After being inspired by the sculptures we saw on our Winter Carnival field trip in town, students were ready to try out snow sculpting themselves. On Monday, the Ponderosa Pines were visited by veteran McCall snow sculptor and former teacher, Ellen McKinney. Ellen taught us how to make slush out of snow and water and how to work with it when sculpting. To prepare for Ellen’s visit, we read the book What Do You Do with an Idea?, which tells us an idea cannot be ignored and that an idea can change the world. Ellen confirmed that every snow sculpture starts as an idea and each student or pair of students worked with diligence to make their idea take shape! There was a dragon, a dragonfly, a Ponderosa Pine tree, a unicorn, and more.

Teachers passed on what they learned with Ellen to the other classes. On Tuesday morning, the Douglas Firs made a snow city using buckets, tubs, and even wheelbarrows as molds! The Firs enjoyed making buildings of different sizes and some made a neighborhood of houses for themselves and their classmates.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Tamaracks got to try their hands at sculpting with slush. Students were proud of their creations: two pumpkins, an elephant, an octopus, a dog, a classic snowman, and others.

All students were excited to receive carnival bead necklaces after their sculpting sessions.

We feel so fortunate to have talented members of our community who enjoy coming to share their crafts with us and we are happy we got to bring this special part of McCall to life in our forest classroom!