The snow

Fig 1: A snowy hillside.

	Ice crystals are made in the clouds, but these usually melt as they fall to the ground to produce rain. Snowflakes are made up of ice crystals which stay frozen as they fall from the cloud.
Fig 2: A skier.

Snowflakes are very beautiful; each one has six points. They are all different. If it snows for a long time the roads may become blocked. If this happens, snow ploughs are sent to clear them.
	Fig 3: Building a snowman.

	Sometimes it snows so much that villages can get cut off for several days. There can be very heavy falls of snow in this country. In some parts of the world it is so cold that snow and ice stay on the ground all through the year.
Fig 4: Walking to school in the snow.

Things to do

Write down a list of words to describe what kinds of sounds are made when you walk through the snow.

Cut out a white snow figure. Stick it onto a piece of black paper. Cut out some other shapes to put around it.

Things to make

A paper snowflake.

You will need:

• A circular piece of white paper
  
• A piece of black paper
  
• A pair of scissors

Fold the paper in half and then into thirds.

Fig 5: Cut-out shapes

	Now cut a triangle shape into the circular edge.
Fig 6: Cut-out triangular shape.

Cut some shapes into the straight edges Open up your piece of paper. What kind of snowflake have you made? Stick your snowflake onto the black piece of paper
	Fig 7: More cuts made.

Fig 8: The final snowflake.

For the record

During a snowy period, put out a saucer of water and some pieces of bread and fat for the birds. Make sure that you change the water every day and that it doesn’t freeze. Make a record of the birds that come to feed and drink.

Did you know?

If the Antarctic ice sheet were to completely melt, sea level would rise by nearly 67 m (220 feet), or the height of a 20-storey building.

The closest glacier to the equator is on Mt. Cotopaxi Ecuador, which is 5,897 m high. It is also considered to be an active volcano; with 50 eruptions since 1738, the last (minor eruption) occurring in 1975.

Ice is officially a mineral, as detailed in Dana’s System of Mineralogy (first published privately in 1837). There are currently some 3,700 officially recognised minerals, with about 50 being added to the list every year.