Since my last post my students were busy making snowflakes and stop motion videos with Google Slides. Boy do I love this tool! They began with some research to learn a little about the science behind snowflakes before diving in to "make a point" for their snowflake.
Most points were made with simple shapes like hexagons and lines. The main requirement was that any shapes or lines had to show symmetry. Once they made their first point as simple or complex as they desired, they grouped the pieces together before they duplicated it. Next they flipped the copy vertically before they aligned both points so that these segments mirrored each other, more symmetry. Once these opposing points were aligned and grouped together, they made two new copies. Then they used the align center and middle features to stack these three layers on top of each other. To complete the snowflake they rotated two of the three grouped segments to create six points for their snowflake. They rotated the top layer 60° and a second layer 120° to create the perfect six-pointed snowflake.
Finally their snowflakes were downloaded as png files with transparent backgrounds, something they learned about with their previously made avatars. If submitted on time, these snowflakes were used for the snowy day stop motion video.
Using the publish to the web feature and a URL hack they learned how to advance each slide two-tenths of a second. Take a look at the final products from my day 2 classes to see how some students enjoy snowy days.
Check out my Google Slide how to to make a snowflake of your own.
