Let It Snow?

Some of my colleagues are already wishing for a snow day.  I understand their need for a day off, or even a day to get work done without students at school.  But they lose sight of the future ramifications of a snow day -- a day off now means one less day off later in the year.  Personally, I will save my day of for a few months from now when I will want to be outside enjoying the weather.

I have never been fond of outdoor winter sports.  Even as a kid, sledding was only fun for a little while and I hated having cold hands and feet.  We have gotten a couple of big snows the last few of winters.  Enough to have taken Isaac sledding on a nearby hill.  He was miserable.  Snow got in his boots and his feet were cold and he cried the whole way home after only going down the hill one time.  Poor little southern boy.

Snow looks like so much fun in books.  Everyone is laughing and having a good time and no one looks like they are bitterly cold.  One of the books at Book Fair was Ten on the Sled by Kim Norman.  It was a cute book and has math applications for younger children.  Ten animal friends get on the sled, but only one is left when it reaches the bottom.  They slip, slide, bounce and roll off as the sled careens down the hill.   No one is hurt (how realistic is that?), everyone is smiling, and they go back to do it again.

If we get enough snow, we will probably try sledding again.  We will wear multiple layers in an attempt to keep our fingers and toes from turning blue.  And we will gladly go back inside when we are done to have our snow day hot chocolate.