Mrs. Hanford's 4th grade class is making snowflakes. They do so by folding 8.5 by 11 inch pieces of paper and cutting to make an 8.5 by 8.5 square.
After folding it in half twice more, each student cuts shapes out of the sides and unfolds it to see what their snowflake looks like.
Unfortunately, as one student pointed out, real snowflakes are six-sided, not four-sided.

Is there a way to fold a piece of 8.5 by 11 inch (or you can use cm if you want) to make a six-sided snowflake?
If there is, the simpler the better. After all, it is a 4th grade class.
You only have a pair of scissors and your folding ability at your disposal.

I think 4th graders could do this if it were shown to them.  Its always harder to follow this kind of direction without visuals.

Holding the paper the normal way, fold the top left corner down along the right edge.  Then fold the top right corner down to the point at the same height along the left edge.

It will look like a house with a high roof.

Fold over the top left edge, but before you crease fold over the top right edge.  Both folds radiate from the roof peak and you can crease them once they line up with the left edge tucked neatly into the right crease and the right edge along the left.
[trisecting the right angle]

If you flip this over you can see through a layer of paper to a vertical line underneath.  Cut along this line forming an isosceles triangle.

The small base is the edge of the snowflake and the other legs are inside of the snowflake.  Happy cutting.

 

Posted by Jer on 2005-05-16 19:06:39