First Week of School (so far...)

Alright, it's been a while since I've had any sort of update.  The last couple weeks have gone incredibly quickly.  My school is part of a School Improvement Grant, so last week was spent in Savoonga, another small village in our district that is on St. Lawrence Island.  The teachers and administrators from four different schools were all present, and it actually wasn't too crowded (although I wasn't sleeping at the school, so I'm not sure how it was during the nights).  We had sessions every morning and afternoon to give us extra training on four different features we are implementing at our schools this year.  It was a long, difficult week, but it made all of us more excited to (get out of there and) start teaching the following week.

...and now it is Thursday!  Four school days already in the books.  I have to say, it has been an interesting week.  I'll preface this by saying that my students are good kids.  Let me continue:  they are kids.  We've been working all week on listening and following instructions.  Some moments are good; some are incredibly taxing.  In between the times when we practice our routines, we've started some individual reading time, math practice, and writing practice.  Every night, the students need to complete a "Read and Respond" paper.  Right now, most just want to read a little bit, so they can complete it and turn it in.  One of my goals is to move the students closer to reading because they really enjoy it.  Does this give me an extra excuse to read awesome stories to them?  Yes!  Right now, we are reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  (Thank you to everyone who gave me feedback on good books to read.)  Many of my students have already seen the movie and said that they enjoyed it.  I'm excited to see how the rest of them respond to the story.

On Tuesday, we start our normal school schedule.  We will no longer be focusing almost exclusively on how things will work.  Reading, Math, and Writing will predominate.  We have a very structured curriculum, and much of it is completed on the SMARTboard, so I will need to take some time this week to make sure I know how everything is supposed to work.  I'm sure it will be loads of fun.

Happy Labor Day everyone!

North End of the Beach at Stebbins