Sunday, January 06, 2013

Snowflakes are Falling!

I found the most amazing quote and knew that it belonged on my classroom wall. 
"Every piece of the universe, even the tiniest little snow crystal, matters somehow. I have a place in the pattern and so do you"
This amazing quote comes from T.A. Barron. After I read it, I also knew, that aside from being on my wall, that I wanted each student to make a snowflake that was unique to them to decorate the board. Since I teach three classes, I knew that I would have around 60 snowflakes to hang.

As upper grade teachers, we have assigned a color to each grade level so that it is easy to identify homework, assignments, etc. So, when you see my board and wonder why it looks all pastel-"ish", that is why. But I have to say, that I really like how it turned out.

The more I thought about what I wanted to do, I knew that I wanted more "advanced" snowflakes. I went searching for the perfect website to teach my kiddos the easiest way to to make a 6-pointed snowflake. After all, all snowflakes are six pointed. I settled on THIS site. Not only did it have a video tutorial, it showed in picture form every step and then gave ideas on how to best cut the paper to get great designs. 

After my amazing wife got the quote written on the board (I LOVE her handwriting, I need to get it made into a font!), I made a HUGE white snowflake and added it to the board. That would be my "tiniest little snow crystal".

When I got the students back in class, I had each class read the quote with me and we talked about how this is a new year, and that each student has an important place in our classroom. Then I introduced the snowflake making. It was fun to watch the student struggle to fold the paper. Not because I am cruel, but because I could relate it for them to how in life we struggle to make our presence know in the universe. Sometimes we have failures (destroyed snowflakes) and we get to start again, and sometimes we have great successes and we can congratulate ourselves.






When all was said and done (and there was a lot said AND done... believe me!) I ended up with this:





I hope you will continue the amazing work you do of helping children realize that they really DO matter in this amazing pattern we call life!

Cheers!
-Mr. Hughes


9 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this. I think it turned out great!

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  2. Mindy-
    Thanks for your kind words. :)

    Karen-
    Thanks for stopping by as well. I am YOUR newest follower!

    Cheers!
    -MrHughes

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm loving the snowflake board! Mr. H. And that's a great quote too. Often times we dwell too much on the negative aspects of life, and forget that we all, some way or another, have a special place in this world. This quote certainly reminds us all of that.

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  4. Hey Diplo-
    So great to hear from you! I hope that all is well. I appreciate your thoughts about my bulletin board. I really like how it turned out. Have a great day.

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  5. I love the colorful snowflakes. They really add to the board! :) The quote is perfect! :)

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  6. Hey Peanut-
    Thanks for stopping by. I was worried the colors would look like Easter or a baby shower, but they actually turned out pretty good.
    Have a fantastic weekend.

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  7. I'm your newest follower! Saw the picture on Pinterest and recreated something similar in my classroom this past winter. SO GREAT to finally find the source! I love the story behind the various colors of the snowflakes. May do something like that THIS year in their teams. And yes, please make your wife's handwriting a font...I like it!!! :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Kel's Klass, for stopping by. I appreciate you follow and glad you found the post behind the picture. :) It was a fun project and really added to my room. The students enjoyed looking at the snowflakes and knew which class had made which ones.

      Have a great day! WAHOO!

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