The "S" Word

At home, if a weather man even mentions the "s" word, milk and bread fly off the shelves and parents begin phoning school to see if we will be open on the said day that the white flakes are supposed to appear.  Snow is rare in Alabama, but it is not unheard of.  When we have snow, it is typically just a dusting, or possibly a couple of inches.  However, even this little bit seems to shut down the city.  Our roads (nor our drivers) are prepared for snow.  Quite often, after a couple of hours, the snow is melted and we can get back to our normal lives, but the talk of snow certainly brings an exciting buzz amongst the children (and staff!).

Here, snow is a bit more common, but it is still not terribly frequent.  I have noticed though, that there is really not a whole lot of talk before hand of the possibility of snow as there usually is at home.  Today, for the second time this year, I woke up to a white covering on the ground.  Snow truly is beautiful and like a little kid, I am always thrilled to see it!  In fact, I didn't sleep very well last night and I believe that was in large part due to the fact that I was anxious about the snow.

The snow continued through most of the day, but as the temperatures were just above freezing, it didn't really stick and as every now and then some rain mixed in with the big white flakes, most of the snow was gone by the end of the day.  The roads had been gritted last night so the roads were generally fine and there seemed to be no real reason to cancel school.  However, I have determined that it is impossible to learn when it is snowing outside.  I cannot blame the kids, watching as swirls of snow, almost blizzard like fall from the sky and you are inside reading persuasive letters trying to identify key words; it is just hard to concentrate.  So, I'm not sure how much learning actually happened today, but we were technically in school...  Overall, the kids were generally very good, and I really cannot blame them for being distracted.  I, too, was tempted to do a snow angel in the beautifully dusted field, but as the kids are not allowed on the field right now, I was afraid one of them may be blamed for the angel...