Izzie could not believe her eyes.
On the floor of the gym were hula hoops.
Big hula hoops.
Small hula hoops.
Colorful hula hoops.
"Miss Shelly! How did you know?" Izzie burst out.
"Hi, Izzie. How did I know what?"
Miss Shelly looked puzzled.
"I love hula hoops!" Izzie said.
"I got one for my birthday last week."
"I didn't know. That's great.
Today you'll learn some hula hoop games," Miss Shelly said.
"Games?" Izzie frowned.
"I like to just twirl it around my hips."
"Put on your coats and grab a hoop," Miss Shelly said.
Izzie grabbed a hoop with green and pink stripes.
"The sky is so gray," Nina said, rubbing her hands.
"Put down your hoops," Miss Shelly said.
"Join hands and make a circle."
Izzie sighed. When would they get to hula hoop?
"For the first activity, we have to work as a team," Miss Shelly said.
"Can I join here?"
She stepped into the circle between Izzie and Jason.
She joined hands with Jason.
Before she took Izzie's hand, she put her arm through a hula hoop.
"We're going to pass the hula hoop around the circle.
But we can't let go of each other's hands," Miss Shelly said.
"What? How will we pass it?" Izzie asked.
Miss Shelly smiled.
"You'll figure it out."
Miss Shelly lowered her shoulder.
The hula hoop slipped down to Izzie's left arm.
Izzie put her head through it.
Then she wriggled the rest of her body through.
She stepped out of it and it was on her right arm!
"I did it!" she squealed.
"Nina, your turn!"
Nina did what Izzie did.
Soon the hoop was around Bobby's arm.
Bobby moved it to Ethan.
Ethan moved it to Jason, and Jason moved it to Miss Shelly.
It made a full circle!
"We did it!" Jason cried.
Everyone cheered.
"What did you have to do to stay together?" Miss Shelly asked.
Bobby spoke up.
"I had to watch whenever Nina moved.
If she bent down, I had to bend down too."
Izzie nodded. "The hardest part was not letting go of each other's hands.
Now when do we get to hula hoop?" she asked.
"Very soon," Miss Shelly said.
"Roll your hula hoop on the blacktop.
Wherever it lands, start hula hooping!"
Izzie took off her jacket and shivered.
She picked up her hoop and rolled it across the blacktop.
Then she ran after it.
When it stopped, she spun it around her waist.
The hula hoop flew around and around.
It was so much fun!
She was in hula hooping heaven!
She looked at Nina.
She was hula hooping too.
The boys kept dropping theirs though.
Izzie felt like she could hula hoop forever.
She looked up at the sky.
It was getting dark.
Suddenly something wet landed on her face.
"Snowflakes!" Nina cried.
It was starting to snow!
"I've never seen real snow!" Ethan said.
"Hooray!" Izzie cried.
Snow was her favorite thing about winter.
"Hooray for hula hoops!
Hooray for hula hooping in the snow!"
[caption_out@