Winter Snow Globe

1. Conduct a class discussion with students about winter weather and the changes they see in nature, in temperate climates, or the area. Which birds do they see in winter? What is the weather like? What kind of snow makes the best sculptures? How do trees look? Students imagine a wintry scene that they can build in miniature, inside a plastic cup.
2. With Crayola® Colored Pencils, trace around a clear plastic cup turned upside down on cardboard. Cut out the circle with Crayola Scissors.
3. If the scene has a snowy base, cover the cardboard circle with white Crayola Model Magic. Using other colors of Model Magic, build a snow sculpture, evergreen trees, cardinals, or any other winter items that will fit inside the cup. Add Crayola Glitter Glue for sparkling snow and ice crystals. Dry.
4. Draw a ring of Crayola School Glue around the outside edge of the base. Press the cup's edge into the glue. Dry.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

LA: Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.

LA: With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.

LA: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

SCI: Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

VA: Select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning.

Possible classroom resources include: The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons; Seasons by Blexbolex; Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit: A Book of Changing Seasons by Il Sung Na; Sharing the Seasons: A Book of Poems by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Encourage students to each create three additional globes, one representing each season. Display the globes as part of an in-depth study of weather patterns, effects of Earth's rotation around the sun, etc.

Invite students to fold a piece of construction paper in half, and in half again, creating four rectangular sections. Students use each of the sections to create a seasonal scene, fall, winter, spring, and summer. Students should select one figure, a tree, a rabbit, or anything they are familiar with, as the central figure in their scenes.

Organize a school yard field trip during a snowfall. Have students stand very still and experience the wind, snowflakes falling on them, blowing leaves, etc. Upon returning to the classroom, students generate a list of descriptive words that tell about their experience. List these terms in the classroom for easy reference. Working individually or in teams of two, students compose a poem about what they have just experienced.