Snow Snow Snow

One second it's Christmas and I'm freezing in Omaha, the next I'm taking a ferry to a huge volcano in Nicaragua, and the next I'm teaching my students about snow in this land where it definitely doesn't snow.

Soaking in every minute of Christmas with my family and friends in Omaha. 

Nicaragua's claim on being the "Land of Lakes and Volcanoes" is most certainly true.

It's weird thinking that I can be shivering in the 5 degree weather one day, and sweating near a volcano the next, but that's just this crazy life I'm living.

It's mid - January now, and school is back in session. At least half of my students have never experienced snow in real life, so I enjoy decorating the library with snowflakes and snowmen and doing a few weeks of snow-themed lessons to help them "experience" the joy (or misery) of snow.

Two highlights:

My good friend, Sho, lives in Oregon and has been experiencing some crazy amounts of snowfall lately. She made a little video of the snow scenes outside her house and sent it to me for my students to watch. Let's just say there was a lot of "ooohing", "ahhhing", and clapping from my students. They were amazed at a snow pile that was taller than Sho and cars that looked like white blobs hiding under piles of white fluff.

My students watching Sho's snow video. 

The grandparents of one of my kindergarten students came to visit last week. They brought with them some pretty realistic feeling snowballs and we had our first ever snowball fight in the library. One little student told me afterward, "This was the best day ever!". I don't have any pictures of the event, but just imagine lot of smiling, giggling, and screaming from the little ones.