An 800-mile, $78 journey from Kentucky to Florida brought a smiling snowman to a classroom full of kids, many of whom had never laid an eye, much less a finger, on snow.
If one has family from Florida, it’s normal to find they’ve never seen snow. This was the case for kindergarten teacher Robin Hughes, who realized almost all the kids in her Florida classroom had never laid eyes on frozen precipitation after flipping through a book about snow with them.
It was this realization, following a trip home for Thanksgiving, that drove her to ask a curious request of her sister, Amber Estes, who lived in Louisa, Kentucky. She asked if Estes could mail her some of it on the off-chance it snowed that year.
Fast forward to January 8th, and knowing Estes was due for about 10 inches of snow, Hughes requested that she build a snowman for her classroom. Thus was born “Lucky” a snowman with blueberries, carrots, and twigs for eyes, a nose, and arms respectively. Sealed in a temperature controlled package with ice, Lucky flew priority USPS to Riverview in Florida.
“’He’s here!” He’s here!’ the school’s receptionist shouted through the halls when the package was finally delivered,” wrote the Washington Post.
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Despite a blueberry shifting in transit, Lucky arrived intact and unmelted in time to be revealed to the kids, who received him with utter wonderment.
“I was so excited because he made it and just the pure joy [the kids] had seeing this snowman,” Hughes told The Post. “They wanted to touch him. ‘Is he coming to life?’ [they asked].”
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Hughes immediately called Estes, who had formed an emotional bond with the snowman. She received the news that he had arrived safely with tears.
Kept cold and snug in the school cafeteria, Lucky is repeatedly brought out for different classes to demonstrate the majesty of snow, but when he becomes a little too shiny is closed again in the freezer.
“[I]n a time when things are not normal for kids in the classroom and for adults… this little snowman has created happiness,” Hughes told The Post.
The plan for Lucky is to be melted on Earth Day upon a newly-planted garden on the Kindergarten’s property.
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Such a cool story. Robyn Hughes and her sister Amber really do understand the concept of experiential learning.
Teaching in Calgary Alberta Canada I sometimes had a student who hadn’t experienced snow. New Canadians from warm places would demonstrate their joy and wonder as we played outdoors with the first snowfall.
Always, native born kids were thrilled to show the countless ways snow could be used as a plaything.
Our classroom had a sign on the wall near the door; ‘Free snowman; some assembly required.’
Thank you GNN.