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Clinton Elementary students get a taste of skating

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Clinton Elementary students get a taste of skating

Every winter, weather permitting, gym teacher Allison Peters plans two weeks of skating lessons for first- through fourth-grade students.

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CLINTON — Sage Fjalstad climbed onto a 14-inch snow bank and gathered her nerve.

Then she leaped, took three wobbly steps and dove as if she were sliding into first.

“Awesome!” Sage shouted as she scrambled to her feet.

Now that’s ice-skating.

Sage, 6, and her first-grade classmates were happily sliding and tumbling Tuesday afternoon on a small ice rink in the front yard of Clinton Elementary School.

Some kids held onto chairs or friends and tiptoed around the ice. Others were confident and—almost—graceful.

Every winter, weather permitting, gym teacher Allison Peters plans two weeks of skating lessons for first- through fourth-grade students.

It’s a tradition that started before she came to Clinton Elementary in 1992, she said. But it takes some work to keep it up.

As if it’s not hard enough to get 20 first-graders into snow pants and coats, Peters and parent volunteers help the kids tie on donated skates.

From the school’s foyer, the little skaters wobble across the empty driveway on a strip of carpet and onto the 100-by-50-foot rink. School maintenance workers make the ice on a silo liner.

“It’s backbreaking work,” Peters said. “Last Thursday when it snowed, all we did was shovel. But the kids skated through the snow. It was a beautiful day.”

The lessons will last as long as the ice does, Peters said.

“It’s not like we have a Zamboni,” she said.

Marcy Rainey, 32, was one of the parents helping get kids in and out of their skates. She laughed and encouraged students as they practiced.

“Look at them,” Rainey said. “They never stop moving. What terrific exercise.”

Her daughter, Gracey, 6, was one of the skaters.

“She’s the one in black and white … yes, the one that’s eating snow off her mitten,” Rainey said laughing.

Outdoor ice-skating is a long tradition in Clinton, Rainey said. She remembers skating outside during recess when she was in fourth grade.

First-grader Brynn Simpson couldn’t wait to get home to report on her progress. She was one of the kids who looked confident on the ice and spent a lot of time lending an arm to classmates.

“Wait till I tell my mom and dad,” Brynn said. “I’ve been telling them it was hard, but now it’s so easy.”