October New Teacher Inservice

     A couple weekends ago we had our second New Teacher Inservice in Bethel. Ashley and I actually got in to town on time, which was awesome because we got to visit more and had plenty of time to do some shopping. We all had a pretty good time at this one. We had dinner at the Swanson's grocery store and then we went to see a movie at the new theatre, also in the Swanson's grocery store. The store is brand new and the movie theatre is pretty nice! A bunch of us teachers went to see the Maze Runner. Our tickets cost $13, which wasn't that bad and the movie was really good. Another dystopian universe type movie, I would recommend seeing it if you like those kind of movies.

All the lakes and ponds are freezing over. 

The theatre entrance inside the grocery store. They have two theaters.

Maze Runner

I will have to say, the seats were pretty awesome!

You could rock in them or lay back a little if you wanted.

     For this inservice we talked all about CHAMPS, which is a classroom management system. The speaker basically told us all about the basics of CHAMPS and how we can start to implement and use it in our classrooms. CHAMPS is an acronym for : 

     C- Conversation

     H- Help

     A- Activities

     M- Movement

     P- Participation

     S- Success

It is a really cool management system where you go through basically anything you do; going to lunch, taking a test, doing classwork, small groups, individual work, etc. and you specify what students should be doing during those activities. What their conversation should be like, what to do if they need help, what the activity is, what kind of movement should be involved, who and how they should be participating, and how that all leads to success.

This is my buddy Kourtney. She teaches Middle School in Kwethluk.

I bought a pair of beaded earrings from the airport (someone was selling them there) and my friend Heather decided to photo bomb my picture.

The Eek and Quinhagak gangs waiting for take off!

See you in about three weeks Bethel!

     Finally got to head home to Eek. Bethel is fun, but there is nothing like sleeping in your own bed. We all had a great time as usual though and I always look forward to seeing all my new friends.

Goofin' Off With the Gang

     So all of us teachers started this "31 Days of Halloween" movie marathon for October. Well anyone that knows me knows that I HATE scary movies. Thankfully, my roommate doesn't like them either. So one weekend we decided we wanted to watch Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I have it on my laptop and we didn't have a cord to hook it to the TV, so Ashley said let's go watch in your classroom. So we got some blankets, pillows, and snacks and went to my classroom. Hooked the computer up to the SmartBoard and tadah! Eek Theatre!

Ashley and Misty

                      Just hanging out, being a ninja...                    Couldn't forget the snacks!

     Then, on another weekend Ashley and I had a little adventure taking the trash to the dump. We load up all the trash in the trailer on the back of the four wheeler, drive it out to the dump, throw it on the pile, and there ya go. We had to make two trips because we had to take a load of cardboard too. They were burning the trash pile that day so we really had the fire going!

The dump...

View from the dump.

Misty running along with us!

     We just had ourselves a grand ole time! Never a dull moment here in Eek, you can always find something to do.

We also got our first little bit of snow a couple weekends ago! 

Going to get slushies from Mo Heakin's Movie Rentals: 

Best slushies on this side of the Eek River ;)

Me, Ashley, and Kayla

Yay snow! 

     All of us teachers have "Craft Night" on Saturdays. We do different things, this month we worked on our Halloween costumes. Sometimes we have sushi too, which usually ends up being a "who can put the most wasabi on their sushi" contest. I don't do the wasabi because I don't like hot foods. We have a good time none the less.

Sushi time!

Notice all the cardboard, we were using it to make our costumes.

(Which you will see later!)

     We try to have a good time and we succeed! We are always finding something to do and entertain ourselves. Until next time!

Lunar Eclipse

     I woke up around 1:00 am on October 8th to see the total lunar eclipse or Blood Moon. This was the second eclipse in a tetrad, a series of four consecutive total lunar eclipses in 2014-2015. It was pretty cool to watch. I was up for about 2 hours and watch the penumbral phase and watched the total eclipse phase in. And because I had school the next day, I opted out of watching it phase back out. I was able to get some pics of it. I was taking these through a window so the moon is doubled in some of them.

I woke up just after it started.

You can see where the penumbral is phasing in and then where the moon is starting to turn red.

                                        Almost gone.....                                 Nearly there....

Blood Moon!

                                                             The moon in the morning when I went to work.

     Just one of those little things in life that was pretty cool to witness. Next I want to see a total solar eclipse!

Berry Pickin' and Fishin'

     One afternoon Ashley and I went cranberry picking with a couple of the high schoolers. We walked out on the tundra and around this big lake. We walked a good bit and I was quite tired by the time we started to head back. The thing about walking on the tundra is the ground is not solid (until it freezes) so its kind of similar to walking through sand or mud. And there is a lot of mud so you actually walk through that too. Lucky for me another student joined us and he had his four wheeler. Let's just say I didn't walk ALL the way back to the village. :)

I don't think I have ever seen water so calm in my life.

Ok, so one really cool thing is that a lot of the lakes and ponds can be pretty shallow, but they look really deep. We got down in this lake and walked out maybe 15-20 feet and it only went just past my ankles.

                                                         Our lovely guides! 

     Another day, Caitlyn and I, went for a walk to see Dirk, who was fishing on the river. I can not say enough about how beautiful it is out here. It is so nice and the scenery is amazing!

                                                          Caitlyn and Katja

All of Eek, well what you can see from the river.

                                           Dirk fishing.                                Katja is Dirk's dog.

She is such a cutie!

Ashley and Misty picking berries.

Trying my hand at fly fishing! It's a work in progress...

     I marvel at the beauty that surrounds me everyday. There has not been one day that I've regretted my decision to move to Alaska. Yes I miss my family and friends, but I absolutely love it here. I've created friendships with some really amazing people and I wouldn't trade this opportunity for the world.