Help My Students Get a Popcorn Machine and Slushie Maker

I have posted a new project for a popcorn machine and slushie maker for my seniors. They are working really hard to raise money for a senior trip, but it is hard in such a small community. These 2 items would really help us to raise more funds in our concession. Thanks so much!!!

Click here to donate to my project, and use the code SPARK if you donate. It doubles your amount.

Fall in Toksook Bay

Sorry it has been so long. A lot has happened since my last update. I have been so busy with cross country, teaching, and I am taking classes for a masters in educational technology through UAS. Nali has missed me lots because I have been travelling a lot. But she did get an extra special treat from my parents. A whole happy meal. Here is her with her burger.




















For cross country we travelled to Bethel and Quinhagak. We also had our own meet, but because of scheduling, only 1 boy from Nightmute came to run. Here is a pic of some of my high schoolers.

Here is a picture I will leave you all with. This was taken when we had a scavenger hunt for 6th-12th grade. I was in charge and I sent myself to the bay to sit for an hour. It was the most gorgeous morning, but it was a little chilly.

Back in Alaska!!

My Dad, Nali, and I made it to Anchorage a little before 4 this morning. I am so grateful that I am almost back home in Toksook for the school year!!

It is just such a long trip. We left Indiana at about 6:40 pm Saturday and then made it to Anchorage by about 8 am Indiana time on Sunday. We are currently staying in Anchorage, at the Puffin Inn, until Monday morning. Our flight is at 9:45 am Monday morning and we should be back in Toksook by 2 pm.

In Anchorage we went to the market in downtown Anchorage to start our day. While there they had some circus performers. It was a great show!! They juggled fire, did some acrobatics, rode a unicycle, and shot a plunger arrow at a pan. It was absolutely hilarious.



After the market, we did a shopping trip at Fred Meyer. I was able to fill a cooler with meat for at a least a month and some other goodies, like bread and fresh produce.


Next we came back to the hotel to rest up and spend some time with Nali. We wanted to get some energy for our next adventure.




Before we left we got the new edition of the Runner's World magazine. I usually look at the rave run and dream of how I could actually do it. It just so happens this month's rave run was in Anchorage on the wolverine trail. Unfortunately, it is 5.2 miles to the peak so that would be about a 10 mile run. However, we did make it out there with Nali and went for about 30 minutes before we turned around. Nali was breathing so hard and I didn't want to have to carry her back. lol.













We wore Nali out. The hike took us a little over an hour. Usually our walks are like 30 minutes, if we take one.

Vacation!!!

This summer I decided to take a vacation where I could learn to surf. So I googled surf vacations and found Surf with Amigas (http://surfwithamigas.com/). I chose to go on their northern Nicaragua retreat. BEST DECISION EVER!!!!!! Last week I learned to surf, did some yoga, went volcano boarding, and went horseback riding down the beach. It was an amazing week, and one I will never forget!! Everyone was so nice and supportive. I couldn't imagine a better group.

For anyone who has not heard of volcano boarding here are some pics. Basically you hike up the most active cinder cone volcano with a wooden sled and then slide down. A guy at the bottom has a radar gun to clock your speed. I went 26 km/hr. It is listed as #2 on CNN's big thrills list (http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/16/travel/thrilling-experiences/). We went down the volcano that is behind us in the group photo below.

My roommate, Cat, and I in front of our cabana

We stayed at el coco loco (http://cocolocoresort.com/), which was about 3.5 hours away from the airport. The resort is eco-friendly so there was no flush toilet or air conditioning. This hardly mattered as I think I only spent time in our cabana to sleep. It was very nice to be in a place that was a little more rustic, as I was able to disconnect for the week. The resort was so beautiful and every night I was able to fall asleep to the sound of the ocean.

Our cabana was the last one on the right

I want to go back!!! There wasn't anything I disliked.

Hawaii 4/17-4/21

The airport is very open.

Here are some pics from my trip to Hawaii with PREPARES.

Flying over Maui (I think)

Pic from the hotel

My partner teacher

PREPARES is the most AWESOME program at Alaska Pacific University. The program is working to design place-based, culturally relevant science curriculum to supplement our normal science instruction. These lessons are based around climate change in Alaska, and my students will share what they learn with a partner school in Hawaii. We went to Hawaii to meet with our partner teachers

My 7th grade class, which participated in testing the PREPARES lessons this year.

Here are some pics from the field trips we took. Everything was so beautiful. I wish we would've had more than 3 days in Hawaii. I must go back!!!

Fish ponds

Pu'u Wa'awa'a Ahupua'a

Lava Tube

 

Summer Break

On my way home. I am in anchorage and it is almost 11 pm!!

Random things

Nali's new Easter toy (sent by my mom) was destroyed in less than 5 minutes. I think it was a new all time record for fasted toy destroyed. But she absolutely loved and still plays with it even though it lost all of its stuffing about 2 weeks ago.

Here is how we clean the floor. lol. Students are exhausted and the floor look really shiny afterwards.

For anyone who is curious about our weather, it is snowing. Yes because it was easter we got the present of snow, snow, and more snow. I think someone must've really pissed off mother nature. This is more snow than we have had all winter. Even though you can't tell it from the picture it was snowing when I took the picture yesterday.

New classroom

I've had the idea of using exercise balls as chairs for a while now. But just recently did I finally order the stuff to make it happen. I ordered 22 balls and 50 lbs of sand. It took about the whole weekend to get it set up but it was totally worth it. They are super comfortable and the students really like them. (The desks are the new desks I got through donors choose earlier this year.)

Spring Break

A couple of weeks ago we had a spring break!! It was so much fun but traveling was a pain. The first day we tried to get out all day, but our flights were all cancelled. We finally got out the next day in the evening. Then on the way back I got stuck in Bethel for another night. This will definitely affect my plans for next spring break. I think traveling for vacation is a little overacted.

While in Anchorage we took a trip to Seward. Nali loved the long car ride so much. She slept, tried to be the driver, and found seats on all of us.

We also got to see the Iditarod. After 3 years of being here I finally got to see the ceremonial start. This is Dallas Seavey who ended up winning the Iditarod this year.

The funniest thing was the running of the reindeer. We actually got to run 4 blocks while they had reindeer run between us. It was really funny to see people try to ride the reindeer, and they were not going to have any part in this. Obviously they were really drunk.

The best part was going to Gwennie's later that evening. My mom insisted we go even though I told here was probably just a local greasy dive. I was right. Here is who my Grandma got to sit next to.

Science fair!!

I have been crazy busy as usual. It was especially busy the last couple of weeks. We've had tons of basketball, I worked many hours on science fair project, travelled to science fair in Bethel for 3 days, went to Newtok for League basketball, and then had spring break. (I will post about this in a separate post.)

I took 1 student to Bethel for science fair.  She is a 4th grader and we had a blast. We got to have fun doing science, go to the store and go swimming!!  In the end she ended up getting first place in the elementary division!!

 

This is a picture of Gloria presenting her project.  She studied how animals stay warm.  To do this she filled a glove with Crisco (blubber), used a cloth (animal fur), and made a clay box (den). She placed a thermometer in each one and stuck them outside, monitoring the temperature every 10 minutes.  She also had a control, where there was nothing to protect the thermometer.

Crammed in the car to go to the store

Swimming was so much fun.  The pool even had a slide. For most of these students this was their first time swimming in a pool. Let's just say this was the highlight of the trip. Gloria was praying that we got stuck so we could go swimming again. lol.

Please Help!!

I am asking for donations to help get some science materials for my kids in physical science.  Can you help me out? My project was just approved and posted on DonorsChoose.org. Here’s my classroom request:
http://www.donorschoose.org/lucas

To have your donation matched dollar for dollar, enter the promo code SPARK on the payment screen. This awesome match offer lasts through January 28, 2015. Your gift will help me, my current students, and future students tremendously. I would be very grateful if you would pass on this message to anyone else who could help.

Thanks so much to everyone who has supported me.  I am forever grateful.

Fun Things at School

I've been meaning to put up a new post since I got back from break. Now I am finally doing it. Here is a video from our Christmas program.  The 2nd graders played the bells and the 3rd graders helped sing.  It was so cute!!

 

Last weekend we had junior high basketball at our school.  Unfortunately only Chefornak was able to make it due to the weather.  But even with only one team making it, everyone had fun.  I even played with the girls the next day. lol.