snowdayedition

=Ayer Fifth Grade Snowcast for Wednesday, February 7th (an unpleasant ice day)=

The Snowday Sweatshirt is currently 17.5 for 18. That's 97.2% effective!
//Picture: Mr. Farmer displays the 1993-1994 Ayer Yearbook picture with the class that made the sweatshirt. Little did these now 35-year-olds know that their gift would one day become a legendary and sought after piece of apparel.//

Writing/Art
 * Make paper snowflakes to adorn your windows at home. (My wife swears this is the Snow Lore that truly works.) Write prose or poetry about the day.
 * Take a picture of you with something fun you've done in the snow today. Paste the picture in a Google Doc and write a story about it. Optional: Use the Share button in Google Docs to send it to your teacher.
 * Spelling Words: [[file:Snowday Sweatshirt Photo.PNG|snow]], sleet, graupel, hail, frost, [[file:wind-chill-brochure.pdf|wind chill]], [[file:Snow Day Lore.png|pajamas]], [[file:Snowday Sweatshirt Photo.PNG|Snowday Sweatshirt]], freezing rain, accumulation

Reading
 * Read "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost.
 * Watch this video adaptation of the poem.

Social Studies
 * Read about how early Americans passed the time during inclement weather and with no electricity--not invented yet. (I'm betting they liked playing chess.)
 * Observe the unusual behaviors of teenage drivers (from a distance and with adult supervision). Present a persuasive oral report to the class entitled, "Teenage Drivers in Snow Are Leading our Nation to the Brink of Collapse."

Science
 * Hypothesize the number of Hamilton County power outages due to ice and inclement weather occurrences. Visit the Duke Energy website (@http://www.duke-energy.com/news/outage-information.asp) to find out the current total. If your power goes out, disregard this assignment. Instead, report your power outage (1-800-543-5599) and hypothesize how long it will take for power to be restored.
 * Sound Absorption. Watch this video clip: Why It's Quieter in the Snow
 * Learn about the life's work of scientist Snowflake Bentley. Learn how snow is formed into crystals.
 * media type="custom" key="29529101" align="left"media type="youtube" key="VYrF3sFBY20?rel=0" height="251" width="448" align="left"

Math
 * Sample the depth of undisturbed snow in five to ten places and c reate a bar graph on paper or on a Google Spreadsheet to show your data. Bonus: Find the mean, median, mode, and range for this data.
 * Find the density of today's snowfall using a food scale (with grams of mass) and a measuring cup (with milliliters of volume). Here's what you do:
 * Find a measuring cup and measure its mass on a food scale in grams. (ex., 400g)
 * Go outside and make a snowball. Think to yourself, "Is this a fluffy snow (dry), a packing snow (wet), or a slushy snow (really wet)?"
 * Fill the measuring cup with snow to the full mark in metric (ex., 250ml), loosely; **do not** pack the snow into the container
 * Measure the mass of the measuring cup with the snow (ex., 550g)
 * Subtract the mass of the container to find out the mass of just the snow (ex., 550g - 400g = 150g)
 * Use the density formula to find how tightly packed the snow is: mass (g) divided by volume (ml) = density (g/ml). Example: 150g / 250ml = 0.6 g/ml
 * Use the following scale to describe your snow result:
 * 0.1 g/ml to 0.2 g/ml = dry, fluffy snow
 * 0.3 g/ml to 0.5 g/ml = wet, packing snow
 * 0.6 g/ml to 0.9 g/ml = very wet, slushy snow
 * 1.0 g/ml = water

Other Information
 * **SNOW LORE: One day each winter month is enough! So PLEASE do not follow the Snow Lore Guidelines tonight. Follow these instead:**
 * **Wear your pajamas normally.**
 * **Get off your sleep schedule.**
 * **Annoy your parents until they wonder why we can't have school again.**
 * **Say "There's no way we're having school tomorrow" at least 10 times on your day off.**
 * SNOW LAB is a low-cost option for any student. Participating students remain at home and create lots of extra laundry and household cleaning from 8:45 to 4:15 in a not-so-quiet supervised environment. Contact your parent for details.
 * SERVICE HOURS: Find someone in your neighborhood who might benefit from a bit of snow shoveling and perform a random act of kindness when they're not looking. Good for them and good for you! :)
 * johnfarmer@snowdays-r-us.edu (math and science)
 * caryharrod@thisiscray.edu language arts and social studies)
 * susie.overbeek@hurray.edu (language arts and social studies)
 * ken.vincent@snowagain-noway.edu (math and science)
 * amy.brown@ishewearingit.edu (ELO education resource teacher)
 * bethmartin@ithinkheis.edu (special education resource teacher)