Week 14 Storytelling: The Worst Snow Day Ever

It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving and Stanley was watching TV by the fire with his family. Stuffed from the 3 day holiday feast, Stanley was dreading going back to school the next day. However, it had started snowing earlier in the day and Stanley’s hopes of a snow day slowly began to turn into an affirmation.

As the snow continued to blanket the streets of his neighborhood, Stanley thought to himself “School tomorrow? Psshh, no way.”

So confident in his recent mastery of meteorology, he decided to text his best friend Tommy to share the exciting news:



Stanley: Broo!! No skool 2morrow!!!

Tommy: LOL whatever Stan..

Stanley: Smh srsly! Skool is cancelled!

Tommy: Saaweeet! Xbox here I come..

Stanley: ROFL same here!!



Now, Tommy was known for being a loud mouth, so once he heard the news it began to spread like wildfire. Tommy told Christopher, Christopher told Jen, Jen group texted the whole basketball team, and within half an hour the entire 5th grade was convinced that they would be out of school the next day for a snow day.

Now, Tommy’s mom was a member of the Parent-Teacher Association at their school so upon hearing this news she became a little curious. She asked Tommy where he had heard this news and he astutely responded with, “Just trust me mom! It’s a real life snow day!”

Needless to say, Tommy’s mom was not convinced by her son’s declaration so she began to investigate. Turning on the tv, she switched it over to the news station so she could see the lists of school closings. Watching the list run through, not just once but three times, Tommy’s mom realized that her son’s school was in fact not cancelled the next day.

Upon making this realization, she knew she had to alert the school principal and tell her the situation, because if Tommy knew about the “snow day” everyone knew about it.

After calling the principal, all the families of the students received an e-mail confirming that there was indeed school the next day.

The children, grudgingly making their way to their first class were suddenly called into the cafeteria for an impromptu assembly.

At the assembly, the principal explained the situation and made sure the students realized that the only way to trust if school is cancelled or not is to monitor the school closing list on the local news station.

While the students were upset (and Stanley was embarrassed), they all learned a valuable lesson: Don’t adhere to the whimsical self-proclamations of others. 

Snow Day!: Wiki Commons 

Author’s Note. This story is based off of the “The Hare That Ran Away” from Marie Shedlock’s Eastern Stories and Legends. The original story is about a hare who is eating under a fruit tree, contemplating the end of the world. Suddenly a fruit falls and the hare is concinvced that this is the end of the world. He relays the message to several hares and before you know it every animal in the forest is fleeing in a stampede, convinced the world is coming to an end. Eventually a lion gets to the bottom of the situation and reassures everyone that it was just the work of a frightened little hare. I chose to adapt this to a more modern theme with the snow day. I remember how easy it was as a child to get convinced that school was cancelled even though there was no official word of it from the school. I thought this was a story that most people could relate to, and I thought it made a good parallel to the original story. I also like the message that the story delivers. It is important to not base your assumptions off of the loose interpretations of others, who may not have any idea what they are talking about.

Bibliography. 

Title: Eastern Stories and Legends
Author: Marie Shedlock
Year: 1920 (originally published in 1910)

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