This Flaky Science Project Left Them Cold

None of the Tustin Ranch Elementary School third-graders went back to their classrooms Friday morning without wet knees and sleeves and big smiles after building foot-high snowmen during a science project.

“I think snow is really fun because it’s cold and you can have fun with it,” 9-year-old Katie Baker said. “You don’t get snow every day.”

The third-graders built and decorated the snowmen, placing them in different places around the school to see which would survive until the end of the school day.

Snowmen were placed in the library, principal’s office, a bathroom and outside of classrooms.

Many of the snow sculptures donned carrots as noses, raisins as eyes, hats, glasses and pencils as arms.

Ashley Boling, 8, said she learned she can’t always control all the elements of an experiment, especially since snow melts fast. “I think it’s a cool thing to do in hot California,” Ashley said.

Teacher Linda Chaplin coordinated the science assignment with the other third-grade teachers who paid for the truckload of snow that was delivered to the school Friday morning. “We thought, ‘Let’s get the real thing,’ ” Chaplin said. “It’s just another medium of studying snow.”

The science lesson was broadened to include writing poetry about snow and creating snow art.

Chaplin’s colleague, Gladys Carney, said the experiment allowed students to see their science lesson in action and enabled some students to touch snow for the first time.

“Some want to bring it home [in plastic bags] so it will be an interesting science discovery,” Carney said. “Any time we do a hands-on experiments, it’s always the way to go.”

Marissa Espino can be reached at (714) 966-5879.