Is there a thin line between love & hate for snow days?

  Oh, snow days how I love thee. But enough already...ok?

  I wonder if there is a thin line between love & hate when it comes to snow days? Sure, I know kids love them. But how do adults feel?

   I think alot of people can honestly say that they are going a little stir crazy today... I know I am! The kids and I have been holed up in the house since Monday afternoon. It has been far too cold (in Buffalo) to leave the house and I admit, it is starting to get to me and I can tell it is driving my muchkin a little mad. The routine is all messed up and meltdowns (from the little munchkin) are happening throughout the day!

  The one good thing about snow days is that it allows me extra time with the kiddos. And I have been able to get the learning fun back on track after the long holiday break.
   But I will be glad when the kids are back in school tomorrow... they need the structure and routine back... and I need to get a handle on my own sanity!  =)

   Anyhow, over the winter break when I had some downtime, I did some searching on TPT, and I have found yet another favorite seller: Lavinia Pop. She has some awesome packets. I purchased a few of her Winter (math & literacy) packets to use with my daughter throughout the month of January.

     I put together a  little January Work binder for the munchkin and she will pick and choose a few activities that she wants to complete during our random "work times" or at any given time during the week.     

                  

    When school started up in September, I chose not to have an established work time, simply because some days she was too tired after school and other days, all she wanted to do was work. So, now we just go with the flow. I think it will be easier to have worksheets like these on hand along with other manipulatives to complete them, (rather than just pencils and crayons), so they are ready when she wants them.

     Today it felt right to read a few winter books and focus on some winter vocabulary. And this pack (also by Lavinia Pop) came in handy.

    We chose 10 Winter Words to put in our pocket chart. 

                   

    We reviewed each word, focusing on the beginning sound. I then cut out the pictures of the words she chose and she glued each picture and copied each word onto the pages of her Winter Words book.

                

She was very excited to "read" her Winter Words book when she was done!

  And of course, she had to make a snowman! I came to notice that she was bringing home alot of artwork from school, and a huge chunk of it was simple shapes that the children may or may not have cut out themselves and glued together-- not very much process art. I mean, I can understand why preschool teachers would have children do art this way; I have done it myself at times.
   But for the sake of art variety, I am going to continue to focus on providing the little munchkin with somewhat open-ended process art activities at home. Plus, I love to see what children's imaginations create in art, especially hers!

   So here is the process art snowman she made: 

   She was ectastic when my son and I joined in on the art activity. (And later told daddy he needed to make one!)

   And the snack of the day was..... Donut Snowman!!

   Well, the snow days have been fun. But now it is time to get the kiddos back into school and get that routine started up again! I just hope there are no more crazy snowstorms in the near future that would cause everyhing to shut down again! 

    BUT-- I am in Buffalo, so ya never know!!