This 19 page file contains 8 separate activities that are designed to be used as independent learning centers or supplemental activities during a unit study on snow, snowflakes, or winter weather. They would also work well as supplemental activities for the book Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. They are appropriate for grades 2 through 6 (and beyond). There are 5 main types of activities included in the file: Making Words, Vocabulary, Cooking (reading comprehension), Following Directions, and Summarizing. Four of the 5 activities are differentiated so that there are 2 levels of difficulty for each task.
In Making Words (lower level), students are asked to use specific letters to create words. Two separate activities at different levels of difficulty are included.
In Vocabulary activities, students are given a word and a student response sheet. Students are asked to record the dictionary definition of the word, a synonym and antonym for the word, an example of the word in a sentence of their creation, and and other information depending on the difficulty level of the activity. Two separate vocabulary activities are included.
In Cooking center, students are given a passage about snowflakes to read and and are asked to answer 5 multiple choice comprehension questions about it. Following the nonfiction/ science based passage is a short recipe for creating a no-cook snowflake snack. Students are asked to read the passage and answer the questions, and then follow the recipe to create the snack. This passage is written similar to many state testing passages and can be used for test prep as well as comprehension practice. This file contains 2 levels of the same reading passage, each with its own questions.
In Following Directions, students are asked to read a passage containing directions for creating a unique snowflake out of uncooked pasta. Included are photographs of actual snowflakes for students to use with this or other centers.
In Summarizing, students are given a passage about Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley. They are asked to read the passage (2 difficulty levels are included) and complete one of 2 included activities. Students are given a Word Cloud (group of important words from the article) and are asked to use the words to write a summary of the passage. Alternately, students are given an cloze activity containing the same words from the Word Cloud, which they are to cut out and paste in the correct blanks to complete a summary of the article. Both activities work for either level passage, so teachers have the option of assigning both activities to all students.
An answer key for all activities is included. by Rebecca Bettis