August 25, 2013

Weekly Greetings!

We had a very full and productive first week of school! The students are quickly settling into our classroom routines, even with a larger class count this year. There are four Kindergarteners, four 1st graders, and five 2nd graders together this year. An additional member of our class is a new pet. We now have a hamster named Frodo!  During our end of the day center time, he can run around the room in a clear plastic ball and the students giggle while they crawl around after him.

As we get to know each other as a classroom group, we have done some "All About Me!" activities. In the photos to follow, the students were making a paper doll representation of themselves to be on one of our display boards. Each one turned out lovely, and should be up for all to see this week.

 On Thursday, I shared a little about my family and past with the students to model for our Show and Tell on Friday. Each student was given a colorful bag with their name on it to keep for Show and Tell days. Unfortunately, only two students remembered to bring something the next day. Our next Show and Tell day will be Sept. 6. Please help your child find their bag before that time and help them be prepared to share with the class on that day. The two students are pictured below as they pulled items out of the "All About Me!" bag.

In addition to the regular math and reading curriculum, last week we also discussed three of the "Six Keys" we need in our classroom for a successful year. Those keys are "Safety", "Love and Belonging", and "Freedom and Independence". This week we will focus on "Fun and Enjoyment", "Valued Purpose" and "Success". When each key is introduced, there is a story and a response activity to help the students remember that key. After the last key is completed, each student will make a "School Promise" as a goal for the school year.

There will not be any homework this week, but I will start sending home a folder nightly starting in September. On Friday, please look for your child's weekly work to review with them. I apologize for forgetting to give the work to the 1st and 2nd graders last Friday. It was already to go in the bin by the door, but I was busy giving out the "Go for the Good" cards and just forgot...Their work will go home on Monday.

Have a wonderful week!

August 19, 2013

Greetings as we begin our 2013-2014 school year! 

I am very excited about the opportunity to be the Kindergarten through 2nd grade teacher at the Tetlin School this year for my second year. I have a genuine passion to teach children of any age, and I honestly do, "whatever it takes" to see children succeed. 

For the first couple of weeks, we will be working on classroom routines and discussing 6 key things needed in our classroom environment to have the most successful year possible.  Please also watch for a “Go for the Good card” that I will be sending home daily with your child. This will help you to see how well your child is adjusting to our school routine.

Starting in September, I will be sending homework home four nights a week.  Until then, I just want the students to settle back into being at school.

Please know that I will be consistently sending a letter home on the first day of the school week. If your child misplaces before you see it, I have a blogspot that will also have the information posted. It is at: browntetlin.blogspot.com or there is also a link through the Alaska Gateway School District website if you go to the Tetlin School link.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call me at the school.

I am looking forward to a great year!

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.