-From Forest Hills Elementary
Here’s a list of how we think a good introductory snow shoeing unit should run after our 1st year.
Lesson 1 – Outdoor Dress & Snowshoe Basics – Come up with an indoor game to play as you discuss the proper components of outdoor in the winter and how to take off and put on shoes. Note: Watch your gym floor surfaces, poured, wood, and rolled rubber gyms floors will get scuffed or damaged. Conduct these activities in a carpeted area of your school. Don’t let the students run on the carpet with shoes on. Maybe hold this lesson 2 weeks prior to your 1st planned day outside. Usually it takes at least that long to collect permission slips, etc… if you district would require you to get permission for an activity of this nature.
Lesson 2 – Grass Trekking – This lesson could take the place of lesson 1, but we did find that students that went out in grass conditions in early December and did simply relays, tag games, and just experienced moving on the grass and putting on /taking off the shoes showed more interested and were better equipped when the snow came. Winter gloves and mittens take away a lot of the dexterity in their fingers and in my opinion they just give up easier when these things are on. Train them to put on and take off their snowshoes in conditions that don’t require gloves so when they need to do it in a situation where they have gloves on they are already familiar with the process and know it can be done without assistance. As we mentioned before this is a great chance to re-introduce some of their old time favorite tag games or relays with a snow shoe twist.
Lesson 3 – Winter Hike – Winter Scavenger Hunt – A simple walk, hunt for animal tracks in the winter snow, a tree identification search by type and texture of bark, etc… are all great ways to keep students moving while ironing out the little problems and bumps that occur the first time you take a large group of students out in the snow.
Lesson 4 – Snow Shoe Race – Straight up 1 mile race, integrate with orienteering or GPS/ geocaching challenge, or be creative. We tried a human dog sled race in honor of the Iditarod. It didn’t work as expected with all our groups, but all of our kids had a great time.
Lesson 5 – Sledding Day – For one of our lesson we strapped on our shoes and hiked to one of the steeper hills in the rear or our school for a traditional day of sled riding.
Lesson 6 –Snow Games – Put on your snowshoes and have some fun contests like snowman building, snow fort, who can roll the biggest snow boulder, etc… you’d be surprised we live in a pretty rural area and a lot of our upper elementary students never tried or experienced some of these things. If you live in a suburban or urban district this number might be even higher.
Other ideas….
Contact your closest state park and take a field trip for a snow shoe hike. If you contact the parks/conservation department they might even be able to arrange for an educational presentation by one of the rangers.