Adjusting For Weather

Jess Evans

Grade 3 and 4

When we began this school year, the weather was seasonable for September. We had what seemed like sunshine for weeks- the first month or so of school was remarkably glorious. Despite the worries of the world around us, the students and teachers of Morse Hill settled into a routine of learning, exploring, and making new friends under a canopy of falling leaves and sunny skies.

Inevitably, the first rainy day came. Students and teachers alike draped themselves in voluminous ponchos and headed for the various rain shelters. Could we adjust to these new conditions? It was a learning curve for all!

From my perspective as a teacher, there were a few things I hadn’t thought of ahead of time. My class, the largest at school in the fall, had been assigned to a large covered shelter known affectionately as Jumbo. It’s the largest structure on site, and can accommodate my class of ten with appropriate physical distancing space for snack and lunch. My students very quickly viewed it as an “indoor” space, which meant that every time they came in out of the rain, they automatically took off their raincoats. In a traditional school, this is the norm. At Learn At Morse Hill, inside is still outside! I had students shedding and replacing layers every few minutes as they popped in and out of the shelter.

With raincoats off, kids became chilled more easily during our cooler fall days. With raincoats still on, wet sleeves dragged across school work which left writing smudged and often caused splotchy holes. Raincoats off, raincoats on. It took some time to figure out the best strategies for rainy day academics; the most successful strategy involved my toweling off each child’s clipboard before attaching papers to it! I also encouraged my students to bring a sweatshirt layer to keep in their backpacks; they could hang their wet layer on the hooks around Jumbo and put on a warm dry layer for the “inside” periods.

And then, there was the dirt. Jumbo possesses the “dirtiest dirt” at Morse Hill, the kind of soft fluffy dirt that refuses to pack down and puffs up in big clouds when kids play in it. On “Jumbo Days,” kids immersed themselves in it. Parents reported a film of dirt that rode home on kids’ lunch bags, backpacks, and boots. I have no fundamental problem with dirt, of course, but I needed a game plan to mitigate the dirt’s “dirtiest” qualities during learning times.

One day during our initiative time period, I had my class help gather up large handfuls of fallen leaves. Pile after pile, handful after handful, we covered the floor of Jumbo with a nice soft bed of leaves. The kids were happy; a new kind of “fidget” to play with while I taught, and I was happy; the dirt was still there, but softly covered with something less distracting. I was still bringing home wet papers to dry at my house after school on rainy days, but those papers weren’t also muddy! I consider that a huge win.

As the weather turned colder, there were new challenges to face and solve. November and December brought our first snowy days, our first below-freezing days, and our first “my hands are too cold to write” days. Fading drought conditions from summer meant campfires would not be appropriate for our needs. We installed a wood stove in Jumbo and moved wood in for hand-warming fires. Several days, I had the students collect kindling, and we had our class move the wood pile assembly-line style when more wood was split for us! Involving the class in every step of the process helped them feel more connected as a community and empowered them to be a part of the solution. Our wood stove provides enough heat for warming hands, holds a kettle nicely for making hot chocolate, and offers the kids an additional sense of comfort and ease when temperatures dip or stay below freezing.

Below freezing learning days meant new teaching strategies were needed. I could not ask my students to take their mittens off for writing or drawing work, and most were frustrated by trying to write with mittens on. For these days, I designed learning opportunities that relied on movement and discussion. The ever-popular “Read and Move” lesson paired facts on our topic of study with silly movements to complete before moving on. Instead of drawing or painting, I added environmental art with snow and ice. Instead of scheduling independent reading time after lunch, I scheduled it for our brief warming turns inside the yurt.

As I write this, we are in the midst of a snowy and cold weather pattern. It’s not expected to get above freezing for the rest of the week. Days like the ones ahead mean we need to stay on the move for much of the day. I’m excited by the prospect, rather than daunted. We’re going to head off in search of deer tracks; we spotted some last week deep in the mountain laurel beyond the yurt, and I hope we’ll see evidence of them again. We’ll trek down to the stream to see if ice is building up along the edges. We’ll add to the snow and ice art gallery we created for parents to see near the parking lot. Weather offers challenges, but it also offers myriad opportunities for learning. Here’s to teaching and learning outside, year round!