SNOW - It's snowing!

Contrary to what you may think, Albuquerque does get cold in the winter.  It's not as cold as Minnesota, but cold enough to wear a winter jacket. We don't get much precipitation - rain or snow. So when it snows (or even rains) it's exciting and a big deal.

Yesterday 10 minutes before our last recess during Math class, it started to snow. I have experienced the excitement of the first snowfall many times while teaching in Minnesota.  None of those experiences prepared me for those 10 minutes. My students were beyond elated and overjoyed. It was adorable to watch and listen to them.  They said it was a blizzard.  Another student hoped there was enough snow to build a snowman at recess. I sadly crushed that child's dream and explained that the snow wouldn't fall that fast in the next 10 minutes.  There were talks of a snow day or a delay.  I just had to laugh a little and help them regroup. Luckily we did finish the lesson just as the bell rang for recess - learning to multiply with the number 7 is very important.

As they hustled out the door for recess, I could hear shrieks of OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD ... It's SNOW!

Can you see the flakes?

So exciting!

I have to admit that it was beautiful to see the huge cotton like snowflakes fall.  It made me think of home. I was so happy for my students and decided I wanted to teach them a little about snow and a heartier winter after recess. (If you can't beat them, join them?)So I ran off to the library to check out A Snowy Day by Jack Ezra Keats in English.  I have it in Spanish and would always read it to my class on snowy days in MN. They were pleased with the lesson plan punt making it more focused on snow.  I told them about the time we cross country skied to the grocery store. They were shocked by this and unfamiliar with cross country skiing.  I found some images online to share with them, and then I pretended to cross country ski.  They thought that was hilarious.  We measured the accumulation in inches and centimeters.  We looked at the radar to see if it was going to keep snowing. I figured that I need to embrace the moment and make it somewhat educational.  Snow is a very special thing here.  (p.s. I love teaching - Can you tell?)

I was a little scared to drive in the snow because of the other drivers, but the roads were just wet. Unfortunately it didn't get above freezing and the wet roads changed to icy ones.  ABQ does not have the same plowing and salting infrastructural like MN and WI. This is why we had 2 hour delay! (I think we had about .5 inches of snow.)  Everything was fine driving to work this morning.  They put a salt/red clay mixture down on the main roads.  All the cars have a little red trim now because of the clay. 24 hours later, almost all the snow has melted.  I will miss it and eagerly await its next arrival.  I hope it happens when I'm at school.  It was priceless to see the kids' reactions.

Proof of the snow on my car.  

I promise I won't blog too frequently about school/work, but this just made my day.  My students have taught me so much about their culture, I wanted to teach them about mine.