Battle of the Books

The major celebration this week was that the Kindergarten Battle of the Books Team made it to finals. This extracurricular activity is a K-12 in the whole district. Each year books are chosen, children read them, and then practice answering questions. Here is an example of a question: In which book does a character say, "I want my mommy?" or In which book is there a red and white umbrella?". For two weeks before the battle we have been practicing questions like these and the children amaze me. We had four books: Alaska Three Pigs, 10 Minutes Till Bedtime, The PaperBag Princess, and Owl Babies. Not only do the children have to remember the title but also the author. So our first battle was on Tuesday and we missed only 3 questions out of 16 and so we got to go to the finals. We did a little bit better during the finals and got 2nd place! The second time we battled I had only three girls....luckily they were the girls who knew the most about the books. So what a celebration for these kids!

Also, every year the children publish a their own book from pictures I took throughout the year. This will be my third year doing this and one of the community members who is on the city council encouraged me to write a letter to the city of Koyuk to ask if they would donate the money to make these. So I had the kids give me ideas on what the letter should say, along with guidance, or the letter would say, "We want money for books." and they called this week and they are donating over $200 for our books. We have been thinking of titles. We need to get started soon, though because our press date is May 20. It takes about 3 months of writing and organizing.

I will have to upload photos later, since I cannot do it at the apartment building because the internet is too slow and loses connection at times.

We got about 10 inches of snow. It was warm for a while and then the wind came back making it colder. I had a nice snowshoe that kicked my butt. It was tough going through all the snow but it felt great to sweat and work hard.

I'm still very much at peace and excited for next year to be in Koyuk. I'm more excited to visit friends and family this summer. I will stop in Galena in the middle of May, head to WI to spend some time with the Grandparents touring the State Parks, visit the Twin cities to see my dear friends Betty, Johanna, and Heather S., and hang out with my puppy and the new puppy-Belle. I know Berry will get extremely jealous because she does here if I pet other dogs. She nudges herself between me and the dog and gets on my lap.

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day. I don't think I ever said that in my entire life. It was a special one this year!

Until next Sunday!