The new Kindergartners!

The kindergarteners for next year came to visit their new classroom for the day! My kids were excellent teachers and helpers! They read books to them, showed them how to do things in our classroom. I was very impressed with the new students coming in. I have a lot of smarties coming in. I also have two challenging students coming in as well. I am a little nervous for safety reasons.

We talked about caterpillars, read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. The 4 year olds had great memories. We played in learning labs, read books, wrote stories about caterpillars. Sarah, the four-year-old teacher was amazed at how calm her kids were when I thought it was hectic. What a difference between 4's and 5's, but I love them all!

Well, it was a nice week. I taught until Wednesday and then went to Unalakleet for a curriculum and instruction meeting. We discussed and made decisions on graduation requirements and electives for upper level students to take. I enjoyed seeing familiar faces and friends. We had amazing food: pizza, sandwhiches, speciality sandwhiches, mexican, ice cream treats, fun beverages all from Peace on Earth, the local restaurant.

The weather has been making it hard to get around, especially in Unalakleet. It was slushy and wet everywhere. I'm glad I brought my insulated rain boots! We had a blizzard while in Unalakleet and it has been raining in Koyuk. It has been nice to get out for walks once again. There are three more weeks of school with a lot happening next week: prom, graduation, bacheloreate, senior dinner, IEP meetings this week and next. I have a lot of assessing to do and tests to be scored yet. The three weeks will fly by fast! I'm getting more excited that it's almost driving me nuts to wait three weeks to see David, Jason and Myra. Enjoy new pictures from the sleepover. I was super tired at 8 pm tonight. There is light until after 10pm. That is my kind of night!

2 dogs + 10 kids= Sleepover!

Well, here you go! The sleepover was a blast. The kids earned a sleepover by getting 5 days of 100% Read and Respond, which is nightly reading done at home with a parent. It took us a long time but they were so proud. We started at 7:30 with a movie and popcorn and dogs excited to be around so many kids giving them attention. The other dog is Juno and I was dogsitting while her owner was at the job fair. She was so bugging at night though because she would not settle down. We ended the night with a "scary" stories. They begged me to tell them a scary story. I guess mine was not scary because they all wanted a chance to tell scary stories. Most of them were not scary at all, but I didn't have the heart to tell them, so I said they were. Then Ben wanted to try to scare us and swore the pack sack was moving. Silly boy! I think my two favorite quotes were, "Wow, Jeni, real hairy legs." The next morning I shaved! The second quote was cute also. As I was putting all my face lotions on, one of the kids asked, "Does that make your face white?" Real Cute those kids are. I will miss not having them next year! I didn't sleep the whole night because on the girls I was sleeping in between kept either kicking me or beating me up with her arms! It was fun in the morning when they woke up. We cuddled, tickled, and laughed. Oh, I almost forgot, I also read them a bed time story around 12 am. So I made pancakes while they were in the gym playing and keeping an eye on the dogs. Juno pooped twice in the school, but it was easy to clean up. Shh...don't tell the principal!

Saturday morning, I was exhausted and then I get a tap on the door from my principal..oh oh, I'm busted! I jokes! She asked if I wanted to go to the hotsprings which is 1 1/2 hours away by snowmachine that is. It took her twisting my arm to go. My Sat. schedule was always go to work and then relax in the evening. She told me I could do my work on Sunday, which was true this week because there was not church. So I shaved my nice hairy legs, got warm clothes, and ate something real quick and was out the door by 1:30. Heather drove like mad woman wanting to win a race or something. She seemed to slow down on the bumps, but I laughed when she didn't. We drove by the old school house, went through the beautiful peace river area. Wow, the difference in trees was amazing! They were so tall! I was hoping to see a moose there because there were droppings and tracks all over the place. We finally made it to hotsprings and it was a lot bigger than I thought it was. They had a cabin with a woodstove. I felt a little uncomfortable taking off all my warm clothes and just in my swim suit with two HS students from Koyuk and other people around. The changing room was a line in the corner of the room clothespinned with a blanket. I just laughed to myself. Then a little room with a table, bed for eating and things. It wasn't as hot as I imagined it. The Cheena hotsprings were hotter. The bottom of the hotsprings freaked me out with all the sticky mud and plants. Good thing I brought my sandals. I found a few warmer places. It was so relaxing! It was a hot tub in the middle of the beautiful country. I forgot how gorgeous Koyuk is when I don't get out in the country. Every time I do though, makes me want a snowmachine. Real cheap, that I have student loans to pay off. I was so toasty warm on the way back because we weren't going into the wind. I'm so glad I went. After 5 years of living here, I had to go!

Sunday was a short day of work. I realized I had only one day of sub lessons because Friday we do not have students. Wednesday to Friday evening, I travel to Unalakleet for a curriculum and instruction meeting. It will be nice to leave the village for a while and get some good coffee, eat pizza at Peace on Earth, and visit with friends. Until next week, when I post some photos of Hot Springs.

Dog sitting...my second job!

Hello! Last week I didn't post because I suddenly became sick with the flu for one day. Thank Goodness! I did stay home from work just to be safe. The rest of the week was hard. I was faitigued all week and feel it is slowly going away. It puzzles me why I am fatigued at this time.

Our school had standards-based assessments (SBA's) all week. The kids worked hard and so did every person on staff to make sure each kid did well on the test. I praise God for the strength he gave me when I didn't know how I was going to make through the week. His faithfulness endures forever! My students will also be testing this month to see if they made growth in the the two standardized tests I gave this fall. We also got fresh fruit this week because of testing. The kids ate it like it was candy. This week are doing my favorite unit: Fur and Feathers, which is all about animals. We have 5 weeks left of school and I can't wait! We went skiing this Friday and the kids were so amazing! They feel so confident in themselves that they are going down hills that I never thought they would try. They are truly improving! They are doing less falling and are balancing really well. The two boys were hilarious. They were doing jumps off high snow drifts, falling, laughing, and just being boys. They were so cute!

As I type it is a blizzard outside with snowflakes so gigantic! The weather has been pretty good. The sun is constantly shining and it's quite warm. There are times the wind picks up but nothing unbearable.

So to explain the title. I dog sat Spanky (german shepard) last weekend. Now, I am babysitting the cutest little black lab (around 2 months old) puppy. Sadie has done something I never saw before. She plays in the water dish! She splashes the water everywhere, then digs in it like she's buried something. It's quite hilarious. She also goes inside the couch end, where Berry chewed to hide and play. She sleeps well through the night and tugs well with Berry. On the other hand, Berry has had quite enough of Sadie. Berry is quite jealous of Sadie and gets quite the attitude with her. She made Sadie yelp twice by snarling and going after her. I have Sadie for a few more days and then this weekend I get Juno. I'm starting to feel like my sister. I love every minute of it! Dogs rule, cats drool!

I missed a week!

Hello All!

Yes, can you forgive me for missing a week? Here the photos from the last two weeks. The couple you see is Pastor Was and Jean Mute. They are amazing! Was is gifted and so passionate about standing up for God's Truth and Jean is a huge part of our Women's Bible Study; she helps us all to be vulnerable and the joy of the Lord is so evident in her life among other fruits of the Spirit.

The kids have been really liking playing online puzzles. They are getting really good at it. Megan and Annette had a picnic this week. Eugenia is packing her puppy Nookie like women pack babies here; along with her is Janessa who I will have next year in class. We finished up our unit on Spring and am now talking about parts of plants, gardens, farms. I like this unit but I love the one that is coming up next week. We are going to be learning about wild animals, zoos, farm animals, and pets. We also have a school-wide movie night on Friday night. Standardized testing will also start in a week. Hooray! I love testing! Can you sense the sarcasm in my voice? It was very hard to get back into swing of things after spring break. I honestly did not want to be in school at all. That lasted about 5 days and then it was fine.

I was hoping to visit David, Jason, and Myra this weekend, but the flights didn't work out. I'll have to be patient until May! I've been doing a lot of skiing. Even though the temperatures to all of you may seem cold it's been really warm here: 10, 20, and 30's this week. Yesterday I just wore three layers and my down vest and was still sweating a lot! It was so warm yesterday and the sun was still shining at 7:45 at night! I got a little sunburn. I went skiing again tonight and it's becoming a blizzard out there, but still reasonably warm.

What's been on the menu:

bbq/sloppy joes
dill chicken legs
carrot cake (mom's recipe) Just like how I remembered it tasting, homemade cream cheese frosting, which is the best part
steak fajitas
meatloaf
canadian sausages
steak

I'm craving fresh veggies! I guess I'll have to wait until May!

Until next week!

Iditarod!!!

Here is Lance Mackey coming into Koyuk. When he reached Golovin he was going to stop but his dogs just kept on going! I guess they really wanted to win. IF you would like to read an interview from Lance Makey in Koyuk visit this website.

http://iditarodblogs.com/news/2009/03/16/wind-hits-mackey-right-in-the-face/

If you also visit www.iditarod.com and click on Iditarod 2009 you will see a box on the left where you can can click to see where the mushers are at and the map of checkpoints.

Lance Mackey, is still in first and is in White Mountain. He has Safety and and finishes in Nome. Sebastian Schunelle is in second.

The first picture is of one of my students: Clarissa. She was really cute yesterday. She called me up so excited that she got new glasses and had to come show me. She looked so cute! She was so proud.

Feeling so blessed!

Hello everyone! This weeks post will have to wait. It's been one of those nights. Check in a few days.

Ok it's been more than a few days! Well the most exciting news in the last two months, really, is that I met a wonderful man of God. David lives in Galena and we met over Christmas. He works with Young Life....basically, a missionary for teens. He sure is gifted! They scare me. We both love to cook, love dogs (even though he is allergic to short-hair...arhhh...labs.), be outdoors, and the list could go on. We also have some interesting differences. It's been so fun to get to know each other and will finally be able to see each other in May or maybe earlier...hmmmm.

The time change has been very hard to get used to. I tend to not to stick to my bed time at 10:00 with more daylight. I've been super tired this week. My body feels just physically exhausted. We have had so many sunny days, lots of wind, some days none, and warm. I've been too exhausted to try snowshoeing or skiing yet.

The last week with my amazing students have been really fun. We have laughed at each other: I embaressed myself by singing the wrong song at the wrong time and they just thought that was the funniest thing. Terrian said something and everyone laughed and said, he sounded real cute. I've been enjoying teaching my favorite unit: Insects and Spring. I learned that some spiders actually throw their web to catch pray. They also make the web with sticky and not sticky parts so they can get around. The kids have been asking wonderful questions about insects. Their vocabulary development is amazing: they know and are able to show and say the words: abdomen, thorax, antenna, praying mantis (my favorite), etc.

Spring Break couldn't have come at a more perfect time. My body needs time to rest but also to get out and go skiing and snowshoeing. A feel up to a ski today. The dog teams should be coming in on Monday. Interesting fact about the Iditarod: An 18 yr. old girl from Nome is running the race!

Well here are some random photos: classroom and outdoors