Substituting and pictures around town

Today was my 2nd day substituting for the K/1 teacher who took a few personal days. It's been an adventure to say the least.

Yesterday the 1st graders came in and told me that their names were different. I looked at them and said: "I've been here 4 weeks, I know your names, nice try tho." They laughed.

I did get the "Mrs. S doesn't do that! She does THIS!" Which made me laugh as well. I've already worked with most of these kids already in different capacities in the school, and we had already told them that some of the things that I may do will be different than Mrs. S. Although there are some things that I do the same as she does, because it's just easier that way.

The teacher that I'm subbing for does all of the reading groups for K/1/2, the 2nd grade teacher does the math for all of the students, and in the afternoons they team up to teach science and social studies.

I have discovered that I like some of the reading program. It's harder to teach two fully featured reading programs (K and 1st) at the same time. At least the kids are really good at staying on task for that time. The programs are so full of information and stuff that you are supposed to get to that it's hard when you are teaching two different levels.




Although, I had a good laugh when I was reading the lesson plans in the program and realized that most of the instructions are "Tell the students ..." and "Explain that..." Which is against EVERYTHING I was taught in school. I took pictures!

The 2nd graders are their own set of challenges, but they are great kids. Although I have found that they will work towards a reward, especially the Highlight picture searches.


Friday the 7th my host went to a conference in Anchorage. I asked her to bring me back some bread. It got smashed along the way. However, on Sunday I made a baked french toast with it and fed most of the teachers here. It turned out very good. I didn't take a picture of the french toast tho.

On Valentine's day, my host Heather made Bill (the other intern) and me breakfast. She even made the fruit pretty. She said we were having "bush McDonald's"! :) She also made peanut butter with chocolate hearts cookies and gave them to all the teachers.

Oranges and Pears!

Bush McDonald's -- Sausage muffins

Cookies!

The K/1/2 make little envelopes for Valentine's Day and all of the big kids come and bring Valentine's for most of the little kids. I got quite a few as well. It was cute seeing them come down the Elementary hall to put in their Valentine's! 

Here are some pictures from around Teller. This picture is the Washeteria/City Offices. This is where the laundry-mat, city showers and the city offices are. They are right next to the school. The pictures on the side of the building are of Teller's history. They were also painted by students in the school. They were completed around 2009.

Here are some pictures of the school.

The front of the school

To the right is the elementary wing, and the "Old" School (which is now called the 4plex, where I live)

These are the two new duplexes built recently, these are three bedroom units. 

The graveyard is behind the school.

This is the original school, it currently is being used for teacher housing. (It's really nicely remodeled inside.)

If you walk down this street, you'll get to the store. At the top of the hill in the background is the airport buildings.

The Community/Bingo Hall -- There's not been Bingo since I've been here.

This is not the gas station, that is down by the docks. But this might have been one long ago.

The Church. There are Catholic Services at 5pm on Sundays. One of the students told me that she goes to Brevig Mission for church on Sundays to a different church. 

This is the town Clinic. To the right is the playground, and the front of the 4 plex  (the old school) where I live

The four plex. 

There is no recess here at school. They don't go outside to play during the day. They start school at 9am, the elementary students attend classes til 12pm, at which they get 30 minutes for lunch. The middle school and high school have lunch at 1235pm and get 30 minutes to eat. Sometimes they can play in the gym if they finish eating, but most of the time they are in the cafeteria. Everyone gets out of school at 330pm, except on Wednesdays, which is 1 hour early release.

Mrs. Johnson's class shouldn't complain about lack of recess! You guys get a lot compared to the students up here.

The school here is different than the rest because we have a school bus. They have a school bus because when they went to build more houses, they couldn't build them in town because it was in a flood zone. (Apparently there was a flood in Nov 2013.) So by the time they got out of the flood plain, they were 3 miles out of town. So, the school district had to supply a school bus. They have a little short bus they drive the kids to and from school. They make 2 trips in the morning, and 2 trips at night. If the kids miss the bus, then they have to walk to school.

In two days I move to Gambell. I really need to pack!