We use Canvas as a district resource. It varies from teacher to teacher as to its use in the classroom on a regular basis. My teaching partner and I use it for our 5th graders. In social studies and ELA, most of my resources are either pdfs or created as a Google doc or slides, which are super easy to attach and have students access. On snow days, we are expected to reach out and have activities ready if our administration chooses for it to be a learning day. Most of us provide choice menus, reading assignments, and practice apps for learning on those days.

We prepare for NTI days based on our Kentucky Department of Education regulations. We do not use a LMS or single form of technology because we have many without access to technology and or internet at home. We provide a NTI packet with a choice board and daily math and reading activities. These are all review activities and not new instruction. The choice board does include digital options we use at school as a choice. My grade level does a team and parent TEAMS meeting for any family that can join . We review what is due and do morning meeting type activities like number talks, a literacy activity, calendar and some form of art or fun activity. This is not part of a grade, but helpful especially when home more than one or two days.

Our state recently passed a large piece of legislation that required 178 face to face student days. We are no longer able to use AMI or virtual learning during inclement weather. We too are on day 3 of inclement weather.

Previously, we’ve used a variety of platforms and tools. We started with screencastify and then moved into live instruction through Google.
We required students to be in the live instruction for each core subject and then they would complete various assigned activities on their own. Our district is one to one for technology which allowed our students to have access to a computer, but what we found is during bad weather, the reliability of power became an issue with students being able to log on to our live instruction. So in the event that a student lost power, we record all of our live instruction and have a 48 hour turn in policy. Since the pandemic, I’ve found that a lot of our curriculum providers have written online or virtual lessons which makes it easier for teachers to make the shift to online when necessary. (For reference, we use Origo in math which has a separate online component.)

Today we have our first 'cold weather' day across a majority of the state - as today, in Upper Michigan we have temps as low as -35. Michigan schools must have at least 180 days and can call off school up to six days for things outside of their control like bad weather or health conditions. They can request a waiver from the Michigan Department of Education for up to three more days.

If they go over nine days, they may have to extend the school year or add additional hours to the existing school day.

Many districts have policies where they will cancel school if the windchill is 25 or 30 degrees below zero because superintendents do not want students to get frostbite while waiting for the bus

We use Teams and Schoology at our school. So Teams is used for the meetings but Schoology for the upload of materials. I too have used choice boards for independent work! I also love to use task cards as independent practice once I’ve taught the skill to them in a meeting. I would also suggest a morning meeting (I’m Elementary, but I think other school levels can use that maybe titling it differently) to regroup and remind kids of the rules online but also ask a fun question or play a game with them. I have also used Padlet for responses to reading or math. I love Nearpod for lessons and Quizlet for practice and review.

We have Canvas as an option, but in K-1, we prefer to send home a paper packet. We tie it all back to snow as much as we can and include time to play in the snow (when seasonally appropriate). They write about what they did in the snow, sight words they wrote in the snow, animals observed in the snow (tracks too), how much time they spent in the snow.
Sometimes they are not able to go out physically in the snow, so we ask the children to make observations about these things from a window or porch. We want them to have some magic of a snow day, but know they still have to do some learning!

I concur with Kristen! For 1st and 2nd grade I would often send students a bingo card they could complete with or without an adult. Some were practical, like learning to bake something new, or fun, such as building a snowman. I found this was reassuring to parents that students would not be in front of a screen all day. Of course if your district requires time online, morning meetings and social emotional lessons are a great way to connect “face-to-face”.

I also try to bring home the chapter book I am reading aloud to my 5th graders if we have a pretty good idea we will be out the next school day. Let’s make time to read great books snuggled up in jammies and blankets!!!

We have had 2 remote learning days so far. For my second graders, we use Seesaw which is a online platform where I can upload worksheets, videos, or create my own activities for my students to complete. This is a great tool because the students can draw, write or record their responses. I can check their work and give them feedback. The parents can also see what their child is doing also.