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!