Thanksgiving Turkeys! Back row L-R: Deshaun, Robert(AKA Junie), Dreydon, Mr. Settles, Derik, Jonas. Front L-R: Mackenzie, Brea, Tyler.

This is a special photograph for two reasons. One, it is of the kids performing in the Christmas Program, and two, it pictures both the first graders that Kyle works with (back row) and the kindergarteners that I work with (front row)! Back row L-R: Faith, Jacob, Mackenzie, Lexie, Jonas, Tyler, Max, Snazzy Dreydon, Derik, Adorable Brea, and Spiffy Junie. Back row L-R: Lyric (confident reader!), Madison (Refers to Mr. Settles as "Fingers!"...), Braylin, Gaige (a new addition to Mrs. Settles' Reading Mastery class), Emmy (Class tattle-tale), Caidron (also in my Reading Mastery class), Brady (LOVES to sing), and Ava (also a new addition to my RM class)!

This was the day that we found the legendary Togiak waterfall! We drank straight from it, very refreshing!

These are three of my Reading Mastery students in my teeny tiny classroom! We made these antlers to wear during their Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer performance at the Christmas Program! L-R, Patrick, a habitual sock protestor and constant boot-wearer, Caidron, a joy in class, and Joel, who when I ask to stop talking over me, proceeds to only talk at a quieter volume.. We're working on it. I made the tree that they're standing in front of and we spent the week putting the letter ornaments on. Caidron's name was drawn to put the star on the tree and Patrick got to take it home!

Sunrise!

Goofy first graders! Brea, Jonas, Lexie, Mackenzie, Junie.

Issue No. 6

Hello Friends and Family!

Winter vacation has finally arrived!  It’s crazy that we’re both halfway through the school year, but we are greatly looking forward to the next three weeks off.  We are happily borrowing our friends four wheelers for the next three weeks, so we cannot wait to explore the wonderful frozen tundra.

My class had their first official pizza party.  I use a classroom management system with my kids called Class Dojo.  It’s a system that focuses on the positives of each kids, and gives them points for good academic and moral behavior.  I ordered two family sized pizzas from Papa Murphy’s in Anchorage, and the kids were thrilled!  The pizza arrived fresh on the cargo plane Tuesday evening, and the kids enjoyed their first ever pizza party the following afternoon.  The pizzas were actually reasonably priced.  The shipping, however, was not J

I also took my first “steam” here in Togiak.  Steaming is a holistic ritual used by the natives to cleanse the body and soul.  It’s essentially the same thing as a sauna, but much hotter.  The shack is about 8x8, which contains a wood burner stacked with rocks.  Every few minutes, you pour the hot boiling water on top of the rocks, creating the steam.  And let me remind you that this homemade shack is very small. 

I arrived at the steam with limited knowledge of how this worked.  I quickly realized that the other three men immediately striped down to nothing.  And I of course couldn’t be the only one in underwear.  What better way to get to know a few people than to strip down and sit in a 175 degree shack together!  All joking aside, it was a very spiritual and calming experience, and I am now much closer with the gentlemen that took part in this steam.

Everything else is great in Togiak!  We are finally getting snow, and hopefully lots more.  I have officially taught for four months and the progress being made by each student is such a rewarding experience.   I religiously use a program called Daily 5 (used to help foster literacy independence) and it has been AMAZING for the kids.  They now have their own iPads in school, and they have proved to be an asset in both reading fluency and math. 

We will keep you posted with our upcoming adventures.  Amy and I are getting sent to Anchorage at the end of January for a conference, so we decided to add a few personal days to turn it into a well deserved vacation.  It will be amazing to enjoy a beer at a restaurant!  Something we haven’t had or seen in about 6 months. 

Attached are lots and lots of pictures.  Thank you for all your love and support as we continue this journey.  We are going to have a very blessed Christmas, and hope that you all do as well.

Photos

Kyle and Tobe on our river trip. These are spawned out salmon.

Kyle's first day of school!

The Togiak Huskies Volleyball Team playing the Manakotak Linx in our impressive gymnasium!

We voted!

Also from our river trip a couple months back

Issue No. 5

Hello from Togiak!

     It’s hard to believe that is it almost Thanksgiving!  The kids and their teachers are starting to count down the days until Christmas vacation.  We had quite the Halloween celebration at Togiak School which consisted of the Halloween Carnival, and a party in Mr. Settles class.  The Halloween Carnival was hosted at the school and open to the entire village.  There were games, prizes, and a haunted house for all the kids and families to participate in.

     This past Friday we attended our first athletic event in Togiak.  The high school Huskies volleyball team hosted the Manokotak Lynx for a best of three series and easily won 2-0.  We were surprised at how good both teams were. I guess we anticipated a pretty ugly game, but were pleasantly surprised and entertained. 

     The kids and I have been very busy in class and we most recently had our second Pajama Party! I have been reading James and the Giant Peach to the kids so we did many peach related activities during our party. Each kid had time to paint characters from the book and were provided with peach Jell-o topped with whipped cream and a peach ring. All of my kids LOVE reading, so the amount of literacy activities we do in class has been increasing tremendously. The school has a great library and book resource room, where my kids are able to check out several books a week to keep in class.

     One more bit of exciting news, all the K-6 kids are getting iPads this week!  The teachers received training from an Apple trainer last week on how to effectively use them in our class, and the school is hosting a parent night in order for our parents to feel comfortable with the technology as well.  The kids and I are incredibly fortunate to have this technology in our classroom as it will increase both engagement and excitement in school. I know I will have my hands full for the first few weeks, but I know that the kids will rise to my high expectations.

     Life is going pretty well out here in the bush.  We decided to stay put in Togiak over Christmas break, so we could save money to buy a vehicle this summer  to tour Alaska!  The weather has been crappy (40 and rainy almost everyday) and the sun seems to be disappearing, but our spirits remain high.  Thank you for all the packages and mail, and hopefully most of you have finally received some mail from us!

Issue No. 4

Hello Friends and Family!

As you can see, it has been quite sometime since our most recent blog.  Amy and I have been very busy with our newest professions, and sitting at a computer at night hasn’t really been at the top our lists of things do to. 

We are officially more than one quarter of the way through the school year and the kids have shown so much progress and silliness!  My first three months of teaching out in the bush has opened my eyes to the many positive sides of teaching.  I have built wonderful relationships with each of my kids, and look forward to hanging out with them every single day.  I have been blessed with such a uniquely squirrely group of 2^nd graders (10 boys, 2 girls) as they have taught me much about self-control and patience.

Teaching in the bush also has its unique challenges.  I continue to have severe behavioral issues from a seven year old boy, which has caused my stress level to increase from 1 to 2 :).  He unfortunately does not have parents who view education as an asset, and is currently in the long process of dropping out of school.  Everyone within the district is trying as hard as possible to support this child, but without consistency from the parents, we are fighting an uphill battle.  I cannot even begin to imagine what lays ahead for this young man, and it hurts to think about a child wanting to drop out of school, especially at such a young age.

On the flip side, I have continuously annoyed my kids' parents so much that they are now starting to see how seriously I take my job.  In the Yupik culture, parents believe in independence at a very young age, hence allowing a 7-year-old boy to drop out and pretty much do what they please.  That is why there is a common theme of a lack of boundaries and seriousness when it comes to school.  Many teachers say it is pretty much impossible to talk to parents, but with my persistence, I have now been in touch with every single one.   And during my first conferences, I had 7 of the 11 parents show up!

My lovely wife and I went up river a few weeks ago to look for moose and do some shooting.  We went up about 10 miles and stopped at a sandbar to shoot a few shotguns, a glock, and a few other pistols.   Amy I and were in awe of all the fall colors and the fact that we were able to see trees for the first time in over two months.  We were able to try fresh moose, raw salmon cheek, and even raw jellyfish.  We have tried to stay as active as possible, as there are limited forms of entertainment in Togiak Alaska!

It took about three months, but the homesickness and loneliness has begun to sink in.  We were aware that this would happen, but were hoping to avoid this until late winter.  It is difficult for us to truly enjoy our time off together, as we pretty much come home and have the same routine of dinner, movie, and reading every night. That is very relaxing, but the lack of variety can get a bit boring after about 100 days! We’re continuing to focus on the positives and stay in good spirits as this will truly benefit the kids we are here to support.

Thank you for all your love and support as we continue our journey in Alaska! Your calls, letters, texts, and packages mean more to us than you could possibly imagine.  We are incredibly excited to experience Alaska at it’s finest over its six month winter.  More to come soon.

Issue No. 3 Brought to you by Kyle

Greetings Friends and Family!

This is Mr. Settles positing his first ever issue.  Amy and I have been very busy as we have finally settled in here in Togiak.  We have gotten to know many locals, kids, and dogs and they all seem to love us.

I started school last Monday and it has been a very unique experience.  My first day of teaching went much better than anticipated.  My nerves were definitely present, but quickly melted away once every single kid in my class ran up to give their new teacher a hug.  I have 11 boys and 1 girl in my first and second grade room, so you can imagine what that is like.  To put that girl into perspective, I guarantee that if I asked her how many girls were in the class, she would probably say five.  She is obviously outstanding.

The first day of school was filled with new games, routines, procedures, more games, and introductions.  A few of my students were quite shy to their new teacher, but I was sure that would quickly change once they realized how strangely unique I am.  Most of my kids were out of steam by about 1:00 pm, so the afternoon was filled with more games, reading in our classroom library, and building with math manipulatives.  Slow and steady wins the race.

Day two was very similar to day one as I continued to familiarize myself with my new Yupik students.  They play the same games, listen to the same music, eat mostly the same food, and act the same way as other 7 and 8 year olds do in Michigan, California, Mississippi, etc.  My students were blown away when I showed them Michigan on the map, and were excited to hear new stories. 

The rest of week one continued in a progressive manner.  I introduced only a few new concepts, as I wanted to primarily focus on getting routines and procedures down perfectly.  I found out several things this week: 7 year old boys love to fart, 8 year old boys cannot physically sit still for more than 16 seconds,  all kids should be required to wear those bungee shoe laces, and that I love my job!  All awesome things to realize in a week!

Week two begin with 8 kids in my room.  I cannot even begin to tell you how AMAZING that is as a teacher.  I also have a full–time native aide who does a lot of tremendous work with my kids.  One of my squirreliest students, Mr. Bo, spent an entire day with his left shoe on his right foot, and his right shoe on his left foot.  He did not think it was nearly as funny as Mr. Settles did. 

All in all it has been an incredible experience.  I continue to look forward to work everyday and seeing the progress that each kid is capable of.  How awesome is it that I get to work with 6,7, and 8 year olds instead of grumpy adults?! 

Photo Album

About 10pm, headed to the beach to pull the net

Our haul!

The library!