District Administrator's Corner

by Loren Glasbrenner River Valley School District Administrator Two weeks ago, the third grade classes at River Valley Elementary School had a guest reader—me.  The students were entering into a new science unit about snow, so I read one of my favorite books that features many great character voices and native Wisconsin species.  The book, Stranger In The Woods, is a quick story about a stranger (a snowman) that appears in a forest and how the animals react to him.  As the creatures venture out to see the new visitor, they unveil their personalities and the photographs capture these moments.  Within the story, native species such as black-capped chickadees, white-tail deer, barred owls, porcupine, or muskrat take turns gathering the gumption to go visit the snowman. The authors, Carl R. Sams and Jean Stoick, are also the photographers of the captivating pictures throughout the book.  The quality of the photographs of the animals is impressive!  The authors, as wildlife photographers, have been featured in national and international publications including Airone (considered Italy’s National Geographic), Audubon, BBC Wildlife, Birder’s World, Michigan Natural Resources, National Geographic, National Wildlife, Nature’s Best, Ranger Rick, and Terre Sauvage (of France).  More details can be found here (https://strangerinthewoods.com/meet-the-authors/). After I finished reading the story to the students, we talked about the topic of snow.  I continue to encourage students to go outside, not only for their own health, but also for the health of Wisconsin.  I believe the more that we appreciate the environment, the more we will want to treasure it and take care of it.  We also talked about “snow days” and the person charged with making that call—again, me.  I think my words of advice were something like, “Get outside!  Don’t let me hear you turned a snow day into a sit-on-your-bum-and-play-on-your-computer day!”   Ironically, last week we had a “snow day,” so I returned to the classes to see if they held up their end of the bargain.  Here are just a few of the great responses.  As Koda and Eli said, “they accepted my challenge.” Snow creates chores: • I shoveled. (Austyn, Olivia, Jamison, Dreydon) •I fed/chased my chickens. (Elizabeth, Boone, Hayden) •I cleaned downstairs. (Avery) •I did my math homework. (Jacen) Snow creates recreation: •I went rabbit hunting. (Luke) •I went sledding and played in the snow. (Madelyn, Cayson, Landon, Isaac, Hunter, Paul) •I made a snowman (Ryland, Kinley, Jeffery) and threw snowballs. (Jordan) •I was pulled behind the 4-wheeler in a sled. (Owen, Ajay, Trentin) •I went ice-skating. (Elijah) •I baked (Addison) and drank hot cocoa. (Sophia, Sierra, Koltan) •I made a snow angel. (Olivia, Riley) •I went skiing. (Grant) Snow is scientific: •Snowflakes are not white and gain color from the sun. (Carson, Bodhi) •Ice crystals have 6 branches (Lolavie) which create six sides. (Laurissa) •Ice crystals (Jase) can also include dust. (Gage) •No two snowflakes are the same. (Bentley, Aavi, Joseph, Brady, Mckenzie) It is refreshing to hear about the joy that winter creates.  As Chloe said, “It was ‘snow ‘ much fun!