Survival

Craziness... it's been so hectic trying to get my room prepared. Today went really well... the kids were nice and funny. It should be a good year :) After all this time teaching middle school, it was odd to have the same kids staring at me all day. More later... I still have work left to do tonight... but I thought you'd like to see the evolution of my room.

**This was my room as of 8:30am yesterday morning.**

Pics from Our Trip to Portage Glacier

Here they are...

Portage Glacier

John, Jimmy, and I went to see Portage Glacier today. It is located on Portage Lake in Chugach National Forest.

How incredible!!!

We saw several glaciers, but Portage is huge! It is 4 miles high. There are beautiful tributaries and waterfalls. I'll post pictures later; but, for now, here's a video of the cruise we took, which is pretty representative.

Ice Cream

MMMMMmmmmm... Ice cream is one of my favorite treats. Tonight, John swung by Grassroots (a local fair trade store) and picked us up some pints of ice cream. This ice cream is made locally (in Palmer, AK about 40 miles away) with 100% Alaskan milk at the Matanuska Creamery. We tried Birch (made with real birch--like maple--syrup) and Cappuchino Crunch. Both were super creamy and delicious. How fun!!

Information:

Article on Matanuska Creamery
&
Matanuska Creamery's Website

Back to School Night

So, in my angst (and exhaustion) I did forget to mention that my students seemed really nice... they were sassy and sweet and I'm excited to be working with them :)

My Class Website

I've created my class website. By clicking on this link, you can see it :)

http://www.asdk12.org/staff/fees_lindsey/

If you click on the classes at right, you'll see some of the links I've added for students to use.

One Day Down...

I was able to work in my room and acquire various curriculum today. Still have a LONG way to go, but am optimistic.

My principal and I were able to meet today to discuss instruction. I feel like we're on the same page, so I'm optimistic about this year. (She also checked in on me often and offered to help, which I appreciated.)

John came in and helped today. He helped me with all the bulletin boards... AND brought me Fire Island Bakery stuff... mmmm. John's been super sweet and that's helping a lot.

Mom made passes and a new door sign for me. (My mom made my old passes, which were super cute... BUT had my old room number.) The passes are pictured here... these are cool 4th grade lanyards with skateboards... we're the cool kids ;) These are coming express mail... so they'll be here soon! I can hardly wait.

Grams cut out over 100 paper ice cream scoops for our: You're so sweet! Our class' good deeds board. Mom sent these and they arrived today... Thanks to both Grams and Mom.

So, it's coming along...

Ugh...

Well, you are now hearing from a 4th grade teacher! Crazy, huh? It's like being promoted... I walked in a 2nd grade teacher and now I'm a 4th grade teacher.

This is the right decision for our school. There were 52 4th graders and only 1.5 classes for them. Now we have 2 4th grade classes and we each have 26. (The 4/5 combo teacher became a 5th only teacher.)

But... ugh... I'm exhausted!! Mentally and physically.

Mentally this change meant I'm no longer working in the team with which I'd been planning and socializing. I need to adapt to the idea (and the curriculum) of a totally different grade level.

Physically this change just meant a VERY long day moving all of my FULLY FINISHED classroom into a new room. The teacher who I swapped with is a special education teacher and so her instructional assistants helped us move too. John and Jimmy even came and helped move some of the bigger stuff (although John's back has been bothering him immensely, so we tried to have him take it easy-- HA!).

All of my beautiful room truly torn off the walls. And, my wonderful wall of windows is only 1/3 (2 of the 6 windows I had)... and, my new room is moldy. They're working hard to fix the mold, but the windows aren't really a fix.

I've spent all day looking at the bright side... and remembering the time I was told at the last minute that I was going to be teaching reading, which I ended up loving! But now I'm just worn out... maybe my head hurts from looking "up"?

Tonight was Back to School Night/Meet the Teacher. Fortunately, it wasn't in our rooms!!! I had some "hard ball" questions... about curriculum and homework... all completely fair questions, except for I'd had my roster for 10 minutes and hadn't even gotten a chance to look at the standards... YIKES!!! I gave them honest and authentic answers about my philosophy with homework and school, but didn't mention that I'd only been a 4th grade teacher for a day ;) Anyway, if I didn't have 4 years of teaching experience, the questions would have really thrown me. Nice to have those under my belt.

Everyone has been helpful and sympathetic. My coworkers have pitched in to help and my principal offered to put up bulletin boards. I know Mom wishes she could fly back up, but it will be okay. Kyle reminded me of our own 4th grade teachers. John and Dad are uber-confident.

Okay... that's all for now. If you don't hear much from me over the next couple of days, know I'll get back to you... with NEW classroom pictures ;)

Alaska Points Award

Congratulations!!
For comments since July 22nd,

First place goes to Valerie, who clinched the win with 360 points (200 of which came from the visit... which takes you a long way, figuratively and literally).

Second place goes to Kyle with 180 points.

Third place is a tie between Tracy, Wanda, Tamar, and Sam.


This resets our Alaska Points Scoreboard.






ALASKA POINTS SCORE BOARD: (from 8/2 to 8/30)
Valerie- 270 points
Auntie M- 40 points
Andrew- 30 points
Tot- 10 points
Tracy- 10 points
Andrea- 80 points
Wanda- 10 points
Tamar- 10 points
Kerry- 10 points
Chunpeng- 10 points

In the Neighborhood

Here are the last of Mom's pictures. These are from around our neighborhood. Does it make you wanna visit??? Huh? Huh? ;)

Parent-Teacher Home Visit Project & Worries

Today I spent 4 hours in training at the Anchorage School District Education Center (their district office... which used to be a mall) learning about the Parent-Teacher Home Visit Project. Essentially, the concept is that teachers (and other staff) begin doing home visits with their students' families. This is a means for building relationships with students.

I was reticent to go to the training. I figured that I already had strong parent relationships. My metric was that, as long as I was getting what I needed for my students, then my parent relationships were fine. I never really considered the years beyond that or the what the families might need from me. What this presentation made me think about was the needs of families to feel involved in educational institutions. Ideally a home visit makes things better in the short term and the long term. I'm excited at the prospect of the visits.

I am worried about our school numbers. As of right now, our enrollment is low. We are almost 100 down for the whole school. Currently there are only 44 students in 2nd grade. For most Title 1 schools, enrollment spikes after the start of school. I would imagine this is compounded here where students have to re-register every year. So, hopefully the numbers go back up... otherwise, I might be looking at another grade or school :( --keep your fingers crossed that I can stay at Willow Crest in 2nd grade.

Hayden (and one of Nelson)

During her visit, Mom and I took Hayden out for a walk and to throw the ball. Here are the pictures. (I've included one of Nelson, who was sleeping on her suitcase.)

Around Alyeska

When we went with Mom and Joe to Girdwood, we stopped at Jack Sprat for dinner and then drove by Alyeska Resort for a little sight seeing. Alyeska is so pretty (you may remember Alyeska from one of my very first posts... this is where we went my first night in Anchorage, where Seven Glaciers is). These are all pictures from around the Alyeska Resort. (Be sure to check out the super corny polar bear part of the arctic scene. Yikes!)

Eagle River Nature Center

Today John, Hayden, and I walked around the Eagle River Nature Center. (It was about 12 miles past the Fourth of July Wal-Mart.)

*We got bells and tied them on our backpack... to keep the bears away (which always reminded me of the scene in Parent Trap where they make the step-mom-to-be clap the sticks).

*We tried to see the salmon spawning, but it was too windy and rippled the water.

*We saw a moose track. I took a photo... one of its hooves was as big as my foot... and you know their legs are small compared to them!

*We touched the water in Eagle River where it was just 12 miles from where it melted off a glacier... it was COLD!

Here are some pictures from our visit.

Coastal Trail- Part Deux

So, here are some much nicer pictures of the Coastal Trail... these are much more representative (but not as funny).