May 19, 2013

Weekly Greetings!
This will be the last blog post for the school year, as the students will be off for summer break after this week. The last day of school will be on Thursday, and there will be an early release. Please remember that the end of the year school picnic will be Wednesday and will start with some games for the students at 11:00am. Lunch will be at 12 noon, with a baseball game to follow.

Last week was very full with a number of events. On Wednesday, we had a special visit from Mr. Cudney's 91 year old mother. She was accompanied by her niece, and warmly welcomed by the students in addition to some community members that were able to come meet her. Mrs. Cudney was able to have lunch at the school and then there was an assembly in her honor. A number of cultural gifts were given to her by the students that were made by their families.

After the assembly, Mrs. Cudeny visited in all the classrooms and wanted to meet each of the students that had sent her comforting letters. She is pictured with our class in the afternoon.

 An all school photo was taken just before Mrs. Cudney departed to go back to Tok and is pictured below.

The next morning, the students learned about fire prevention when two men from the local Forestry Department came out to Tetin. They showed the students some movies and also the tools that are used when fighting forest fires. They left some great coloring books and information for the kids to take home too.

To finish off the week, the next year's Kindergarten students were invited to spend the morning doing some fun activities with our current class. After our morning gathering to start the day, we had some number games and hunted 26 Teddy Bear counters that were hidden in the room. To keep track of the number of bears found, each bear was placed on an alphabet letter on the floor.

 At snack time, we had a Teddy Bear picnic before playing a game called "Poor, Cute Teddy"

There were other activities throughout the morning, in addition to a story and craft before lunch. Every one of the kids said they enjoyed the morning, so hopefully they will be eager and ready to start school next fall.

The statewide Duck Stamp competition awards were presented in Tok on Saturday and a number of Tetlin students won awards. From our class, Ethan got a 3rd place ribbon and some gift items. He is pictured by his drawing, which is the Mallard just above his head in the picture to follow. Well done Ethan and all the others from our school that entered the competition.

We will continue to keep a normal schedule through Wednesday morning, but there will not be any homework sent home this last week. It has been a pleasure to be a part of the Tetlin School this year and I wish you all a safe and joy-filled summer!

May 12, 2013

 Weekly Greetings!

I trust you all had a pleasant weekend and enjoyed the warmer temperatures. Also, I hope the student gifts and cards made it safely home for Mother's Day. The photos to follow are of the class as they decorated the plant pots to give as an expression of their thanks for all your love and care.

There were some changes to our class routine last week, and a few new additions to the creative play centers. All of the students now go to a structured PE class at the end of the day, so our center time has been moved to an earlier time. With some left over funds from last year's budget, I ordered a "Community Helpers" set and a wooden train set to freshen up the play items for the class. As you can see from the photos, the students really enjoyed the new toys.

To continue our Science Unit title "Changes", which focused on matter and chemical changes that can occur, I brought in an ice cream ball of mine so that the students could observe the changes that would take place in making ice cream. For the ball to work, the mixture is placed in a center cylinder with ice surrounding it. The ball must be kept moving, so of course there were some fun games to be played before we tasted the frozen mixture.

This will be our last full week of school, and there are a couple of special events planned for the end of the week. On Thursday, the Forestry Department will spend the morning doing activities to teach all the students about fire prevention. Then on Friday, we will have the next years Kindergarten group in to spend the morning with us. Hopefully, they will enjoy their time and look forward to the start of a new school year in the fall.

I will continue sending homework Monday through Thursday this week, though it will be the last week this year. Enjoys the spring days that have finally arrived!

May 5, 2013

With all the snow over the weekend, I am beginning to wonder if we will see spring arrive before the last day of school! Our year is rapidly drawing to a close and there is just three more weeks of school left before summer break. I am going to continue with our regular daily schedule through this week, and then finish off the last two weeks with review practice in specific areas that the students still seem a bit weak.

Last week was school nutrition appreciation week. The students made some cute thank you notes for Ashley, our school cook, and surprised her at lunch last Thursday. She does a great job and we wanted to show her how much she is appreciated. See the photos to follow of the class and Ashley.

I will continue to send homework home Monday through Thursday nights for the next two weeks. Please ask your child about it nightly and help them remember to return it completed the next day. Stay well and have a great week.

April 28, 2013

Our three days of field trips went really well last week. We left the school early on Tuesday, April 23, for the US/Canadian border. It turned out to be a lot longer drive than I realized, though worth it once we got there! The students got to tour the border station and learn what people need to do to enter or leave the state for Canada. We also got to see the underground tunnels and plant operations that service all the people living in the remote location.

 We had a picnic bag lunch and returned to school in the afternoon. On the trip home, we even saw two groups of caribou. It was a long day in the van and a number of the students got a nap along the way.

 On Wednesday April 24, we left from Tetlin School for tour of the Post Office and got to see how mail is processed. The students even got to post mark some letters they wrote.

The next stop was the US Fish and Wildlife office of the Tetlin Refuge. The staff explained what they do to help wildlife and shared information about different types of animals in the area. 

 Each student got a badge and was sworn in as a "Junior Refuge Manager" at the end of the presentation.

After a bag lunch, the final stop was the Magistrates office to understand how the court system works. We were not able to participate in a mock trial of the Big Bad Wolf vs. the Three Little Pigs, due to such a small group in attendance that day. Instead the class was shown a mock trial about Jack and the Beanstalk that had been videotaped by one of the Tok School class groups.

The final day of outings was on Thursday, April 25. We traveled from Tetlin to the Tok clinic for a tour of the emergency services provided to the community. The class got to see the ambulance and the emergency truck that is used when there is a car accident.

 The group was also shown the emergency and x-ray rooms that are used when people are injured.To tie into the emergency services, we then went to 40 Mile Air to see the air ambulance used for medivacs.

 My husband gave the tour and is getting a big "Thank You" in the picture below.

After two days of bag lunches, the students were treated to a pizza lunch at Fast Eddy's before going to the Tok School for music class.

 There was time after lunch to play at the Tok School playground and was a good time for all.

At 1:00pm, it was time for music which allowed the students to explore musical instruments that are too large to transport to Tetlin.

I believe that all the students in attendance had a fun and full week. The field trips exposed them to a few of the many community services provided in this area.

This week we will be back to our normal schedule and the other Tetlin students will be back from their trip outside of Alaska. Please continue to look for homework nightly, and remember that there will be a Spelling test on Friday.

April 21, 2013

Weekly Greetings,

Last week it was pretty quiet around the school after the other classes left on Tuesday. In addition, there were a number of students from our class out of school for a variety of reasons. 

This week while the older students are away, our class will be taking a few field trips to tie into a brief “Community Helpers” unit. I hope you all received the information and permission slip that was delivered on Thursday. The kindergarteners will have a little longer day for the days we will travel out of Tetlin, and we will call when back at the school each day before sending them home.

The three day schedule is as follows:

Tuesday April 23:

Leave 8:30 am from Tetlin School for the US/Canadian border. Students will get to tour the border station and learn what people need to do to enter or leave another country. We will have a bag lunch picnic and return to school in the afternoon. 

Wednesday April 24:

Leave 8:30 am from Tetlin School for tour of the Post Office and how mail is processed. Then to US Fish and Wildlife office to learn about how they protect and manage wildlife in our area. The final stop will be at the Magistrates office to understand how the court system works. We will be participating in a mock trial of the Big Bad Wolf vs. the Three Little Pigs. Again, the students will have a picnic bag lunch. 

Thursday April 25:

Leave 8:30 am from Tetlin School to go to the Tok clinic for a tour of the emergency services provided to the community. Then we will drive to 40 Mile Air to see the air ambulance used for medivacs. We will have a pizza lunch at Fast Eddy's before going to the Tok School for music class. Having a music class at the Tok School will allow the students to explore musical instruments, like a drum set, that are too large to transport to Tetlin.

During the week, I will continue to send homework home nightly but there will not be any spelling list this week.

Enjoy your week! 

April 14, 2013

Weekly Greetings,

I hope this finds you all well and enjoying the beautiful weather. On Tuesday this week, the upper grades students will be leaving for their ten day trip. It will be pretty quiet around the school for the next couple of weeks. In our class this week we will try to finish up on our current themed units and begin looking at community helpers in our surrounding area. I have reserved a van from the Tok School and would like to take the students on a few day trips the following week on April 23th, 24th, and 25th. Currently, I have two of the three days planned and I am still waiting on a response for the third day. I will be contacting you all to sign a permission slip with all the details by the end of the week.

Homework and spelling will be sent home nightly, as usual this week. Also, please try to get your child to school on time daily. There are so many important Math and language concepts that are covered in our "Morning Meeting" during the first 30 minutes of the day.

Have a joy filled week.

April 7, 2013

 Weekly Greetings!

As the upper grades were testing last week, our class had to try very hard to be quiet with older students testing in rooms beside ours. It seemed to help buffer our noise, when we moved the tables and desk temporarily for those few days.The testing went all day, so even in the afternoon there was a need to be more stationary to minimize the noise. In the photo below, the afternoon group was doing another experiment and seeing the changes that had taken place after water evaporated from a salt solution. By using a magnifying glass, each student could look at the crystals that had been created in their plastic dish. It was a good way to stay engaged and quietly reflect on the changes that had taken place.

On Friday, there was a special luncheon and plague presentation sponsored by the district in honor of Mr. Cudney. There was a nice turnout of community members, in addition to the students. In the photo to follow, the superintendent was reading the engraved poem that Mr. Cudney's class wrote after his passing.

 Since returning from Spring Break, a number of students are coming late to school and seem tired. I know with the longer days and nice weather, it is hard to get to bed at a reasonable time. Please be aware that when a child is tired, it is much harder for them to learn and control their behavior. We are down to just seven more weeks of school, and I would like to make the best of our time left. Also, I will continue to send homework home, but our copier has been broken and we are still waiting for it to be fixed properly. So, the homework may look a bit different than usual.

Have a great week and thank you for all that you do to support your child's learning!