Snow Day

Well, it happened. School was cancelled today due to the potential issues on the roads.
When I first woke up, it was just raining and it was 41 degrees. Well by 7 am, it was snowing and the temperature dropped.

It is now a steady snowfall and it is accumulating.

Meteorologists say the temperatures may increase mid-day so it will melt, but then it will freeze again tonight and turn to ice. School has not been cancelled yet for tomorrow, yet I anticipate a Remind 101 text tonight.
We do not have snow annually, this is a rare event. Everyone panics and everything shuts down. Driving is simply dangerous. If we had more snow plows and salting trucks we would be at school. The major highways are treated, not the other roads. Seeing as it is hilly and curvy where we live, it is best to stay home.
I am so thankful I sent my kiddos home with lots of work yesterday. Seriously, their eyes were bugging out as I passed out the assignments (spelling, reading, science, math, grammar, and writing). We are behind and losing 1-3 days this week will not help us. I let them know that if we had school this week, they would have class time to complete the work, it was work we would do together, but if school was cancelled I really wanted them to practice their skills, and everything would be due on Friday, February 14th (Happy Valentine's Day to me!). Once I explained it to them that way, they were a little more on board.
I had 2 parent conferences yesterday and those parents were thankful for something for their kids to work on this week. 
I also emailed my parents to let them know about the work, and to make sure no one called up to complain that I gave them a million assignments to do in one night.
If they do it, fantastic, they will be rewarded. If they don't, oh well. I learned long ago not to take it personally.
Since I sent home a packet from Fifth In the Middle's Go for the Gold set, I talked to them about the similarities between athletes and math students.

• Athletes practice to perfect their skills. To become better at math, we also have to practice.
• Athletes sometimes fall, hit some bumps, and make mistakes. In math, we do the same.
• Athletes will never persevere if they give up, neither will math students.

I stressed that I wanted them to practice, persevere on the problems they might initially struggle with, and that just like an athlete they will be rewarded for their hard work. Now, I need to get working on the medals of honor for them, thankfully Diane includes brag tags in the packet!
I also plan to reward them with some extra credit points. Just like snow, extra credit points are rare!  
They also took home a science passage to read and complete a tell me what you learned text sheet with it.

We are a few weeks away from our writing test so they also took their daily writing notebooks home with a plan to complete an informational paper throughout the week. I really hope they work on the process this week. I broke down the process in to daily steps to encourage more quality writing.
So what does a teacher do on a snow day?
Well, in a little while I will join my sons for some snow play. I will be pelted with snowballs and will freeze as we slide down our back hill on summer pool tubes. They are excited about the snow. I need to let go of my practical side and play like a kid.
Just like I prepared my kiddos for work at home, I brought plenty of work home too. I don't know about you, but my teacher bag seems to always be full!

I might even tackle the dry laundry I quickly stacked on the dryer yesterday morning.

I am striving for gold too. I am trying to finish up my massive multiplication with fractions packet.

I think I might even kick back, for a little while in front of the fire, to watch Up, with my boys. It has recently become their favorite movie.

Oh, and don't forget to enter the giveaway at Apple For the Teacher.

Cheers from the chilly South~