Jan'etta Hayden : Snow Days in March

Hi Friends,
I can't believe the number of snow days we have had here in Arkansas. We usually have one or two. This year, however, we are on our sixth in my district. I'm in one of the largest districts in central Arkansas and I know that the rural districts have had even more snow days. The legislature
has passed a bill that we can go an extra hour each day for a week to make up one snow day. I don't know if my district will choose to do that and I'm sort of 'on the fence' about it. I don't want to
go to school until June 5 either. My feeling about snow days has always been a positive one.

When I was a little girl, if there was even a hint of snow (really we mostly get ice) my brothers and
I would be awake watching the news just waiting to see "Arkadelphia" fly across the bottom of the screen beside the stationery title "School Closings". Our bedtime was 8:30 pm but we could still barely get our eyes open at 6:30 am the next morning. But on a possible snow day, our eyes were wide open staring at the tv screen praying that we were going to be out of school. My mother made snow days fun (she made everything fun). We would play in the snow and break off icicles to munch on. When we came in, she might have homemade cookies or cake or some other delicacy. We might play board games, watch game shows, or play other things, or read. Anytime we wanted to go back outside, my mother was good with it. It was just a cozy day. For my own two children, I copied many of my mother's ideas. We would spend the day doing basically whatever they wanted. They would play outside in the snow. They especially liked jumping on the trampoline when it was covered with snow.

Now that my children are both in college and not living at home, I am not so excited about snow days. That is not to be confused with 'I don't like snow days". I still like them, I just liked them more when I got to spend them with my children.

Now, back to my original idea about when we should have the make-up days. I don't like going to school into the summer, but the students can have outdoor recess then! They are tired of being trapped inside and they need to run and play. On the other hand, staying an hour later has its own set of issues. For the upper grade teachers the extra hour would be helpful in preparing for testing. A colleague asked me this question. "If we all stay an hour late, what will the specialty teachers do?" My idea on that is that they can have extra classes. They won't want to hear that! Ha. I don't blame them, either. But I guess if we all are having an extra hour of work, that means ALL of us.

Well, whatever the district decides is what I will do. And as with anything, I'll do my best to make it work!

We moved into a new house recently. I have spent my snow days this year unpacking and organizing. Our son is coming home for his spring break so I want it to look like 'home' for him.

I did however find some time to make some new resources for my classroom. The one that is most relevant for now is a March pack. It is a set of word problems. There are 20 pages for addition and 20 pages for subtraction. It is absolutely NO PREP! Take a look at it and please let me know what you think. If you like it, even if it isn't right for your class, please post it on Pinterest or some other social media to share with other teachers.

Click HERE to go straight to the source

Although these word problems are on a Commom Core Standard for first grade, we, as educators know that it is appropriate for some second graders and some kindergarteners. It is also appropriate for RTI or enrichment. It is NO PREP! You just PRINT and GO!