Donors choose project code

Hey everyone... So I posted the other day about my project for ipods in my classroom... The project is now officially posted to the website. Between now and October 7th enter INSPIRE in the code box and the donors choose board of directors will match your donation.

Thank you so much for your support in my education as a teacher as well as helping to provide my students with the best opportunities available! :)

The link to go directly to my project is...

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/recovering-lost-minutes-in-the-classroom/878391/

Silly video... Crazy antics!

Here is a video of some of the crazy things I did last year... Clearly this is not all of it, but its a fun, small sampling of what I do to entertain myself in Alakanuk. :) Enjoy!!

All district inservice

This was a short week at school. And that was a good thing. I was soooo tired going into the week, and I came down with another cold... 2 colds in the first 6 weeks of work isn't terrible right?! :)

So Wednesday we took off after school (3 attempts to get in the van and meet the plane) for Hooper Bay inservice. We made it in pretty fabulous weather. I was able to sit co-pilot and enjoy some sunshine on my face, some laughter with the pilot and some serious appreciation of the fabulous opportunities I have been provided as well as the beauty of my home.

Woooooo co-pilot!!!

It was cool to see all the era planes headed to and from Hooper Bay.

I was busy checking things out. Man I love flying!

Bush Alaska is a close second to Oregon as God's Country.

Sarah has gotten MUCH better with her flying... But we did have some bumps that scared her pretty good... And when we banked to come in for a landing in the wind she was convinced we were upside down, but we were not... Our wings MAY have been perpendicular to the ground...

Its been a great weekend of laughter and inservice. Hours of volleyball and a few new friends. Thanks to Hooper Bay for being fabulous hosts!! Thanks to Sam and Brandon and all my peer teachers for the fun. Time to head home and get some work done so I can accomplish my goal of being an awesome teacher.

P.S. Thanks to Jana Mae for the beautiful pictures.

Donorschoose.org Project!

Hey folks,

So I have been in district inservice for the past two days and I've seen all sorts of stuff. I am super excited about a few things and I'm way inspired to be a rockin awesome teacher this year. So, I've got a new project open on donorschoose.org. It is called "Recovering Lost Minutes in the Classroom". It hasn't actually posted yet on the website, but I will let you know when it does. The whole project is almost $1200 which is HUGE, but between October 8 and 15 donors choose is having a "Friends and Family Campaign" where I will give you a match code to enter and whatever amount you are able to donate it will be matched by the donors choose board of directors. This is really awesome because it means that my fabulous supporters would really only have to donate a total of less than $600 because the other half would be matched by donors choose.

I know many of you supported my last project, "Whispering Our Way to Better Reading" last fall and I am so very appreciative of that!! My class last year loved using the whisper phones during silent reading time. I haven't trained my students yet this year on how to use the appropriately, but plan to get to that soon. :)

So I'll let you know when my project is posted. But in the meantime, since you're already here I'll give you a run down of what I'm doing... I sat in a training about super cool technology with my super cool techy friend Sam. I am now super inspired to get some cool technology into my classroom. My current project is to get a iPod touch for each student in my classroom and then syncing them to all have strictly educational apps at my students levels. This will enable my kids the ability to practice important skills like pattern recognition, addition and subtraction, alphabet and phonemic awareness skills, etc. I plan to use these iPods during times when a few students have finished early or perhaps if the whole class finishes with 3 or 4 minutes to spare rather than doing a short song and dance or maybe cleaning the classroom my students would be able to pick up their iPod off the corner of their desk and play their game of choice to practice those math and literacy skills.

My project is only for 5 iPods and I have 15 kids, but I plan to purchase a few on my own between here and Christmas break so that I can hopefully get enough that kids only have to pair up rather than be in a trio. We'll see how it goes.

Again I appreciate your support in my education and in my classroom. I love you all and am so so so grateful to you!!

Catchin up in Sept.

Its been a busy month in Alakanuk. School is off and rolling. The kids are starting to  remember the routines and expectations I've taught them. I'm getting more and more organized which also helps I think. Fewer distractions to mess up our days. I really love that I have another teacher in my classroom for 45 minutes in the morning for reading rotations. Its helping me to be more cognizant of what my kids need and what they are capable of. It also keeps me on track, no more lazy mornings for us! :) 

I've been able to go out moose hunting with my friend Bummer about 4 or 5 times now. I LOVE IT!!! I have seen quite a few moose, but haven't yet taken a shot at one. Most of the cows we've seen have had calves with them, so you can't shoot them. I haven't actually seen any bulls on any of my moose trips, but others have told me that they've seen bulls. Clark went out all day yesterday and got home last night with a bull. He said that they saw over 30 moose, only 2 of which were bulls. I am hoping to make it out Monday after work and hopefully get something. I think Bummer is headed into Anchorage soon so I gotta get as much moose hunting in as I can. Speaking of, I probably should be going out today but....

Jana has made friends with some of the Era pilots stationed in St. Mary's (KSM). She has gone on a few different weekends to hang out with them, talk pilot shop talk rather than teacher shop talk, etc. A few weeks ago she mentioned the possibility of a roasted pig dinner and said she wanted me to come along. I was stoked, I love meeting new people and clearly I love to eat. :) Ha! So, we've been talking about it and she said at the beginning of this week that it'd be this weekend and they'd come pick us up then bring us back on Sunday after the BBQ. I knew it'd be a busy week to get through but I was looking forward to the weekend. Well, between volleyball practice starting, the district technology guys coming for a few days and my daily lesson planning I wasn't ready to go to KSM last night when they came to pick up Jana Mae. I told her that I'd try a different weekend that I just needed to rest up and get organized for next week. I was disappointed, but was taking the responsible route for myself. 

However, I soon realized that it was going to be a long boring weekend of being lazy in AUK. So last night I text Jana again and said, well if it's still an option maybe I would like to come... Plans were in the works and I got a text this morning from saying they'd be here around 10:45 or 11 for me. I showered, threw a few things in my bag and headed out for the airport. Now, the old airport was a short 5 minute or less walk from my house. If the plane called and said they'd be there in 10 minutes you still had five minutes to grab your bag and make it in time. On Monday, September 17 they opened our new airport. Its probably close to 3 or 4 mile walk from my house. So I called a friend who owns a Honda to see if I could use his taxi service. He didn't answer and I thought, "oh heck I might as well start walking. Maybe if I'm lucky someone will pick me up." 38 minutes later I arrived at the new airport. I mean, thank you pack test for training me in setting pace and keeping it. Ha! When I got to the airport I found two cute little dogs chilling out.

Cute puppies that were hanging out at the airport.

 So here I sit at the airport waiting for the plane to make it here. He called as I was sitting down and said he was leaving Kotlik, had to stop in Emo then he would be here. Should be in the next few minutes. I am super excited to meet and BS with some pilots. I've been wanting to get a pilots license since Papa had his little Maule tail dragger and even more so now that I am able to fly all the time in 207s and caravans. Maybe these guys will have some words of advice for me. 

Reppin the EOU gear at the NEW AIRPORT!!!!

Other big events from the past week or two...  I started the Insanity workout a week ago today. I am happy to say that I haven't skipped a day of that either. Those of you who I have recruited at different times to work out with me know that I usually am good for 3 or 4 days then I get lazy. Well, not this time my friends! I am gonna get through all 8 weeks and when I do now only will I be stronger, fitter and in better shape, I will also know that I can stick with something for longer than a week. (I thought about inserting my before pictures, but NOBODY wants to see me in a bathing suit right now... So when I'm done in 7 weeks I'll post the after picture.)

Volleyball practice has been fun. Its a good start to the year. We've had between 6 and 12 kids a night at practice. Some of the kids are picking up on the skills really quickly which is encouraging as a coach. (I'm actually just the assistant coach, but it still is good to see!)

Oh, I hear the plane coming in.  I better shut down and get ready for a weekend of laughing, BSing, and taking a small break from life. 

Cheers!

Second year... Serious challenges

We've been in school for 11 days. Eleven days doesn't seem very long, but when you are a teacher struggling to manage 5 kids who have little idea what school is like eleven days seem much much longer!

This year has been one to truly test my patience, my management and my love for teaching and kids in general. I have ten boys and five girls. The girls aren't angels, but definitely easy enough to manage. Five of my boys are testing my patience every day. Three of those five missed nearly half of kindergarten last year so they have little experience of what is acceptable behavior at school.

So after a long weekend of cleaning fish, moose hunting and basically not enough sleeping, I started the longest week of my life. I have no problems in the morning with behavior. I am convinced that the kids are served straight sugar water because the behavior in the afternoons is so much worse in the afternoons. Thursday was THE WORST DAY OF MY TEACHING CAREER!!! Holy moly. Kids were not listening, parents were being sassy, I was exhausted, and when I asked for some help I was told that "Things will get better." My poor sister Ashley had to listen to me complain and cry about it.

I've been doing lots of thinking about how I can make it easier this weekend... And rather than spending time in my classroom actually finishing my plans for the week I made a deal with another friend.