My 7:45am morning walk to school is now dark; I was told by another teacher that around Jan/Feb the sun won't rise until about 10:45am. When I first arrived, the sun was up till 1am and even then it never really got dark through the night. I hope I can handle the darkness.... I might end up buying one of the lamps that are sold for Seasonal Depression due to lack of sunlight.
School is going very well! My little 1st graders are just so sweet and they really do work hard and want to learn. We are learning one-digit addition and while it is a difficult concept for them, they are not giving up and at the end of each day, everyone is successful - what more could a teacher ask for :)
EXCITING news around Togiak last week... a moose! There was a moose on the tundra right outside my window. Remember, this is a subsistence village - which means the village is mostly hunters and gatherers, therefore, the moose was quickly taken down and will provide amazing food for some families. He was 700 lbs. Here are a few photos - sorry for them being blurry. (I"m getting a new camera in a few weeks and hope to have some really GOOD photos to share!)
My students enjoyed an afternoon of art last week. They had never used chalk or heard of leaf rubbings, so that is what we did. The tundra does not have trees - none - zero - nowhere! But, we do have some bushes near the school and those are the leaves we used. I took the kids out to gather some leaves and then came back inside to show them how to hold the chalk flat over the paper with the leaf upside down on their desk and to rub rub rub! Here is the one I created for the teacher demonstration.
This week has been full of rainbows! Here is a photo of one of the approximately 11 we saw. I love how bright the colors are and this one looks like it is right on top of a house!
I guess this is the time I fess up - it gets pretty lonely here... sometimes, mostly on the weekends, I really miss the people I know and love back home. I had mentioned this to another teacher a few weeks ago and she made me a leather duck to keep me company on the weekends :) It meant so much to me - the kindness helped a lot! Thank you Shuk!
Enjoy some random photos - see you next week!
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