Winter & ELLs: Tips and Activities

Winter can be filled with excitement as students from warmer climates experience their first snowfall. However, it can also present challenges and hardships for low-income families, families lacking proper winter clothing, and families unfamiliar with the ways that snow days, delays, or early releases work. These resources address both the fun and challenging aspects of winter for ELLs.

Books and Booklists

Snow, Snow, Snow!

Recommended Resources

NPR: For Lower-Income Students, Snow Days Can Be Hungry Days

When cold snaps and blizzards shutter schools, kids miss more than their daily lessons. Some miss out on the day's nutritious meal as well. This recently became apparent to school administrators in rural Iowa, where extreme cold delayed openings two days in a row at Laurens-Marathon Community School, where 59 percent of students who eat school lunch qualify for free or reduced-price meals. On the first day, some students arrived on empty stomachs because parents thought breakfast would still be served that day.