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!

Issue No. 2

Good morning from the Togiak Library! I successfully opened the library and its gate twenty minutes ago, have answered one phone call, and have yet to greet a patron. One thing that I forgot to mention in my previous issue about the library is that they also have thirty new iPads available for use. This is very helpful to the student body because they are issued iPads for use in school as well. Although they have to leave it behind when they leave for the day, they can come to the library and use the same applications and read the same text as the ones they're responsible for at school. Neat-o!
I still can't decide my absolute favorite thing about the library here. Its a toss up between having my own set of keys, the fact that the books are not checked out electronically, but with a card catalog system (library cards are not issued, you simply sign the card from the dust jacket complying to bring it back in two weeks), or that you have to take your shoes off at the door. Its probably that you have to take your shoes off at the door. Makes for a cozy visit. Not to mention, it keeps all of the mud out and therefore eliminates mopping. I do wish that there was a mini-fridge for my leftover shepherds pie that I brought for lunch. In a month or two I'll be able to keep my lunch cold outside.
Last nights fishing expedition was a success! Kyle and I caught rides to the beach with our neighbors. I rode with Monte, a retired DEA agent. I sat behind him with bug spray tucked in my coat, his coffee mug in my right hand, and his shot gun across my lap. There were nine of us in all. I finally got to see the dead walrus that washed up on shore sometime last week! I wish I had gotten to see it whole; some locals carried off its head and fins for the ivory, which they later use to carve jewelry and other items out of. A walrus head alone can weigh up to 300 pounds! It was a massive stump of remains- no pictures because it was dark.
I'm new to the world of net fishing, and I may not have all of my facts straight. From what I understand, they set the nets up at low tide and harvest them at high tide. A couple of guys equipped with waiters walked out into the water, chest deep, to the net and hauled out about twelve fish. They carried the fish up to the shore where we all started in on filleting, our head lamps our only source of light by this point. Tote lids were laid on the racks of the quads and used as cutting boards. I helped Monte, washing the fillets in the ocean and putting them in gallon ziplocks. One of the guys was filleting a fish and found a big ol' sack of eggs inside. I really wish that I could have captured what happened next on film! I tried one of the eggs raw! I sucked it right off of the sac. It was very yolky. I bet I could scramble them.
Once all of the fish were filleted, everyone packed up their gear and headed home. We left our house at 11 and were home by midnight- incredible! Everyone helped, including the guy on bear watch (seriously), and we were done in no time. On the ride back "up the hill" we saw a dead brown bear cub on the trail. Just a tiny little guy, way smaller than the walrus. A dead cub more than likely means a mother bear is wandering around somewhere, too. With fall quickly approaching we were advised to be extra careful and watchful for bear as they will be looking for food and preparing for the winter ahead.
Tonight, weather permitting, there will be a bonfire on the beach with all of the teachers. At noon today, Dale is going back to harvest more fish out of the net to cook up at the bonfire. They season the fish, wrap them in tinfoil, and toss them into the fire to cook.
Until next time!

Issue No. 1

Ok, ok. I'll get this started. The internet at our apartment is very hit or miss, so I haven't been bothering with it much. However, things are happening here in Togiak! Tomorrow is my first volunteer shift at the library. Kyle and I will be volunteering every Thursday evening after school starting next week! The library here is ran 100% by volunteers. It is a very small space, but the community is very lucky to have it, it is a great resource! They have a food program for kids under 18 that entitles any youth to a box of food once a day. They also have twelve brand spanking new Mac computers- very fancy! Another great program at the library is the Dolly Parton Imagination Program. It is a program that sends books once a month (completely free of charge!) to children under the age of five. The sooner the family gets signed up for it, the better because they send books specific to the child's age. A lot of the books are actually geared toward Alaska Natives and have pictures of native babies- something that isn't seen in a lot of mainstream books for children! It is a great program!
Tonight at 11, Kyle and I are joining Dale, the main librarian and a teacher at the school, as he pulls his net out of the bay. We're going to help him clean fish, and I'm sure he'll send us home with a hefty supply of fresh salmon!
All last week Kyle was out of town at teacher in-service in the neighboring village of Dillingham. I, for some very strange reason, volunteered to watch all of the teacher's dogs while they too were in Dillingham. Including our own very, very well behaved, amazing, lovable, calm dog, Margo, I had a six month old Siberian Husky (staying at our apartment. The rest were at their own homes.), a six month old Australian Shepherd, a four year old Corgie mutt, and two four year old Irish (ENORMOUS) Wolfhounds. Needless to say, I definitely had my hands full. I don't want to get into the details of what my days were like that week, I am thankful that it is over and I am officially retired from mass dog watching...
I was very fortunate to have had the blessing of the Vice Principal, Mr. Lee, to borrow his four wheeler the week that everyone was in Dillingham. I didn't have very many opportunities to take advantage of it as it was raining on and off for most of the week. I learned very quickly the first day that I had it in my possession that even a little bit of rain turned out to be a lot of rain when driving over six miles round trip to check your mail in town. This past Wednesday morning, I was up very early, as usual, to walk the dogs. It wasn't raining! So I was going to check the mail! This is a very exciting thing to do here in Togiak, especially when you're expecting hoards of treasures from Amazon (such as bed pillows, a slow cooker, an oscillating fan, a dog bed, 3M hooks for organizational purposes, a package from your sweet mother-in-law, a bed skirt, dog toothpaste, dog trimmers, etc.) I was so far under the impression that the post office was opened Monday through Friday from 8am-4:30pm. Apparently, however, they don't open until 2pm on Wednesdays. Or perhaps its 10am. Or perhaps they may just close sometimes. Alas, a little frustrated, my dry trip into town was not wasted because I instead took a luxurious cruise along the beach. I rode into flocks of shore birds, sending them aloof and crunched over sea shells the size of my hands. My 360 degree views are full of mountain ranges, tundra, fireweed, the Bering Sea, the harbor, boats in the bay and a colorful array of ramshackle houses.
It would be too boring if something seemingly horrendous didn't happen to the four wheeler belonging to a patriarchal member of the school while it was in my possession, right? I thought so, too. Wednesday afternoon, the day that everyone was returning, my neighbor, Donna, wanted to take the four wheeler into town to check her mail. She was expecting a birthday package in the mail from her father. So I went outside to giver her a quick tutorial on how to operate the quad. In an attempt to show her the basics, starting it, neutral, reverse, shifting, etc., something happened. I was explaining to her that it had seemed difficult to shift into second. In this short demonstration in our gravel filled parking lot I learned, to my horror, that it in fact was not shifting at all anymore. I looked down to find the shifter jammed all the way down. When I got off to check it out, it moved around freely from its base. Sorry, Donna. Looks like you're waiting until tomorrow to get your package. I did not look forward to telling Mr. Lee that I broke his large piece of equipment. Mr. Lee is a very jovial, kind hearted human being. He merely laughed when I told him what I had done. After he looked at it he assured me that it would take no more than tightening a bolt to fix it. Boy, was I relived. Here I was, ready to give over all of my hard-earned dog-watching money to fix this man's four wheeler!
Anyway... Kyle starts school on Monday! He is feeling very prepared and ecstatic to finally begin. We have both met a handful of his students already. Every time we take the dog out we are greeted by a gang of kids eager to say hello to us and to Margo. More exciting news- I applied for a full-time paraprofessional position at the school! I'll definitely keep you all posted on that! I cannot wait for the upcoming week that is sure to be filled with lots of stories of school and volunteering! Perhaps I can talk Kyle into a guest spot on the blog here... I'll be writing again soon! Leave me questions or comments and I will try to respond accordingly!