Florida Snowmen

It was 81* here today....It is January 12th!  Welcome to winter in Florida.  Mother Nature makes it a bit challenging to teach winter around here!   I decided to use this as a writing activity last week.

First I told the students about the snow I experienced in Indiana over Winter Break and showed them a few pictures.  Next, I read There Was and Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow.  You all know what happens at the end....a snowman pops out!  This led to a discussion about what would happen if we made a snowman in Florida!  (And of course, we ALL had to share our stories of playing in snow, being in a blizzard, etc.  Most of which were not true a bit exaggerated since most of my little lovelies have never been out of the state of Florida.)
I gave the students this planning sheet to write their own stories.

It is nothing fancy, but it worked.  (I MIGHT have decided to do this activity the last Sunday night of Winter Break and I MIGHT have whipped it up right before I went to bed so I would keep my sanity the first day back from having 2 weeks off.) The students added little notes to help them when they wrote their stories.  Click the pic ABOVE if you would like a copy.

FINALLY, we made these cute "Florida Snowmen".

Thank you Jennifer from First Grade Blue Skies for the adorable craft idea!  She has a lot of great ideas.  Go check out her blog!
Meredith