"No School - All Schools - Boston""No School - All Schools - Canton"
"No School - All Schools - Walpole"
Yippee! That's the one! I remember sitting in front of the television or listening to the radio with my brothers and sisters waiting for the No School - All School announcement! Living in the "W" town our anticipation kept building and building after each letter of the alphabet. Often times there would be several commercial breaks which would produce loud groans of "Oh No" and "Not again!"
There is something magical about a Snow Day off from School - UNLESS you are a parent. Today, with so many parents working it's a scramble to find someone to be with the kids. Superintendents often cancel schools early (even before the snow falls) in an effort to help parents make arrangements for the day.
That being said - there are many parents that are home with the kids and they may be wondering "what can we do today"? If you are looking for something to do on a 'snow day' with the kids, perhaps these resources can help you.
SNOWDAY: This site shares "25 things to do" Some ideas that could have been included:
#26: 'Break out the photo album and share stories of when you were a child (or share the stories of what was happening when you took the pictures of your kids.)
#27 'Put on a show'. My children used to use stuffed animals and do puppet shows.
#28: 'Take a Nature Walk' - You can walk through your yard and look for animal tracks and figure out who made them. We would wonder at how the squirrels seemed to make all kinds of designs.
#27 'Put on a show'. My children used to use stuffed animals and do puppet shows.
#28: 'Take a Nature Walk' - You can walk through your yard and look for animal tracks and figure out who made them. We would wonder at how the squirrels seemed to make all kinds of designs.
40 THINGS TO DO ON A SNOW DAY: This site offers '40 things to do' with links or directions. These seem to be activities to do INSIDE. My favorites are:
#2: 'Make homemade Playdough' What child can not resist using play dough!
#26 'Color some Free Printable Coloring Pages' Coloring is such a relaxing activitiy Read this blog on the BENEFITS OF COLORING.
#29 'Make toys and Models from Paper'. Download these paper models from Canon. Some seem very involved but fun. Remember to be careful when using scissors.
WINTER SNOWMAN CRAFTS & RECIPES: This site offers several ideas for crafts and recipes. Some are more involved than others. One of my favorite crafts is a to make a No-sew SOCK SNOWFOLK. This article suggests using a tube sock and rice. I have done this with my class using toilet paper (body), plastic bags (head) and tube sock covering (not cutting the sock). The kids love it!
Let me know of other sites or ideas that could be added to this list!
And most of all - Enjoy your SNOW DAY!!!!!
*snow tracks provided by: (wylio)
photo © 2008 Arthur Kho Caayon | more in
thanks for the ideas nancy, i'm hoping our snow day project is clean basement for spring yard sale.
ReplyDeletethat comment was me, i was signed in under my dudley account. still trying to convince how much fun to clean basement. : )
ReplyDeleteThis is fabulous Nancy!!! I'll recommend to all my friends with lil ones. I cracked up reading about when we were kids...It felt like forever waiting for the words "William Floyd Schools" scroll across the screen too. Keep bloggin' Mamma Carroll
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas Nance! Today I am having "Sunday Dinner" a couple of days early!
ReplyDeleteMy kids made a list entitled "The Perfect Snow Day" with all of the activities they wanted to do. List included:
Make a pillow pet house. (out of boxes)
Color it.
Have a wrestling match with stuffed animals.
Lego Competition. (Mom is judge)
Play in the snow.
Make cookies with Mom.
They did this with no help from me, except for the command that they are to GET AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER AND THE DSi!!!
See you MOnday!
what memories are made of!
ReplyDeleteHi Nancy,
ReplyDeletesince you commented on my post I had to check you out too ;) Nice idea with the snow day special. That's something we don't know here in Scandinavia. But I remember that the kids were waiting for it when I lived in a family in Ma 10 years ago.
I have to say that I become inspired to see that you have been teaching for so long and it is also inspiring that you seem to find new ways to enrich your teaching and that you are still learning as well!
GREAT ideas! Thanks for sharing and CARING!
ReplyDeleteKristen McElaney
These are wonderful ideas for a snowy day. Thanks for sharing Nancy!
ReplyDelete:)
Kathy McDonald
Hi Nancy, I am taking Teacher Challenge, too. Great snow day ideas. We had 1, very unusual snow day off this winter. Our weather can not begin to compare to your area and I know it has been rough according to the news accounts. But, I must admit, we had fun!
ReplyDeleteHi Nancy, I remember waiting for the radio announcer to say "No Schools All Schools Belmont" when I grew up! It seemed like he was always at the letter M when I turned on the radio. I think the anticipation was as much fun as the snow day. Today, you get a phone call to alert you about the snow day. Not quite the same! I absolutely love having a snow day because it is free day without any prior plans so no matter what I do it is something spontaneous!
ReplyDelete