sun dog days

The days leading up to Christmas Break were jam-packed.  The buzz of excitement for pending holidays compounded with all the activities and preparations where quite the combination.  It is a time where flexibility and last minute changes are a given.  It also coincides with the days getting very, very short.

 Stepping out of my house around ten in the morning it is just beginning to lighten up.  This was a few weeks ago, though.

 This is as high and intense as the sun gets in the winter.  I took this around 2pm, I believe.

 At about four the sun just fades away in a long, dramatic set.  I have a wonderful view of the show from my classroom window.

I'm more well known as Miss T.

This is my life.  

I knew would be all-encompassing as a first-year teacher.

It is one of the reasons I chose to live in a small, remote village to begin my career.

Each day brings so, so many decisions and calculated choices to help my students learn.

There are actually quite a few days where I just go home and stare at the wall for a while.

Then Liz and I will discuss our days and make some dinner.

After dinner maybe some reading, stitching or, occasionally, tv.

Lately, there have been an extraordinary number of decisions to maneuver.   Such as a few weeks ago when two-thirds of my class traveled to another village for the Native Youth Olympics competition.  I was left to maintain the education of the five remaining students while keeping in mind that I would have to reteach almost my entire class.

 In science, we learned how snowflakes formed and made our own.  Later those students were able to help their classmates and Liz's first graders when we taught the whole group how to make snowflakes.  You will note these are actual six-sided snowflakes, a much more difficult task than the usual eight-sided.  I would not recommend this for first graders without help.

 Paint.  Paint has been a great asset and tool in my classroom these past few weeks.

 Sam, my brother, had sent paper, paint, and brushes for us to begin watercolor.  I began the process by the general overview.  This was much easier to do with the small group and super helpful the next week when I retaught it to the whole group.  The students who had been present for the first lesson were able to help and model for their classmates.

 Next, we took the watercolor to the next level and painted an interpretation of the aurora borealis that frequents the skies here in the winter.

Then we painted the mountains and hills.

Finally, the icy slough.

With cutting and maneuvering, it was soon a mix-media representation of the village for our class's bulletin board.

 We have seal-hunter die-cuts, which I modified and added photos of my students so that they were each represented manaqing (ice fishing).

 The students that helped with the project were proud of their work when we showed it to their classmates the following Monday.  There was also a general excitement for everyone else ot get to try watercolor.

"Best day ever."

This little collection is the best.  

It came from one of my most reluctant students.

Knowing she enjoyed her day at school is actually really uplifting.

 The next week we were on to Christmas trees.

 This paint-strewn paper towel is evidence that my instructions on checking color was heard.

 Our bulletin board collage represented in watercolor with crayon resist.

 In our holiday preparations I made sure to allow time for crafting.  Students were given free-reign on the few supplies I have managed to collect this school year.  They blew through that box of a thousand craft sticks in a flash.  It was neat to see the creations and when was made with complete freedom.

 There were quite a few students that just went straight back to watercolor and put a good deal of concentration and detail into their work.

A big influence in our classroom the last two weeks has been preparations for the school Christmas Program.  Each class prepares something for the show.  Usually, it is a song for the younger grades.  The upper grades may include media or other skills.  To give time for this, various parts of our daily schedule were rearranged school-wide.  To accommodate, the normal PE times were rearranged.  We were lucky enough to get to have thirty minutes as a whole class at the end of the day.  Usually it is about an hour earlier.  That half-hour of energy release makes a huge impact in the classroom dynamic.

 On one of these days, my aid had brought the students down to the gym.  I walked in to find them playing under this rainbow parachute.  Normally, they are only allowed to play with basketballs and kickballs at PE.  They had managed to pull this out.  It was pretty sweet to watch.  I participated in a few rounds, it was just what was needed after a particularly long day of decisions.

The main factor to that day of decisions was our class contribution to the Christmas Program.  We discussed a few songs at the beginning of December but my students had decided they really wanted to give a play.  It was what they wanted so I went with it full force.  We wrote it together and rehearsed lines every day.  We made props, practiced facing the audience, and projecting.  Even though we have watched a few bits of great musicals and had a reader's theatre units, I'm not quite sure if my students have ever actually watched a play.  There were aspects that were especially challenging, such as actually rehearsing on stage with the props.  For a moment there I was not sure if it would happen but sure enough, the show went on.  I was very proud of my students for all the work and focus they had put into this one ten-minute performance.  I have been a part of at least a dozen shows, but this one was like none other.  Though, I did carry on the tradition of the circle hand squeeze and the humming yell.  These are two NorthWood staples.

I don't have a photo of my crew on stage, but here is Liz's class so you can get a feel for the atmosphere.  They sang "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" and it was adorable.

I really enjoyed the end of the show.  The high school had prepared three songs of drumming and dancing.  On the last song many mothers in the audience stood up and danced with the group.  I though it was a really special moment to see the tradition is being passed on.  I think about the culture of my students all day long.  It has such an impact on our learning.  Seeing that parts remain intact as they grow up in an increasingly complicated world is reassuring.