Happy Alaska Day!

Teaching local history & geography is so important. I have been surprised that most schools in Alaska do not close to observe Alaska Day and that most students did not know the history behind it. We used to live in Sitka and it is a big deal there (since thats where it was officially handed over). Seems like an important piece of history! 

The students have gotten pretty savvy with US geography through mystery skype (They use the mississippi river, pacific/atlantic orientation, great lakes, time zones to figure out where other classes are) , so for Alaska Day I arranged a mystery session with two classes in Alaska:  Nikolaevsk & Haines. 

Alaska is made of 5 regions: Far North, Interior, Southcentral, Southwest, and SouthEast. There are 6 major rivers: Yukon, Copper, Colville, Koyukuk, Kuskokwim, and Tananna Rivers. Also numerous State Parks, Wildlife refuges, mountains. I had fun discussing the difference between islands (such as Kodiak or the Aleutian Islands) and peninsulas (such as Seward, Kenai) 

It was harder trying to figure out what city rather than what state they were in, but it was fun! Added a different layer of difficulty.

On a side note: I have been learning beading through culture class. The Gwichin are well-known for their beautiful beadwork. 

 Here is my attempt #2. Starting to look like something. I really like beading because you start with the small individual beads and it grows into something more. 

I started a Donors Choose Project:"My students need a Wonder Workshop Dash and Dot Robot Wonder Pack, to build 21st century skills from traditional skills. My students live in a rural area. If they want to remain here, they will need be innovators. They currently love to code. Getting a Dash and Dot robot is the next step to be able to turn those coding skills into something more meaningful.

Athabascans are known for their beadwork; in a lot of ways, coding is also like beading.

It relies on patterns and problem-solving in on a small scale to create a larger picture. The students have a natural aptitude for it and I'd love to continue to engage them.

The first day of school, I had the students write goals for the year. A lot of them wanted to invent something. One student in particular wanted to invent a robot arm to test if chicken eggs were good to eat. I started coding with all the students and we would like a way to extend these written codes into some action!"

https://www.donorschoose.org/project/innovating-in-the-artic/2230952/?rf=link-siteshare-2016-10-teacher-teacher_3909731&challengeid=20846457