So quick update.
I got a message from a friend at the Great Lakes Aquarium ( little background info: used to work there and the people rock) The message basically asked if we were OK with the aquarium putting together a media packet and contacting local media and online media about our trip. The students answer to this was, "YES!!!!" They are so excited. I guess they are going to contact local news, newspapers, online media and facebook advertising to let people know about our trip. I was so taken aback! This is a big deal.
The students are already coming up with some pretty fantastic stories about how we live in igloos and in the summer sod houses...but we still have internet. This is such a blessing!!
We leave tomorrow and the excitement is building!! We were selling food the past couple of days to earn some spending money to hopefully buy the students tshirts, etc. We made over $1,000!! YAY!!! I am so proud of the students and their hard work and so GRATEFUL for Sheila....pretty sure without her this trip would not be happening.
That's all folks! I'll give you an update after our adventure to Anchorage tomorrow....STAY TUNED!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
We Are GOING!!
WE MADE IT!!!
That's right. After months of fundraising we are going on our trip!! For those of you that are just tuning in, we've been trying to raise enough money to take our 8th grade class on a trip to the lower 48 this summer. Most of our students have NEVER been further than Anchorage, and may never get an opportunity like this again. Most have never gone to the movie theater, traveled in a car for longer than 5 minutes, or gone to any kind of museum. This is such a great opportunity and I'm so grateful that we made it! It has taken many, MANY long days of fundraisers, Basketball tournaments, and bake sales.
This would NEVER have happened if I didn't have the assistance of the amazing Sheila Phillip, who is the other English teacher that is coming on the trip. She's a genius and making money and getting people motivated. We also had a lot of help from people in the school and parents that made hats, food, etc. to help raffle and make some money. All these people rock and I love them!
So now, THE TRIP. We are leaving June 1 from the village and traveling to Anchorage. On June 2 we are flying from Anchorage to Minneapolis, and then driving to Wahpeton, ND. This is going to be interesting. Most of these students have NEVER gone on a road trip....or been on a plane longer than an hour....interesting.
The first day in Wahpeton we're going to show NYO to the HS students taking gym. We are also going to a farm out by Hankinson, ND and the students are going to see what a farm is like and what goes on there. They are SUPER excited about this.
June 4th we are heading to Bonanzaville for the morning, near Fargo, ND. That afternoon we're road tripping to Duluth, MN. THIS will be an adventure because it's about a 5 hr. road trip. Obviously our goal is to make it to Duluth without too much trouble. That night we're going to recover....and perhaps explore Duluth a bit.
June 5th we are going on a cruise on Lake Superior, hanging out at my favorite place, the Great Lakes Aquarium, where the students are going to be taking a class called "Lake Lab" and exploring the aquarium. Then that evening we're going on the train up the north shore, with PIZZA! Good times.
June 6th we're getting up SUPER early to go to Hawk Ridge, and then driving up the north shore to see the Split Rock Lighthouse. After lunch we're heading to Gooseberry Falls and spending the afternoon there. That evening I may try to find the tower...or we'll hang by the water and chill.
June 7th we're are heading to The Mall of America!!! This is going to be an EPIC day! They get passes to Nickelodean (sp?) Land (why can't it still be Camp Snoopy??) and Underwater Adventures. We're eating at Rainforest Cafe..FUN! I know the culture shock will definitely hit during this adventure.
June 8th we're hitting up the science museum where they have a King Tut exhibit! This is Sheila's favorite day by far. They had a unit on King Tut in History and they students really enjoyed it so this is going to be fun. The students will get to see the exhibit, a movie based on mummies and also get to explore the rest of the museum. Talk about a fun day :D Then we are going to the Como Zoo. I'm pretty sure this will be the first time most of them have ever been to the zoo. I'm looking forward to it. That evening we may go hang out at my Aunts and swim and hopefully go to a drive in that evening.
June 9th is our last day and we're hitting the planetarium in the morning. The afternoon is a boy/girl day. The girls are going to the bead monkey to make jewelry and the boys are doing something.....we're not quite sure. Maybe a baseball game, maybe rock climbing. We'll see what they chose. Later that afternoon we're going to the Art Museum where they get to experiment with art, and then St. Anthony's falls that evening. Then PACKING!
June 10th they head back to the village. I'll be staying back since it wouldn't make much sense to go ALL the way back to come home again.
We are so excited and if ANYONE is around the area we are and want to come hang out the more the merrier! Hope you guys will follow our adventure :D It's gonna be fun!
That's right. After months of fundraising we are going on our trip!! For those of you that are just tuning in, we've been trying to raise enough money to take our 8th grade class on a trip to the lower 48 this summer. Most of our students have NEVER been further than Anchorage, and may never get an opportunity like this again. Most have never gone to the movie theater, traveled in a car for longer than 5 minutes, or gone to any kind of museum. This is such a great opportunity and I'm so grateful that we made it! It has taken many, MANY long days of fundraisers, Basketball tournaments, and bake sales.
This would NEVER have happened if I didn't have the assistance of the amazing Sheila Phillip, who is the other English teacher that is coming on the trip. She's a genius and making money and getting people motivated. We also had a lot of help from people in the school and parents that made hats, food, etc. to help raffle and make some money. All these people rock and I love them!
So now, THE TRIP. We are leaving June 1 from the village and traveling to Anchorage. On June 2 we are flying from Anchorage to Minneapolis, and then driving to Wahpeton, ND. This is going to be interesting. Most of these students have NEVER gone on a road trip....or been on a plane longer than an hour....interesting.
The first day in Wahpeton we're going to show NYO to the HS students taking gym. We are also going to a farm out by Hankinson, ND and the students are going to see what a farm is like and what goes on there. They are SUPER excited about this.
June 4th we are heading to Bonanzaville for the morning, near Fargo, ND. That afternoon we're road tripping to Duluth, MN. THIS will be an adventure because it's about a 5 hr. road trip. Obviously our goal is to make it to Duluth without too much trouble. That night we're going to recover....and perhaps explore Duluth a bit.
June 5th we are going on a cruise on Lake Superior, hanging out at my favorite place, the Great Lakes Aquarium, where the students are going to be taking a class called "Lake Lab" and exploring the aquarium. Then that evening we're going on the train up the north shore, with PIZZA! Good times.
June 6th we're getting up SUPER early to go to Hawk Ridge, and then driving up the north shore to see the Split Rock Lighthouse. After lunch we're heading to Gooseberry Falls and spending the afternoon there. That evening I may try to find the tower...or we'll hang by the water and chill.
June 7th we're are heading to The Mall of America!!! This is going to be an EPIC day! They get passes to Nickelodean (sp?) Land (why can't it still be Camp Snoopy??) and Underwater Adventures. We're eating at Rainforest Cafe..FUN! I know the culture shock will definitely hit during this adventure.
June 8th we're hitting up the science museum where they have a King Tut exhibit! This is Sheila's favorite day by far. They had a unit on King Tut in History and they students really enjoyed it so this is going to be fun. The students will get to see the exhibit, a movie based on mummies and also get to explore the rest of the museum. Talk about a fun day :D Then we are going to the Como Zoo. I'm pretty sure this will be the first time most of them have ever been to the zoo. I'm looking forward to it. That evening we may go hang out at my Aunts and swim and hopefully go to a drive in that evening.
June 9th is our last day and we're hitting the planetarium in the morning. The afternoon is a boy/girl day. The girls are going to the bead monkey to make jewelry and the boys are doing something.....we're not quite sure. Maybe a baseball game, maybe rock climbing. We'll see what they chose. Later that afternoon we're going to the Art Museum where they get to experiment with art, and then St. Anthony's falls that evening. Then PACKING!
June 10th they head back to the village. I'll be staying back since it wouldn't make much sense to go ALL the way back to come home again.
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| Fun picture of some of the 8th graders :D |
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Fundraising Again!
Fun Fact: Sheila and I are sick of fundraising. We've been fundraising since late September and frankly we're so done. Are we giving up? HECK NO.
Sheila got a great idea to sell BBQ chicken from her house. This works out great because it's in housing so we're closer to the people in the village and we can deliver food to people. We got a couple of girls from the 8th grade class to come and help prepare the food and then deliver it. It was pretty successful. We started at 4, and started selling food around 5ish. When I left at 8:30 there were only 3 pieces of chicken left, and hardly any stuffing, mashed potatoes or cranberry sauce left. PERFECT.
We're hoping to do this a few more times to raise money for the students flights to Anchorage. The hardest part of planning for this summer trip has been getting everyone OUT of the village, it's also the most expensive. Right now, we need around $3,000 to pay for all the students round trip tickets from Bethel to Anchorage. All the parents are paying for tickets to get their students into Bethel, and then we take over from there.
Unfortunately, if we don't raise the money, the parents will also be responsible for the ticket to Anchorage. That super sucks but at this point it's up in the air if we'll have the money.
OK, enough seriousness. Here are a few fun pictures of the girls helping out and what we did while we waited for people to order food.
Sheila got a great idea to sell BBQ chicken from her house. This works out great because it's in housing so we're closer to the people in the village and we can deliver food to people. We got a couple of girls from the 8th grade class to come and help prepare the food and then deliver it. It was pretty successful. We started at 4, and started selling food around 5ish. When I left at 8:30 there were only 3 pieces of chicken left, and hardly any stuffing, mashed potatoes or cranberry sauce left. PERFECT.
We're hoping to do this a few more times to raise money for the students flights to Anchorage. The hardest part of planning for this summer trip has been getting everyone OUT of the village, it's also the most expensive. Right now, we need around $3,000 to pay for all the students round trip tickets from Bethel to Anchorage. All the parents are paying for tickets to get their students into Bethel, and then we take over from there.
Unfortunately, if we don't raise the money, the parents will also be responsible for the ticket to Anchorage. That super sucks but at this point it's up in the air if we'll have the money.
OK, enough seriousness. Here are a few fun pictures of the girls helping out and what we did while we waited for people to order food.
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| Girls making mashed potatoes |
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| Marcus....doing nothing |
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| Girls bugging Sheila while she prepares the chicken |
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| Stirring the potatoes |
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| Getting the BBQ sauce |
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| Waiting to go deliver food....checking out our year book |
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| Sheila BBQ'ing the chicken...YUM |
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| Charlotte by the Walrus head |
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| Nice walrus... |
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| Some of our better customers :D |
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| Group Shot |
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| Goofing around |
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| Watching "Big Daddy" |
Sunday, May 1, 2011
The Glory of Shakespeare!
Happy May Day All!!
This blog is dedicated, as promised, to my awesome 2nd hour HS reading class. They just finished a unit on "Hamlet" and let me tell you, they rocked it!
I have heard so much negativity towards teaching Shakespeare and I would just like to say, it's all in how you present it. This is the 3rd time I've taught a Shakespeare play here in Kong and each time my students have walked away with an understanding of the play. Shakespeare can be so much fun to teach if you don't worry so much on the technicalities of the language and instead just help your students understand what they're reading and what Shakespeare was trying to say.
I have to confess, I love using Shakespeare as a way to incorporate sword fighting and acting in the classroom but it works SO WELL! My HS students acted out a couple of scenes from "Hamlet" while we were reading the play. I do this mainly so that they can visualize what's going on and to give them a chance to rewrite Shakespeare into modern English, harder than some would think. There is so much room for interpretation, it's fun to see what they come up with.
My favorite scene that the students acted out was the last scene, Act 5 Scene 2, where basically everyone in the play is killed. I was lucky enough to have some brave boys act out the scene. There are only boy actors in our version, true to Shakespeare's theater. They had name tags that said, "Hi my name is Hamlet" or whatever character they were. Unfortunately, you can't really see them on the video (that one of my students set up :D ) so you'll have to see if you can guess whose playing who.
I know that it's not the most exciting thing in the world, but to me it was HUGE! They all participated, tried their best, and translated what was going on into modern English. They also stepped out of their comfort zones and had fun. That was the best part.
I hope you enjoy our classes little home video. Give me a shout out to what you think.
This blog is dedicated, as promised, to my awesome 2nd hour HS reading class. They just finished a unit on "Hamlet" and let me tell you, they rocked it!
I have heard so much negativity towards teaching Shakespeare and I would just like to say, it's all in how you present it. This is the 3rd time I've taught a Shakespeare play here in Kong and each time my students have walked away with an understanding of the play. Shakespeare can be so much fun to teach if you don't worry so much on the technicalities of the language and instead just help your students understand what they're reading and what Shakespeare was trying to say.
I have to confess, I love using Shakespeare as a way to incorporate sword fighting and acting in the classroom but it works SO WELL! My HS students acted out a couple of scenes from "Hamlet" while we were reading the play. I do this mainly so that they can visualize what's going on and to give them a chance to rewrite Shakespeare into modern English, harder than some would think. There is so much room for interpretation, it's fun to see what they come up with.
My favorite scene that the students acted out was the last scene, Act 5 Scene 2, where basically everyone in the play is killed. I was lucky enough to have some brave boys act out the scene. There are only boy actors in our version, true to Shakespeare's theater. They had name tags that said, "Hi my name is Hamlet" or whatever character they were. Unfortunately, you can't really see them on the video (that one of my students set up :D ) so you'll have to see if you can guess whose playing who.
I know that it's not the most exciting thing in the world, but to me it was HUGE! They all participated, tried their best, and translated what was going on into modern English. They also stepped out of their comfort zones and had fun. That was the best part.
I hope you enjoy our classes little home video. Give me a shout out to what you think.
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