Snowshoes help Cunniff students capture love of gym outdoors

With the help of a historic snowfall and snowshoes, Cunniff Elementary students had no trouble hanging out in a tree branch during a recent gym class.

EMMA G. and CHARLOTTE D.

Have you ever played Capture the Flag in snowshoes? Well, if you haven’t, you definitely should because the kids at the Cunniff School loved it!

During gym class, students from third to fifth grade got to go snowshoeing in the field behind the Cunniff School. They took advantage of all the snow and did a lot of fun activities.

The first day, students practiced putting on the snowshoes as well as taking them off. It was important to practice this so it wouldn’t take them too much time.

The students had to be careful because there are spikes on the bottom of the shoes and nobody would want to get spiked by those. In the olden days, people used to use snowshoes that looked like tennis rackets, and those did not have the spikes.

Mrs. Cameron, the gym teacher, used the snowshoes, too. The girls wanted Mrs. Cameron to play, but she refused!

One rule that Mrs. Cameron had was to bring snow pants, because it would be hard to participate if students weren’t dressed properly.

On the second day, the kids were starting to get the hang of putting on the snowshoes. They got to wander around and touch the roof of the school because there was a huge snow bank. The roof felt hard and rocky.

The students were clumsy, but then they got into a routine. They could even run! It was like skiing!

The students asked Mrs. Cameron if they could play a game, and she said to play Capture the Flag. On the last two days, they played Capture the Flag. Fourth-graders did girls vs. boys. It was a challenge running in snowshoes because they got stuck in the snow as well as other people’s footprints.

Overall, everyone enjoyed snowshoeing because it was fun to try something new.

–March 13, 2015–