Snow Day

Early Winter is when snow days occur here in the Pacific Northwest. Snow days do not happen too often and are a wonderful surprise. Snow can be a constant winter companion in other parts of the country. In Portland, snow is an opportunity for children to explore and play for a week outside until the rain washes the snow away.

One year in our program, we had more snow days than usual. In my work as a school-age educator, we offer two care sessions in our program. One session is in the morning before school, and another is after school until parents finish work. On snow days, the school closes, and we do not offer care, so we never have an opportunity to play in the snow with the children.

On a typical snow day, the school knows a storm is coming. School cancellations happen the night before it snows so parents can make plans. The children do not come back to school until rain washes the snow away. One day, the children arrived at school for the morning program. In our morning session, children eat breakfast, work on projects from the day before, finish homework, and play board games. The morning is low-key as the children try to wake up and embrace the day. On this day, the weather forecast said snow would fall in the evening, and the school planned to be open for a half-day of instruction.

As we talked over breakfast, the children mentioned the upcoming snowstorm. We talked about sledding, snowball fights, and building in the snow. The children were excited about school closing the next day. During our conversation, I shared with the children that it would be fun to experience snow while in the program. Then we could have snowball fights and slide down the hill on the school playground. The children said this would be fun, but it would not happen because school closes on snow days. I wanted to believe in the possibility that it may happen someday. I said, "If we are ever in the program when it snows, we will go outside, slide down the hill, have a snowball fight, and build a snowman." We all smiled, thinking about this idea and knowing it would never happen.

The morning program starts a 6:30 am. It is still dark when the program opens. Daybreak occurs about an hour later. In our program space, we can see outside through windows in front of the school. School begins at 8:30 am. We have a few hours to work and play together before the children walk to class. On this day, the children ate breakfast and started playing. Some children were shooting baskets on our indoor court, and others played a board game. A final group of children worked on the carpet, making Lego creations. I sat down and watched the children work together and made some notes. Then I looked outside.

I could not believe my eyes. Snow was falling. What the children and I were talking about only an hour earlier was happening. None of the children noticed. I asked the group to gather for an impromptu meeting. The children gathered, and I told them I wanted to share something important with them. The children looked at me with serious expressions. Then I broke the news. It was snowing outside. The children jumped from their seats and ran to the back door of our classroom. They opened the door to discover that snow was falling at a good pace. The children jumped with excitement and asked when we could go outside.

The school principal informed us that the school was closed for the day. I had to call all the parents to come to pick up their children. I told the children I would make a few quick calls to their parents, and then we could put on our jackets and play in the snow.

After a few calls, we gathered at the door with cardboard, buckets, and shovels. The children used the cardboard to create makeshift sleds. They wanted to slide down the hill on our playground. The children used shovels and buckets to collect and build with the snow on the ground. We also had a snowball fight with the teacher (me) running for my life. We had so much fun on our rare snow day together.

After an hour or so, most parents picked up their children. We stayed outside the entire morning and enjoyed our time together. Our program space connects to the playground. As we played, the children moved in and out of the building to warm up their hands and toes. It was a fun morning playing together. One we will never forget.

What I learned from this experience may benefit your learning community.

As educators, we need to be open to possibilities. Playing in the snow at school was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity we did not plan for or have the perfect equipment to enjoy. We made the best of our opportunity, had a great time, and made memories.

Our discussions with the children help us know them better and set the stage for our future work together.

Nature offers beautiful possibilities for fun and connection in the learning community. We live in an area connected to nature. Much of our program time is outdoors. Going outside to enjoy the snowstorm at school was an excellent opportunity to explore the environment. The children talked about our snow day adventures for weeks to come.

As an educator, be open to breaking the day's routine to take advantage of serendipity. I mentioned to the children that we would go outside and play to our heart's content if it ever snowed at school. I had no idea that was going to happen that very day. Serendipity had come our way. We needed to embrace this wonderful gift in our lives.