I hope everyone is staying safe during this storm cycle. I understand there are likely a myriad of emotions you all are feeling with red day number 12 on our hands. The decision to call another red day neither made easily nor lightly. This year has proven to be the most difficult winter I can remember living through in my 30++ years of living in Mammoth. With the snow load that it is in town, snow removal of two feet of snow with nowhere to put it can become a crisis. Thank you for understanding, and we will get through this.

If you're looking for academic things for your children to do today, we have some online and offline options outlined below. Hopefully you'll find something your child will love.

Do not underestimate the power of other household activities that can boost student learning. Playing board games, card games, cooking a new recipe, building a puzzle and more are great tools to get our students thinking in creative ways. Also, household chores are a great way to learn responsibility.

Please remember to have your students play outside safely and remind them of the dangers of snow immersion, roofalanches and heavy snow removal machinery.
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-Mrs. McMIllian

Students should find a cozy spot in the house today and read. Reading is the most powerful tool we can give our children. All reading counts. Read a comic book, a novel, a board book, a magazine, a newspaper, a recipe, the back of the cereal box, just read!

Students can log into their Clever accounts and work on Imagine Language & Literacy, Imagine Espanol, These programs are adaptive and will meet your student where he/she is at.

NEA’s Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading with the theme: Celebrating a Nation of Diverse Readers. Click here to find books that celebrate diversity.

Students can journal and write about their day, their reaction to the snow or they can write a creative story about the snow. Have your students write a letter to a family member, a teacher or a friend.

Need inspiration?

Inspiration from published authors & super fun writing prompts are available here.

Students can log into their Clever accounts and work on DreamBox Math and IXL Math. DreamBox is adaptive and will meet your student where he/she is at. Another easy option is to practice basic math facts by making homemade flashcards for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Click here for an article on 15 fun ways to practice math facts.

Identify Tracks in the Snow (Outside Activity)

If it’s warm outside on a snow day, bundle up and take a walk with your kids. On the way, challenge them to look for tracks in the fresh snow and discuss how to identify different animals. Start by asking kids how big they think the animal is, and then see how specific they can get. For example, dogs and cats have four toes, while deer have only two toes. Mice will often leave a narrow line in the snow as they drag their tail behind them, and squirrels will leave claw marks. You can use a phone app, like iTrack Wildlife, to identify more unusual species and to learn about each animal.

Observe a Snow Crystal (Outside Activity)

Snow is one of the simplest ways to learn about crystal structures. Give your children a piece of black construction paper and send them outside to collect a few snowflakes. Once they’ve caught a couple, give them a magnifying glass to compare snowflakes and count the crystal points. If you have a glass slide, you can even preserve the snowflake. Prepare by cooling the slide and a tube of superglue by placing them outside. Then use an artist’s paintbrush to carefully transfer a snowflake onto the glass slide and place a drop of superglue over the snowflake. Put the slide into the freezer until the glue hardens.

Balloon Gas Expansion Experiment (Outside/Indoor Activity)

This simple balloon experiment is a fun way to show kids how elements react to different temperatures — and the colder the weather, the better. Start by inflating a balloon inside and tieing up the end. Then place the balloon outside and observe as it deflates. (If it’s really cold, put the balloon by a window so kids can watch from inside.) Then bring the balloon back inside and watch as it re-inflates. If the temperature is getting warmer or colder throughout the day, have kids time how long it takes for the balloon to deflate at different temperatures. This experiment gives you a chance to talk with kids about how gases expand and contract.

Adapted from Whitby School

Climate Geography Lesson (Indoor Activity)

A snow day is a great time to discuss geography. Pull out a globe and ask kids to name all of the places on the map where it snows. Then spend some time talking about how the climate affects major landmarks, culture, and animals found in that region. You can also pull up a climate map from the Weather Channel to look at how weather varies across the U.S. and across the globe. Spend time exploring the map and determine where we live in comparison to other countries and locations in the world. Identify continents, oceans, countries and more.

Adapted from Whitby School

Mammoth Elementary School

Principal - Mrs. McMillian

Learning Director - Mrs. Polanco

Email: mmcmillian@mammothusd.org

Website: Mes.mammothusd.org
Location: 1500 Meridian Boulevard, Mammoth Lakes, CA, USA
Phone: 7609347545
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MammothES/?view_public_for=1432211007057906

Instagram: @mammothelementary

Mammoth Unified School District prohibits discrimination, intimidation, harassment (including sexual harassment) or bullying based on a person’s actual or perceived age, ancestry, color, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical information, national origin, parental status, pregnancy status, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics.
For questions or complaints, contact Title IX Compliance Officer:
461 Sierra Park Road, Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546, 760.934.6802