"I love half days at school," Nina said.
She and Izzie were on their way to Kids Central.
"Me too!" Izzie said.
"We get to be with Miss Shelly all afternoon!"
The girls joined the others in the gym.
"Did everyone bring warm clothes?" Miss Shelly asked.
"I did!" Bobby pulled on a wool hat with ear flaps.
Jason lifted his leg to show his snow boots.
Ethan looked out the window and shivered.
The sun was shining, but there was snow on the ground.
"Are we really going outside today?"
"Yep," Miss Shelly said.
"I want to show you something."
Ethan didn't look too happy.
"The sun's warm," Jason said.
"And there's snow," Bobby added.
"We can build a fort!"
When they got outside, everyone gathered around a picnic table.
There was a funny-looking box sitting on the table.
"What's that?" Izzie asked.
"It's a solar oven," Miss Shelly said.
"It cooks with the heat of the sun.
I use it when I go camping."
Jason wrinkled his nose.
"How does it work?" he asked.
"There's no gas or electricity."
"We cooked with solar ovens on the beach in California!" Ethan said.
"Sunlight is the fuel.
The shiny metal reflects the sun and creates heat."
"That's right, Ethan," Miss Shelly said.
"But I didn't know they worked in cold weather," Ethan said.
"You can cook with the sun any time of year," Miss Shelly said.
"Today we're going to make sweet potato fries."
"Mmm," Nina said. "What do we do?"
Miss Shelly had a bag of supplies with her.
She pulled out sweet potatoes, olive oil and salt.
She also had a knife and a cutting board.
"First, we slice these sweet potatoes into strips like french fries.
Then we coat them with oil and sprinkle on salt."
"Sounds easy," Jason said. "Good!"
When the potatoes were ready, Miss Shelly slid the pan inside the solar oven.
"Are you cold, Ethan?
We can go back inside while the fries cook."
Ethan shook his head.
"Nope. Jason was right.
The sun feels warm." He looked at Bobby.
"What were you saying about building a fort?"
Soon the kids were busy piling snow in a big mound.
They dug out the center so they could all fit.
Forty minutes later Miss Shelly went over to the oven.
"Who wants some sweet potato fries?"
"Me!" The kids came piling out of the snow fort. "I do!"
Miss Shelly held out the pan.
The fries looked brown and crispy.
"Let's go inside to eat," Miss Shelly said.
"Can we come back out later?" Ethan asked.
"Absolutely!" Miss Shelly agreed.
"Today we've got all afternoon to play."
On the way back inside, Bobby turned to Ethan.
"Did you know you can surf on snow?"
"Huh?" Ethan was confused.
"It's called snowboarding.
My dad is taking me this weekend.
Maybe you can come with us."
"That would be awesome!" Ethan grinned.
"The cold isn't so bad when you're having fun!"