Snow on the Mountain and Lisa's Pizza

On Tuesday Nathan and I, and several teachers attended a funeral for a young man from the village.  He took his life on Thursday, Sept. 16 after a 24 hour standoff with troopers and SWAT.  He was 26.  Students were released early on Tuesday so they could attend the funeral.  The funeral was held in the Catholic Church and the Catholic Priest was in town.  Father Marios is Polish.  Nathan had a chance to meet Father Marios and attended the Mass on Monday evening.  It was a Catholic funeral and lasted two hours. 

Wednesday morning dawned cold and wet.  There was snow mixed with the rain and when the clouds burned off we were able to see snow on the hills to the north.  This was big news for the village.  The most frequently asked question on Wednesday was "Did you see the snow?".  The snow is coming.  

Snow on the Mountains (hills) across St. Michael Bay on Thursday.

Snow on the Mountains

 On Wednesday night Nathan and I looked at each other and said, "It feels like a pizza night."  So I made dough for the first time and we had pizza.  We had all the ingredients for Ranch Chicken Garlic Pizza.  We splurged and bought some mozzarella at the store.  The pizza was delicious!

Lisa's Pizza branch opens in St. Michael, Alaska!

I made two 9in  Ranch Chicken Garlic Pizzas with Scallions.  

Our first pizza night....a success!  Many more to come.

Thursday and Friday were district inservice days.  Saturday is a teacher workday.  We learned a new school assessment tool called STEPP.  From now until Christmas Break we will be assessing the indicators in each of the domains that determine our school's progress.  When we return from break we will begin writing the plan for our school to improve the different domains.

"Over and over again, the government has proven the need for better education." 

~Quote from Teacher Inservice

It has been great spending so much time with the teachers.  Being in a different building, a half a mile away, I don't get time to talk to and get to know the all the other teachers.  The dynamic of the staff is very different from schools in the lower 48.  The difference?  The teachers are quick to laugh, joke, and include everyone.  There aren't any rivalries or unsettled conflicts.  Everyone talks to everyone.  It feels like being around a large group of friends, or like extended family.  Why the difference?  We live together.  The teachers live in pairs and we all live in the same general area.  The old school (part of which is the Kawerak building where I teach) became teacher housing.  The housing arrangement facilitates many activities.  From watching football to LOST to women's Bible study to ladies' night.  This builds relationships between the teachers that isn't always seen in school staff in the lower 48.  This is a great teaching experience.

The First Frost: Monday Sept. 26

Today dawned clear and bright.  The thermometer read 36 degrees outside.  When I left for work the steps outside the house were slippery and I didn't have to walk to get down the ramp.  The gravel in the playground was frosted with white ice crystals and the water under the tire-swing had a thin layer of ice on the surface.  The ground that has been slightly muddy the last few weeks was hard and frozen.  The first frost has reached St. Michael.

If you look back to my August posting "Sights Around Unalakleet", you will find a picture of fireweed.  Fireweed is used to predict when the frost will arrive.  When the flower blooms there will be six weeks before the first frost.  I estimated that the frost would arrive around September 20.  Well it is September 26 and the frost has arrived.

Temperatures in St. Michael have fallen notably in the last few days.  Yesterday evening, Nathan and I walked to church and the temperature was 46 degrees, but the sun was shining that we carried our jackets instead of putting them on over our short-sleeved shirts.  However, by the time we left church we gave up the idea of walking around town and went back to the warmth of our house.  Today the temperatures ranged from 36 this morning to 44 this afternoon.  The temperatures are reaching the low 30s to upper 20s at night and the forecast for this week shows the high temperature will be falling to 40 tomorrow.  We are in the short season of Fall.

When I first interviewed for this position, I was told that I would need to have friends and family send things from home for individual units.  The unit that most stood out to me was "Fall into Fall".  This unit focused on the changing seasons and how the leaves on the trees change color and fall.  It was suggested that I have people collect leaves and send them to me in preparation for this unit because there are no trees here and the children have no idea what trees look like in the fall.  This year, to align this unit with the actual season change here, my supervisor moved Unit 7, Fall into Fall, to week 4 of school (this week).  When planning for this lesson I realized that fall hasn't arrived in Oregon yet.  That is why I didn't request any leaves.  By the time week 7 comes around we will have snow.

The forecast says we will begin seeing snow next week.  The high temperature is forecasted to fall to 35  degrees on October 5 and we should expect to see snow mixed in the rain.  We have also officially crossed from more daylight to more darkness.  Today we only had 11.9 hours of daylight.  The sun rose at 8:41am and set at 8:37 pm.  Comparing the sunrise/sunset times with my last post show the dramatic change that occurs this far north.  Winter is coming.

The Moose trailer.  Mark (BSSD Teacher) and his son shot a moose and brought some to share.

Moose Meat!  Yum!

Fall in St. Michael.

From Left: Chris, Dorris, Zach, Megan, Kyra, Staci, Christine

Sunrise.

Our House.  It was just repainted!

Our porch and the main door to the building.  

Time for Pictures

I was finally able to fix the picture problem by uploading my pictures into Picasa instead of IPhoto.  That way the pictures are already on the web in a Google-based program.  A lot has happened in the last two weeks here is St. Michael.  When I have a long, calm moment I will bring you all up to date on the happenings of St. Michael.  Enjoy the following pictures.

My Alaska ID card that makes me an Alaska resident.

The barge coming into St. Michael.  It spent the night in the bay before docking to unload large items like fuel.

This is the Bering Air plane that brought Nathan from Unalakleet.  It landed then taxied up to the truck.  

This is the view of the plane from the car.  It really comes that close.   When the pilot gets out of his seat and moves to the door in the back of the plane, it is a signal to people meeting the plane that they can drive up to the plane.  I drove forward and backed up toward the tail of the plane.  

Nathan is finally in St. Michael.  Doesn't he look happy?  He arrived on a beautiful day with warm temperatures in fifties.

Sunrise at 8am over St. Michael on September 7.  The date is important.  Now it is September 21 and the sun is rising at 8:30am.  The change in the amount of sunlight is amazing.  When I arrived in St. Michael on August 5, the sun was rising before 6am and setting after 1am: 19 hours of daylight.  47 days later, the sun is rising at 8:30am and setting at 9pm: 12.5 hours of daylight.  Amazing!

Sunrise looking west over St. Michael.

Snow, Lox, and Caviar

Hello Everyone!  It has been awhile since my last post.  After the first two days of school I caught a cold that lasted through the weekend.  Despite my cold, I joined a group of teachers for a trip to Stebbins for the beginning of the year St. Michael-Stebbins teacher volleyball game and potluck.  I was able to visit with teachers that I met earlier this year in Unalakleet during the New Teacher Training and in Nome for the ECE Teacher Training.  I watched the first part of the game and then met up with Prophetess, who gave me a loaner cell phone until Nathan and I get our own plan.  I was also able to help her cook for the potluck.  We made rice and crab.  It was good!

At the potluck I saw other teachers that weren't at the game.  Lan (science teacher in Stebbins) brought lemon rolls (like cinnamon rolls) to the potluck.  He offered me lox and caviar to celebrate Nathan's arrival on Sunday.  Unfortunately, Nathan can't eat fish.  I took some anyway.  YUM!

Nathan got to experience Alaska travel the same way that Ellen and I did.  However, the plane with the mechanical problems that caused the delays was the plane coming to pick him up in Anchorage.  After a two hour delay in the Anchorage ariport, Nathan flew to Unalakleet and missed his flight to St. Michael by 20 minutes.  He was able to stay in the dorms when Ellen and I stayed.  He also got to meet some really cool people and made a few connections with the church in Unalakleet.  He also learned how to drive a honda...on paved roads.  (I learned on gravel!)  So instead of arriving on Sunday afternoon (when I was really sick), Nathan arrived on Monday afternoon.  I picked him up in the Suburban at the airport and took him to Stebbins (I forgot to get the charger for the cell phone).

Then I taught Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and taught a small group for three hours on Friday.  On Fridays I have the class to myself.  Head Start policy is a 1:10 teacher-student ratio so I split the class into two groups and will alternate the groups each week.  I had four kids to begin with on Friday.  After an hour and a half I gained two more.  The room is almost too big for just six kids but we had fun and I enjoyed doing art with the whole group.

On Wednesday the temperature started dropping and we remained in the 40s  with lows in the high 30s.  On Friday night when we came home from LOST night, there were some snowflakes mixed with the rain.  This was a cold, wet summer, and we have been told to expect steady snow by mid-October.

To create a community of teachers that support each other, we abide by a strict teacher activity schedule:
Sunday:  church in the evening (about 7 attend regularly)
Monday: women's Bible Study
Thursday: Ladies' Night
Friday: LOST Night (we watched the first disc of season 1 last week)
This can also include spontaneous movie nights on any given night.

(My pictures are not uploading correctly.  I'm am working on it.)

Examples of Village English:
"You pack me?"  = "Will you carry me?"
"I win you."  =  "I beat you." or "I win."

First Week of School

There were actually only two days when the kids came.  We started school on Wednesday and we didn't have school on Friday.  Beginning next week I will create two groups of students who will come in every other Friday.  The Kawerak staff don't teach on Fridays because they use the day to do all their Head Start mandated paperwork.  I can only have 10 students or less by myself.  I will create two groups of about 9 each and they will come in on alternating Fridays.  However, this week I gave myself the Friday off.

Wednesday, August 31:  The students first day of school!  They began arriving about 8:35am about 25 minutes too early.  When they come in they find their name slip (a piece of paper with their name printed on it) and then write their name on a piece of paper without parent assistance.  Remember, these are four year-olds...on the first day of school!  Let's just say I was amazed at what these kids could do.

Sign in names: "Kyra, Kobe, Staci, Zachariah, Chris"

We had 15 students on the first day of school.  We had 17 possible students and we have two more that might start next week after they have their shots and check-ups.  All the students speak English (Village English-more on that later), but some have thick accents.  As I work more with the students, I know it will be easier to understand them.  This group of kids has so much life and so much energy.  They were so excited to be at school.  We didn't have any tears as parents were leaving...just some that hesitated a little.  Here are the kids:

Kids exploring the Dramatic Play Lab.

Flora and the kids playing Duck, Duck, Goose in the gym during Gross Motor Time.

Kids putting puzzles together in the Manipulatives Lab

Kids building a house together in the Blocks Lab.  (No, she is not going to hit him with the block :) )

On Thursday, September 1, we had 16 students.  Next week we will have two more students joining our class.  We needed their health forms before they could come to school.  On Thursday I had an idea of what the day was going to be like, so I didn't feel like I was behind all day.  On Thursday during afternoon gym time we had our first fire drill.  On of the little girls in my class was really upset while we were talking about the drill because she had experienced a house fire already.  

When the fire alarm went off, one of our other girls started crying, and one little boy was very upset that he couldn't go back for his coat.  When we were outside they kept asking if their moms were okay (the community laundry is in the Kawerak building).  I pointed out the group of parents down the road and reassured them.  When we went back in the building the kids kept asking where the fire was.  Even though we kept telling them this was a drill, they didn't realize that there was no fire.  

Thursday nights are Girls Night for teachers.  We made sushi rolls and decorated cheesecake for desert.  

On Friday, September 2, we had a Kawerak work day.  We had to wipe down EVERYTHING with bleach water.  At 10am we had a Kawerak telephone conference with all the villages.  After that we had a Parent Committee meeting at 12pm followed by a staff meeting at 1:30pm.  I also had to go to the big school for our BSSD weekly staff meeting at 2:15pm.  

Earlier that morning I had to go to the big school to make some copies for our student files (our printer/copier was completely out of ink).  Flora asked if I wanted to take her honda (this is what every four-wheeler is called).  I said, "How does it work?" She said, "Can you drive a car?  You just turn the handles the way you want to go."  I said, "How do you turn it on?"  She came out and showed me how to pull-start it, put it in reverse, and shift with my foot.  Wow...what an experience!  It was so much fun.  I got to the school, made my copies, and then went back out to the honda.  I couldn't remember how to put it in reverse!  I put it in neutral and pushed it backward until I had enough room to turn forward.  Then I drove back to the Kawerak building.  I used the honda that afternoon when I went to the BSSD staff meeting, but I asked Flora how to reverse before I left.  

Friday night I went over to Katie and Sara's apartment (next door, also part of the old school) for diner and a movie night.  We watched Sherlock Holmes and two episodes of Chuck (a show Katie is going to get us hooked on) while we worked on various projects: I began knitting a blanket, Katie is making fur gloves, Sara is quilting.

On Saturday I started preparing the house for another occupant.  Nathan arrives tomorrow!  At 2:45pm I met  up with five other teachers and we drove to Stebbins together for the St. Michael-Stebbins volleyball game and potluck, about a 15 minute drive.  I watched the game for a while and then Prophetess (ECE teacher from Stebbins and the pastor of the church in Stebbins) came and gave me her old cell phone.  I bought a SIM card with GCI (Alaska cell service) when I was in Nome and Prophetess put me on her wireless plan and offered me her old phone.  

It was fun seeing the other new teachers I met in Unalakleet during New Teacher Training.  I got some lox and caviar from Lan (science teacher in Stebbins

Fall has arrived in St. Michael.  This next week the highs are in the forties and the forecast says rain.  I have been told to expect it to be raining until it snows.  The change in weather is the only indicator of the change of seasons...no trees means no beautifully colored leaves.