18th December Flake Appreciation Day

Flake Appreciation Day is celebrated on 18th December every year in the United States. The holiday is used to show appreciation for snowflakes which are loved by many. Snowflakes are beautiful, unique, and naturally occurring. They come in complex shapes and sizes and are divided into 35 categories. As with human fingerprints, no two snowflakes are exactly alike. Snowflakes are created when water vapor in clouds freezes around dust particles due to humidity. Typically hexagonal, snowflakes can sometimes take the form of flat, needle-shaped particles.

Snowflakes can be classified into one of 35 different shape groups based on their size and shape. When water vapor in the clouds condenses into ice crystals, snowflakes spontaneously appear in nature. Snowflakes’ shapes are impacted by elements like dust, temperature, humidity, and currents.

The history of snowflakes was greatly influenced by Wilson Bentley. He was born in 1865 in Jericho, Vermont. His work is significant as he helped discover that no two snowflakes are exactly alike. He used a type of photography that uses microscopes called photomicrography to take pictures of 5,000 snowflakes. Read this biography

• Snowflake Bentley  by Jacqueline Briggs Martin & Mary Azarian

From the time he was a small boy, Wilson Bentley saw snowflakes as small miracles. And he determined that one day his camera would capture for others the wonder of the tiny crystal. Bentley's enthusiasm for photographing snowflakes was often misunderstood in his time, but his patience and determination revealed two important truths: no two snowflakes are alike; and each one is startlingly beautiful.

And then, read about some more snowflakes in:

• The Story of Snowflake and Inkdrop by Pierdomenico BaccalarioTwo worlds, two stories, two books in one, to be flipped and read from whichever direction you like! A big town in winter. A snowflake is about to fall from the sky. A big town in winter. An ink drop flies out of its bottle into the sky when a big gust of wind blows its bottle over. The wind carries Snowflake and Inkdrop through the sky. Where will each land?

Two worlds, two intersecting stories told in vivid colour illustrations, as well as through ingenious laser cuts and foldouts that are full of surprise.

• The Snowflake  by Neil Waldman

With a double-page spread for each month, this book describes the journey of a single drop of water throughout the year.

• The Story of Snow  by Jon Nelson

How do snow crystals form? What shapes can they take? Why do star-shaped snow crystals usually have six arms? Are no two snow crystals alike?

These questions and more are answered inside this exploration of the science of snow, featuring photos of real snow crystals in all their beautiful diversity.

• The Snowflake  by Benji Davies

High, high up in the clouds a tiny snowflake is made. Perfectly small, fluffy, crystal and white, it tumbles and bounces inside the cloud. But then she begins to fall…

• Snowflake in My Pocket by Rachel Bright & Yu Rong      The snow is coming – Bear can smell it! Squirrel is so excited – he's never seen snow before! But when the snow arrives, Bear suddenly falls sick. Can Squirrel still bring some silvery, sparkly, magical whiteness to his best friend? 

• Fletcher and the Christmas Snowflake  by Julia Rawlinson & Tiphanie Beeke     It's Christmas Eve, and the rabbits have moved to a new burrow. Fletcher is excited about celebrating the holiday with them, until he realises...Santa Claus won't know where to deliver their presents!

• The Smallest Snowflake  by Bernadette Watts   Every snowflake has a dream. While the other snowflakes boast about their plans to travel on to glamorous and far off destinations— the most beautiful mountain in the world or atop the golden pinnacle of the jeweled dome of the castle, St. Basil—the smallest snowflake simply longs for someplace special . . . someplace warm. 

6th December Mitten Tree Day

 

Mitten Tree Day celebrates the gift of warmth. It's a day to collect mittens, hang them on a Christmas tree, and then hand them out to those in need. Those who live in cold climates understand the necessity of mittens. This winter clothing item is essential for keeping the hands warm while outdoors. It may be cold in the Northern Hemisphere but it is getting quite hot here and everyone is looking forward to the end of school and the summer holidays.

This post would be more relevant in July here, so I have filed away a note to self, celebrate mittens in winter next year because we have quite a few books which feature mittens.

Two favourite mitten stories  spring to mind immediately, Three Little Kittens  who have lost their mittens and the Ukranian folktale, The Mitten where a number of animals seek shelter in a mitten they find in the snow.

Other books to look for in the library:

15th January World Snow Day

Wow, how can it be 'World" Snow Day when half the world are experiencing summer? Who decided this?

There is no snow in Australia at the moment, but there will be students that I teach experiencing snowy holidays in the Northern hemisphere because their families are skiers or snowboarders.

The International Ski Federation (also known as FIS—from their official French title, Fédération internationale de ski et de snowboard) is the organisation that founded World Snow Day. It is celebrated on the third Sunday in January each year; the inaugural celebration started in 2012. World Snow Day, however, was the second phase of the FIS campaign to get more kids involved with snow sports. The first phase, which was called ‘Bring Children to the Snow’, began five years earlier.

If it was snowing here it would be fun to join in. There are so many fun books about the snow. See my Pinterest page.

Start with these:

• Snow  by Sam Usher

• Lost  by Sam Usher

• Snow  by Cynthia Rylant and Lauren Stringer

• Snow  by Walter de la Mare and Carolina Rabei

• Snow  by Roy McKie and P.D.Eastman

• A Perfect Day  by Carin Berger

• Bunny Slopes by Claudia Rueda

• The Story of Snow  by Mark Cassino and Jon Nelson

• The Snowflake by Neil Waldman

• Red Sled by Lita Judge

•The Snowy Day  by Anna Milbourne and Elena Temporin

• Making a Friend by Alison McGhee and Marc Rosenthal

• The Big Snow Adventure  by Alison Reynolds and Mikki Butterley

• Walking in a Winter Wonderland  by Tim Hopgood

And here's some short chapter books from series where there's fun in the snow

• Pug's Snow Day by Kyla May

• Charlie and the Big Snow by Hilary McKay

• Hot Dog! Snow Time! by Ahn Do

• Boyz Rule Freaky Snow Dude by Felice Arena

• Goblin in the Snow by Victor Kelleher

• Magic Bone Nice Snowing You! by Nancy Krulik

• Freddie Ramos Stomps the Snow by Jacqueline Jules

• Rabbit's Bad Habits by Julian Gough

• Girlz Rock! Snowball Attack by Jacqueline Arena

• Claude on the Slopes  by Alex T. Smith

• Mouse and Mole, A Winter Wonderland by Wong Herbert Yee

• Have Fun Anna Hibiscus! by Atinuke

• Arthur and the Ice Rink by Johanne Mercier

• Pugly on Ice by Pamela Butchart

And if you're living in the Southern hemisphere you'll have to make do with tobogganing down some sandhills!