We had snow at school and that is quite unusual.  When we had snow at my house in November about 47 blocks away, there was none at school as I am on the edge of Little Mountain and my school is on what we call the south slope with the Fraser only a few blocks away.  This week there was snow and the kids were ecstatic.
Once again the sixth graders were at work with microscopes and I wanted to see a snowflake up close.  Well it never happened too effectively but it was fun trying.

If you actually read this blog on a regular basis you know that we have Grade One reading buddies.  Every Thursday last period the kids read with their reading buddies.  Sometimes we do different activities, making Halloween cards for instance.  This week I thought it would be fun making paper snowflakes so I gave my class a quick refresher lesson during music appreciation and away we went.  Both Angela, the grade one teacher and I thought what a great way to end a day (especially one where we spent lunch hour at a rather depressing VESTA meeting discussing our lack of progress in bargaining).

I really try to challenge my students academically but have to remind myself how important it is to make time for fun and that there are different kinds of learning.  Every year I think how wonderful my class is with their buddies but each time the buddies seem to get better and this year they are just so kind and patient and fun with the "little kids".  As I write this I am thinking that we need to invite the buddies to look through the microscopes.  For any of you using microscopes this is a very useful website.  I have had the kids turn their drawings into mini books, always a fun format. 

Back to trying to study snowflakes with a microscope.  It  is a bit like trying to capture a classroom through a blog.  Hmmm...