"Green House"

For science today, I told the kids we were going to a "Green House". There is a green house next door to the school, which is where the kids thought we were going! 

Across the street from that Green House is an actual gardening green house. 

The students had never been inside there and were excited to see the plants. I gave them all yard sticks and we were busy measuring things that we found. 

They picked & ate tomatoes, lettuce, and green beans and each dug up a carrot. They had fun. One of the twins said "Guys, we need to thank the teacher for bringing us here. If she wasn't our teacher, we wouldn't come here. You're the best, teacher" :) 

Journal entry for end of the day: "I ate a carrot today"

Measurement Math

We are reviewing concepts that they learned in Second Grade this week and I did a fun unit on measurements.

I found some shape manipulatives and poured them onto the ground and had the kids pick one shape and sort them. 

I made up a worksheet asking them to measure their feet, legs, thumb, hand, and head (that was some fun problemsolving!) We then compared measurements. A great observation "Your leg was 26 triangles, but mine was only 18 hexagons but my leg is bigger than yours because a hexagon is like 2 triangles) 

We then talked about why we have rulers and the difference between centimeters (Use it in Europe. 100 cm to a meter) and inches (Use in US. 12 inches to a Foot)

First Day of 3rd Grade

I'm not sure if its 3rd Grade, having 9 students in class, or the great community but this "First Day" just breezed by. Wow!

I have "Center Time" scheduled into my day after our reading block and our math block. I figure that I can use this time to do interventions while the others are occupied. However since it was the first day, the students were just encourage to explore what they wanted to and they took full advantage of the makerspace!

Some of the girls decided they wanted to make a kite and set out designing it using straws, crepe paper, and string... Another wanted to make set and used cups with paper crinkled inside or outside to make different sounds... 

We also did the Global Math Twitter Team Challenge (http://gmttc.blogspot.com/) The kids LOVED problem-solving. We had to use the numbers (2, 4, 2, 4) and make an equation that equaled 24. They figured it out. This was the first time using multiplications, so I modeled using dots and they got it! 

Setting up the classroom

Here are some updated pictures of my classroom. There was a white board on the wall facing the smartboard and I wanted it to be on the same side as my smartboard. I started to move it, only to realize it was just white contact paper and it got all curled. Luckily I was able to piece together what I would have done on that white board with some smaller white boards and posters. Turned out better this way, I love that they are like little windows.

I have a board for a weekly quote for inspiration. This week is "Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal" -Mother Teresa. There is this wonderful "Dare to Dream" curriculum (http://www.yourexpedition.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Curricula_Dare-to-Dream.pdf) that I am using for the first week. It was created by Liv Arneson, who I met during a conference in China. She part of the first woman team to trek across Anarctica. 

I also have a board for a "Word of the week" This week it is "Victory" (noun) success after difficulty. 

I have the calendar, schedule, and a place for me to do modeled writing/math. 

I have a picture of the scales of justice. I will be using "Restorative Justice" in my classroom. (http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2015/04/03/restorative-justice-a-different-approach-to-discipline) I also have one rule: "Tr'gwihit'ee" which means respect. It is all encompassing. The school has these wonderful Athabascan values posters, which underneath the respect sign. 

I also have a list of "I can statements" so the students can see what objectives we are working on. 

I also have the basketball. It is my "talking stick" for discussions. I can also bounce it twice to get the student's attention. It will be my signal during our direct instruction for the Reading Mastery Curriculum. 

I arranged the desks into 3 groups of 3 for small group instruction. I love how I have open space at the back and in the front for large group instruction. 

I also have this wonderful "Makerspace" Our first STEM challenge will be to construct a "log cabin" 

"Headlines"

One of the things that I've excited to incorporate into my classroom Morning Meeting is going to be "Headlines."

Even though we are living in a remote area, I think it's important for students to be aware of what is going on across the country and world. I think often times, children don't watch the news or read newspapers. I know I didn't for years because I didn't find it interesting. Being aware of the world around you and how events (that are happening thousands of miles away) still pertain to you is an extremely important life skill.

Right now, I was just reading about the North Dakota Access Pipeline:

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-sej-north-dakota-pipeline-20160827-story.html

This reminded me of something that I had read about "Since the late 1980s, the Gwich’in people, who live in 15 villages that stretch from Alaska into Canada, have been deeply involved in a fight to stop the push for oil development on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge" 

http://projects.aljazeera.com/2015/03/arctic-village/
http://juneauempire.com/stories/072208/sta_307860642.shtml#.V8Nvi5MrJsM

I also understand that I dont want to bring my own personal politics into the classroom, but I believe that students should be given the information to make their own opinions about something. Being able to have an opinion, share it with others, and respect different points of view is something that I'm excited to teach.

Gwich'in Ethnobotany

http://www.gwichin.ca/plants (This website is a WEALTH of information.)

We got to go on a "Field trip" today to learn about the local flora. 

We learned about picking the dark brown sap off of trees, utilizing the spruce branches, what leaves help with bumblebee stings, rose-hips, and even a pretty flower-like plant to use for ink for writing. 

We learned about "Tri'igwihitee" which means respect. 

Important message from our Gwich’in Elders teachings.

• Harvest all medicine plants away from roads and communities.
• Take only what you need. It is important to collect only the plant parts you need. Pick selectively from different areas and take care not to over harvest from one area.
• Leave an offering for gathering special medicine plants like tamarack, juniper and white moss (reindeer lichen). You may also leave offerings for other plants as a sign of respect. Place an offering like tobacco, wooden matches, or say prayers before and while collecting plant parts. Please note to always place an offering before collecting ochre.
• Share harvested resources such as medicine plants, meat, fish, berries with those not able to obtain these resources for themselves.
• Harvest resources with care, love and respect.

I love looking at the local architecture. You can see how connected the people are to the land. Their houses are made from the trees. The houses are heated from the wood of the trees. These are precious resource that requires respect to ensure that it will be there for future generations. 

Place-based learning

Besides looking forward to these Sub-Zero science experiments (http://www.bustle.com/articles/15358-11-cold-weather-science-experiments-to-keep-you-entertained-while-youre-trapped-inside),  Fun photography units with exposures, videos, with Northern lights... and attempting to break world records (http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/search?term=snow). I am looking forward to place-based learning activities before the snow comes.

For example: Nature walks to the river, community garden, looking for cranberries or rose-hips, fall colors/leaf gathering, bird/bunny walks, vehicle walks, prices at grocery store, airport, post office, court house, clinic? Construction? Solar panels? Recycling center?   Interesting Fact: The construction that is going on has to do with the Biomass project (http://www.energy.gov/indianenergy/articles/fort-yukon-gains-heat-and-insight-biomass-project) that was put in. This will be the first winter that the school will be heated this way! 

I was thinking too since we have so many boxes,  I will have a great MakerSpace (will show them Caine's Arcade: http://cainesarcade.com/) where kids are encouraged to make things with them... Castles, pyramids... maybe even have a packing challenge! 

NOT A BOX (https://www.amazon.com/Not-Box-Antoinette-Portis/dp/0061123226/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472061349&sr=8-1&keywords=not+a+box)

Small School, but not tiny

The Fort Yukon school is the biggest in the district at around 112 students. (A lot of HS kids will go to a boarding school like Mt Edgecumbe in Sitka) The other schools are about half the size, if not smaller. Last year, the board voted to keep the Beaver school open despite enrollment numbers (http://www.newsminer.com/news/education/beaver-s-only-school-in-danger-of-closing/article_c1544d18-98c3-11e5-9f76-77b1d5713833.html) 

Political Soapbox: School starts August 30th. Schools get funding based upon this "October count" attendance number. This is right around the time that the Fall Moose hunt starts. A lot of students will have "bad attendance" due to participation in this important annual tradition. 

Here is the school. There are 14 staff: K, 1, 2, 3, 4/5, 6, 7 plus Math/Science, Social Studies, and English. There is a Reading Specialist, two SPED, Curriculum Director, and Principal at this site. There are 6 schools in the District: Beaver, Ft Yukon, Venetie, Chalkyitsik, Circle, and Arctic Circle. There are 2 playgrounds. 

(One in front of the school)

(One behind the school)

Each classroom has a smartboard, all teachers get district issue laptops. My 3rd graders get an ipad cart & a laptop cart. We get satellite internet. I did my interview over skype, it will be interesting to see how our mystery skype works in the winter! 

The whole school does reading block from 9:00-10:30, this is to ensure that despite whatever grade students are in, they can be placed in the reading group which is exactly at their level. 

Staff are guaranteed a 30-minute duty-free lunch. There is no music teacher this year (A pastor used to volunteer), but the kids get Gwichin Language 3 times a week. We have our own recess/PE, art, and library once a week. Good thing I have experience teaching specials from teaching Preschool! 

Wednesdays are "Early Release" at 2:30 when staff collaborate & problem solve to help struggling students. 

Most places are in walking distance/bus. The District also has vehicles to help when you get a big food order!

Yesterday after in-service there was a group of kids waiting around looking for their teacher. I met a couple students yesterday who asked if I was going to stay (They could not fill the 2nd grade teacher position last year, so the kids had 3 substitutes)

The school apparently had a technology director show up in March & then got on a plane out of here the next day. They are honest that not all people want to work out here, but everyone is so friendly & helpful. They really want to make sure you are taken care of. Remember, be flexible. Be patient. 

It took 2 weeks for our cable to get hooked up. But once it did, we have 50 channels including PBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, Foodnetwork, Discovery, and HBO. (We also bought dvds of tv seasons off of amazon, but we probably wont even need those now!)

In-Service

Seriously, have you seen a more beautiful cafeteria? It looks like a beautiful European cafe. The school feeds us well: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner...and snacks. I thought the Cafereteria was so pretty because in the winter time, it would be so dark, but we were told today that we get Northern Lights ALL THE TIME, so its never truly dark. That sounds awesome. 

(We also have a cool Moose mural dedicated to sustainable hunting practices on the outside of the cafeteria: https://www.fws.gov/fieldnotes/regmap.cfm?arskey=23997)

Rep. Don Young stopped by, which was kind of amazing. Most politicians are based out of larger cities, but he has been based out of Fort Yukon for his entire political career. He came up here over 60 years ago to coach, but ended up teaching 5th Grade and loved it here. It is very inspiring. 

We had some locals stop by to tell us about growing up in the town. I liked the story the Elder told us about seeing a "refridgerator" for the first time when he was growing up or the fact that nowadays that they wear regular clothes instead of the furs. They brought some salmon. The salmon here is a LOT oilier than it is down south. The locals also do some amazing smoked fish. They had canned it with jalapenos and onions, so it was sweet and spicy. The local Magistrate also came by and told us some of the history including some of the cultural norms. It was very helpful to hear about some assumptions that we might have and that they might have about us. 

This week it was just the teachers who were new to the district, so there was a lot of paper work, mandated trainings, and introductions to different curriculums & resources. Next week, teachers from all over the District will be here. Sounds like there are 3 teachers and a Teacher/Principal in Venetie, there are 3-4 in Arctic Circle (They are hoping to hire a preschool teacher so they can have a preschool this year. There is a preschool here, which means if we stay my son can go next year) and some from other sites. 

Got to explore the school a little bit. There is a stocked library (http://www.friendsofsclm.org/used-book-sale/used-books-to-fort-yukon-school) but no Librarian. There is a big supply closet full of butcher paper and miscellaneous art/sport supplies. The classroom is nicely stocked too and the District says they can get anything that we might need. I have been reading through the different curriculum teacher books to start to get ready. I am excited each student gets an Individual Learning Plan, which I think is awesome and should be done at every school. My class list had 9 students, which includes 2 sets of twins! Getting excited! 

Bulk Shopping in the Bush

Since we are located close to Fairbanks, we can order from Fred Meyers. They will either mail it off to us through USPS or take it to the local airlines as "freight." (We also have access to Sam's Club which does great freezer things: individually packaged salmon, veggies/fruits, premade meals) We can also do Amazon deliveries. 

I am sharing what our grocery list was: 

Meat 

Ground meat (Beef, pork, turkey/chicken): Meatloaf, tacos, meatballs, burgers, shepherds pie

Beef (We splurge here & get ribeye. Eat with a side. Save bones for stock) 

Chicken (Whole chicken so you can use carcass for stock or thighs/drumsticks) 

Pork (Country style pork ribs are usually cheap. Can be cut into small pieces for stir fry)

Shrimp (Uncooked, whole shrimp are usually cheapest) 

Hot dogs (For lazy days or cut up for fried rice/macaroni) 

Fish (Eat with side, make fish cakes) 

Lunch Meats

Fruit/Veggies

Potatoes: (Baked, mashed, scalloped, fried, pancakes, croquettes, gnocchi, donuts, dumplings) 

Sweet potato/yams/squash/pumpkin (Roasted, pureed, soup) 

Onions

Garlic

Cabbage (“sauerkraut”, kimchi, Slaw, cooked, boiled, roasted, curried) 

Zucchini (Grated, circles, or zucchini pizza “boats”) 

Apples (Raw in salads or cooked) 

Jalapenos/Bell peppers (chopped up or stuffed) 

Kiwi

Orange

Lemon 

Banana 

Avocados

Eggplant 

Radish (Raw or cooked)
Fresh Spinach (Eat as salad, cook, or freeze) 

Cans of Stewed tomatoes/Tomato Paste (marinara, soup, spanish rice, salsa) 

Cans of beans (Chilli, burritos, soup) 

Frozen peas

Frozen broccoli 

Frozen carrots

(Frozen corn) 

Frozen blueberries

Frozen Dole mixed fruit: Peaches, Mangos, Strawberries, and Pineapple. 

Grain 

-Rice: Sushi (add rice vinegar & roll), Fried Rice (fry with meat, veg, & egg) , Spanish Rice (add tomato sauce) Pilaf (add broth) “Risotto” (add cream sauce) 

-Bread (Sandwiches, strata, croutons, stuffing)

-Flour Tortillas (burritos, wraps)

-Corn Tortillas (Tacos, enchiladas, corn chips) 

-Pasta (Spaghetti, Lasagna, shells, rotini, macaroni) 

-Crackers/Corn chips

-Flour/Bisquick (Pancakes, bread, biscuits, cookies, cake, pie, roux, spaetzle, dumplings/pierogies, pizza dough, pretzel, cinnamon roll)

Dairy 

-Cheese Log

-Parmesan/Feta 

-Goat cheese

-(Milk/Cream) Half & Half 

-Butter

-Eggs

Specialty: 

-Ginger

-Frozen wontons or wonton wrappers 

-Rice noodles/Udon noodles

-Miso Paste

-Yellow Curry Paste

-Dried shitake mushrooms. 

-Mayonnaise

-Mixed nuts/ Peanut Butter

-Mustard

-Sugar

Seeds (To grow): 

Chives

Parsley

Mint

(Dill) 

(Basil)

I base this upon what I feel like we will eat in the next month: 

Dinner: 

-Meat. Mashed potatoes. Veggie. 

-Meat. Rice. Veggies. 

-“Mexican”

-“Italian”

-“Asian” Curry. Rice. Veggies.

-Burger/Sandwich. Soup. 

-“Seasonal” (Create something out of what needs to be eaten: Fried rice, meatloaf, casserole, -enchiladas, wontons) 

Lunch: 

Sandwiches/Wraps

Soup

Leftovers

Breakfast:

Wraps

Toast/pancakes, sausage, and eggs

Oatmeal

Cereal 

Fun Tip: You can freeze avocados! I wa a little mad when the avocados all arrived super ripe, but found out you can freeze them! http://www.californiaavocado.com/blog/september-2015/how-to-freeze-california-avocados?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 

Fun Fact: Yesterday my husband took out some Frozen Fruit and let it melt and we ate it. It never occurred to me that frozen fruits could be thawed (I thought you just blended them for smoothie mix or boiled them for compote), but I never thought about eating them raw after they were. It was surprisingly good. Unfozen Mango is my favorite. Freezing seems to kind of "cook" the fruits when thawed, that might be something fun to experiment with... 

How much did our months worth of groceries cost? $500 plus $50 (0.60 a pound in freight) That's about $16/day. I imagine we'll have to hit up the local grocery store for a couple emergency items, but this should work pretty well :) 

Another helpful link: What to do with overripe fruit.
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-use-up-overripe-fruit-58183

The Basics of Living in the rural Alaskan "Bush"

Are we officially Alaskan Bush People now? lol 

I think the first thing you need to know if you want to work in rural Alaska, you have to be extremely flexible…

We ended up driving up to Fairbanks. It is 600 miles from the border in Haines to Fairbanks. We stopped in Beaver Creek for the night. The ride was intense. It was HOT and the sun would not go down. I also hated that there were no road signs for miles while driving through the Canadian wilderness. It made it really hard to gauge how far away you were. We stopped in Tok to eat at Fast Eddy’s Diner and we stopped in North Pole to see the Santa Claus House. Instead of driving to Circle to put the car on the barge, we opted to get a storage unit to put the car in and fly into Fort Yukon. We figure we will be back through in September (to drive down to Palmer to see the Alaska State Fair), October (For follow-up Medical appointments), December (We are trying to go somewhere warm… Anchorage has direct flights to Hawaii and Costa Rica/Puerto Rico are surprisingly “cheap” comparative to Mexico as a destination), and sometime in the Spring (Maybe in March to see the Ice Festival in Fairbanks) so it will be nice to have a vehicle. Some tips on storage: Use rubber-made tubs, they are a bit more expensive but they are made with rubber and oils so when the temperature reaches the negatives, they wont shatter like the cheap (usually clear) plastic totes. Also, when storing a car you have to take the battery out since the negative temperatures will kill the battery. (Another tip: Taxis will come jumpstart your car for $20) We stayed at the Golden North Hotel, which was walking distance to Fred Meyer. It was about $140 a night and was spacious but basic. Best Western is about $250. 

We also missed our flight because the first taxi didn’t wait 2 minutes for us while we were grabbing our luggage and the 2nd taxi never showed. The next morning, we almost missed the flight again when we went to the wrong airport. (We went to the Main one, but since we were flying Warbelows we were supposed to go to the other smaller one) If you fly, Ravn you take the regular airport. There is also Wright Air that service this area. You get 80lbs in luggage per person in the first flight and last flight of the day, otherwise it is only 40lbs. Freight is 0.60 cents a pound. 

Fort Yukon is small, but is not tiny. The school is next door to the AC Store, which is next door to the Post Office. 

Across the street is the Multi-Use Facility: Court Sytem/DHSS/DMV. There is also the Tribal Government Building, where the Cultural Center is (There is a fair at the end of the month). A Health Clinic. A City Government Building. There is also the Airport and a liquor Store. I think a fun project for my 3rd Graders will be for them to create a map of the town. It would be useful for new staff and tourists. 

We live in teacher housing (which is fully furnished) and a 20-minute walk to school (There is also a little community bus that runs M-F from 7am-6pm for $20 a month)  There are no paved roads (Everyone rides four-wheelers or snow machines in the Winter). There is construction for the new power facility. Oh, there is also a water plant too. We have nice drinkable running water and hot showers/on-site laundry. We put in requests for Cable & Internet (and were told it can be about 14 days) The TV does pick up PBS from the antennae, so I can watch fuzzy olympics in the meantime (Can’t believe that it has been 4 years since we were in Thailand… I remember watching fuzzy Olympics in teacher housing in Chiang Mai) Our AT&T cells do not work, but we got a GCI chip which has been working. We even can get really slow data on it! There was a treadmill in the unit, the District offered to take it out but we figure it would be nice to keep. 

I really love the windows at the housing. We live kind of at the edge of town, so there is just fields and trees. We have seen bunny rabbits in the backyard, there is a little ferret or weasel that lives under the storage container in the front yard, and we had 3 interesting looking birds “quack quacks” as my 2 year old calls them, by our front steps. Moose hunting has not opened yet, but my husband already has offers from locals to take him out when it does. 

We can call the Fred Meyer in Fairbanks and by pressing 0, you get connected to the “Bush Order” department. You give your shopping list to the lady who is personal shopper. She can either mail it to you if it is non-perishables or send it by plane (for meat and produce) I am told we can also order from Amazon to here. If you really want, you can get take-out sent on the plane. The local grocery store doesn’t seem as expensive as we kept hearing,  but we came from Southeast Alaska so things only seem $1 more than they would be there. Since things have to come by plane, the biggest mark-up is on things that weigh a lot ($14 for orange juice!)($6 for Milk, but thats what it was in SE) I think that is why powdered drink like tang/kool-aid are popular. Produce isn’t in the best shape, which is why canned or frozen fruits and veggies are popular. The trick to shopping there seems to just wait till something is on-sale. We got a Digiorna Pizza & Wings on sale for $8.99. A loaf of Tillamook cheese was $13.99 (I think I remember it being $5 for Pizza/$10 for cheese in Washington) The Store is an Alaska Commercial Store, so I wonder if i’ll be able to get double miles here like we did at the AC store in Sitka. 

There was a lady moving out next door when we were moving in and she gave us her pantry. We got introduced to “Shelf Stable’ Whipping Cream from Trader Joes. You can dilute it to use for milk and does not need to be refrigerated till opening. Its a good thing we like to cook! We will have to get creative here! She gave us two big bags of coleslaw mix. I will attempt to make a buerre blanc sauce with cabbage with it… maybe cabbage soup too… We have a nice full “Western” Kitchen, (When we were in Thailand, we survived without a kitchen with just a hotplate, microwave, and rice-cooker…) there is an Asian Market in Fairbanks so we will have to stock up on spices next time we are in town. We did manage to score a bulk bag of jasmine rice here ($50) Kind of amazed that it was Jasmine Thai rice and not that cheap rice. The lady at the store seemed to be surprised that they had it. One of the ladies who worked there had just come back from a trip to Thailand. 

The rest of Alaska is in the 60s, we are in the mid-70s. Temperatures are extreme here. Fort Yukon apparently has had the highest recorded temperature in Alaska. Its also summer, so its light out al the time. But as winter approaches it will be the opposite: negative temperatures and darkness (but we are supposed to get Auroras every day!)  I made my husband promise to make an igloo for me this winter. I have always wanted to make one. The people around here are Athabaskan not Inuit, so its not something that I think is traditionally done around here. Athabaskan are known for skin sewing and bead-work, I hope to pick up some beading while we are here. My husband wants to do some skin-sewing. 

Everyone in town is friendly and curious about us. The District goes out of its way to make sure we are comfortable. It should be a great year :)