My Great Big Book Blog: Snowflake Bentley Winner of the Caldecott Medal

Written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin illustrated by Mary Azarian

Published by Houghton Mifflin Company

Reading level: ages 6+, grades 3-4, Lexile measure 830L, Guided reading level N

Suggested delivery: read aloud, independent read

Genre: Autobiography and Biography

Beautiful pictures ~ Engaging ~ Graceful ~ Timeless ~ A good read

Summary:

Ever since Wilson Bentley was a young boy, he was always amazed by the falling snow and all its beauty. Living in Vermont, snow was something the people saw quite often, but to Wilson, snow was a miracle. With faith and determination, Bentley wanted nothing more than to be able to capture snowflakes on his camera. He wanted to be able to share snowflake's beauty with others. Although he was often misunderstood, it turned out that Bentley's love for snowflakes continued long after he did. His story is beautifully told, and has a great message about perseverance and having a vision. Snowflakes Bentley won the 1999 Caldecott Medal.

Vocabulary to Know:

Evaporate: to change from water into steam or vapor

Microscope: an instrument that makes small objects look larger

Magnify: to increase in size, volume, or significance

Foolishness: being unwise

Jumbled: to be mixed together in no particular order

Negatives: parts of a film that show light areas as dark, and dark areas as light

A peak inside of Snowflake Bentley

Suggested Lesson Ideas:

+Before Reading Activity: Vocabulary cards can be useful for those students who struggle with vocabulary while reading, and even for all students so that they can grasp their reading better and understand. Vocabulary cards can be created before reading the book with identified words given by the teacher. As students begin to read they will see the words from their vocabulary cards and relate their definitions to the text.

+During Reading Activity: Split Page Note taking is a good way for students to keep their thoughts organized as they read. With "Snowflake Bentley", which is an autobiography/biography, it would be a good idea to have students keep track of some notes about the author as they read along. Split page note taking allows students to outline a book while reading with questions, comments and more. Students can split the page in half and keep track of characters on one side and the plot and important details on the other side.

+After Reading Activity: Student Book Talks would be excellent for "Snowflake Bentley". This great book can have students be so creative in producing a book report and discussing their book report with the rest of the class. Their book report can target the theme of advertising. Have students' book reports act as an advertisement for the book. They will need point out the great aspects of the book, a summary and images of the author etc. A project like this allows for students to shine and be creative!

+Writing Activity: As a writing activity for this autobiography and biography it would be a great idea to create a web about Wilson Bentley, and the many different things he did in his life. From the story students could write about Bentley and eventually create their own biography project on him. Another fun activity would be to have students write 4 facts they've learned about snowflakes. they can be detectives and go back through the book in order to see what some look like, and you could have students look them up online so that they could draw their own picture. (Below are sample worksheets to reference.)