Fish Anyone?

     On Friday several of the high school students and staff went fishing for student lunches. The technique that they used was called drift netting. They place a net that drags behind their boat. They had a good catch, they first delivered fish to the Elders of the village they then filled a freezer in the lunch room. There was enough left over that they gave fish to any staff member that was interested. I got down to the kitchen a little late so I didn't expect to see any left, lucky for me there was plenty left. I got about 20 pounds of fresh Alaska King Salmon. Hopefully next time they go out I will get a chance to go.

 One of the tubs of Salmon

 Students cleaning the fish

 Wrapping the entire fish for later use

 Wow filleting fish is hard work

 One happy worker

Individually wrapped fillets. Yum.

     I am excited to try different recipes, so if anybody has any great fish ideas send them my way. Thanks to the students and staff for catching the fish, and thank you to the community members who let us use their boats.

My First Day as Mr. Cunningham

     Wow I can't believe that four years of college and one year of subbing has lead me to this. I could hardly sleep Sunday night. I purposely went to bed late so that I would be tired. That plan didn't work out as well as I had hoped. It was well after midnight before I fell asleep. However once asleep I did have a pretty restful night....
   

 The sunset before the first day of school

 Amazing right

     The alarm woke me up at 6:20 Monday morning. Lucky for me I had some adrenaline going or I would have been pretty tired. I don't have to be at work until 8:00 but there is no internet in our house so I like to get to work early so I can check my email, Facebook and Shelly's blog. Having two people in one house and only one bathroom could be problematic in the morning, but I tend to wake up and get right into the shower while my roommate likes to squeeze in every minute of sleep he can.

  The first day of school, fancy right (the label says elementary teacher in English and Yup'ik

     Once I was in my classroom I gave my classroom one more look over to make sure that I had everything ready for the day. I am glad that I did because I had forgot to make copies of the introduction worksheet that the students were going to fill out. After making the copies, I just sat in my room in silence preparing mentally.

 My classroom before the chaos of the day

     The day started off in the gym because my principal wanted all of the students to meet the new and returning staff. After the quick assembly it was off to my classroom. Right off the bat the craziness started due to the attendance program not working (they got it fixed). After I called roll there was a student that was sitting at a desk that I hadn't called, so I got his name and scrambled to find him some supplies so we could get started. I began by introducing myself to the class. I talked about where I was from, that I had a family that was still back in Vancouver and that they would be joining me when the housing was completed. After I finished I asked them if they had any questions they wanted to ask about me. They started by asking the usual questions; how old are you and what is your first name. Then I was asked some questions that I think are only asked in Alaskan villages. One student asked "Do you hunt?" I said no to several snickers from the boys. I smiled and said "I'll need one of you to teach me." Another student asked "have you ice fished?" To that I also had to reply that no I had not. Here I am in front of the class being emasculated by 5th and 6th graders. To that question I also said that I need to be taught by one of them. After a few more questions like those, I decided that I had enough of Q and A and that it was time for me to learn some things about them. I had the students fill out a a informational sheet.

The informational sheet with each students picture including myself and my amazing teacher aid Ray

     That little project took us to lunch time. I walked the students to the lunch room and I took a much needed break. There is no breaks from morning to lunch time, and there is no afternoon break, so it makes for a long day. The students are out of the classroom twice a day. First they go to Yup'ik and then PE in the afternoon. I don't send all of the students though, each class is a one hour long so I send a group for a half hour while I work with the rest of the students in my class teaching a small group then they switch. 

      After lunch we had to talk about rules and expectations, the students absolutely loved listening to me drone on and on about how we should act and that they are the oldest of the elementary students so they are setting the example for the younger students.  However I rewarded their good listening by letting them have the full one hour in the gym. We had a good time shooting hoops and smacking the volleyball. It was nice because I was able to talk with several of them one on one. 

    Before I knew it was the end of the day. I talked about a few more procedures and how I want them to prepare for the end of the day. Then they were out the door, and it was done. I had survived my first day as a 5th/6th grade teacher in Marshall, Alaska.

My goofy class (two students are missing)

    

       

Community Fish Fry

Wednesday evening Marshall School hosted a fish fry to get the community excited for the upcoming school year and to meet the new staff. We had a good turn out considering there was a commercial fishing open, it is berry harvesting time, moose hunting recently opened and finally it was a beautiful day outside. I've been told that is has been a very rainy summer here in Marshall. A big hats off to maintenance, the custodians and the cooks for getting the lunch room ready and cooking some delicious halibut and fry bread. Also a thanks to Terry our principal for catching the fish.     

 

 Gloria our wonderful school cook

 

 Nicole (left) assisting in the kitchen Tina giving her encouraging words. 

 Go Marshall!

 This is how the new staff feels

 Summer transportation in Marshall

 This is Joe's sixth year in Marshall, he's pretty much a rock star

 Fry bread

 Fired Halibut

 The community

Some of the Elders

    We are Marshall!

Teacher Training in Anchorage

     A few posts ago I mentioned that my blogs would be out of order because I shipped my personal laptop to Marshall from Anchorage since we were issued a school use laptop from the district and I was out of room in my luggage for two computers. Well it showed up today at the post office. What I was really waiting for was my external hard drive because it had all the pictures that I took while I was in Anchorage. Anyways here is a look at my week in Anchorage Alaska.

 The Hilton Hotel where I stayed for the teacher training

 These bears were in the lobby of the hotel. The one on the left is a Polar Bear, I'm not likely to see any of them. However there have been several Brown Bear sitings since I have been here, they are on the outskirts of the village. Eating the ripe berries and fishing.

 This is where we had dinner on Tuesday night

 It was very fancy

 I had prime rib and salmon it was great

 It is kind of hard to tell but Nicole is blowing a huge bubble

 That's my home

 A very cool exhibit they had at the museum (the sign says don't pet the Musk Ox)

 I like to put in pictures of bears, because they are my sister Andrea's favorite animal : )

 A section of the Alaskan Pipeline 

 A technological marvel of its time

 Another shot of the pipeline

 The new arrivals at Marshall this year.

Top left: Steve (counselor) Cody (7-12 math) Terry (principal) Joshua (5-6 teacher)

Bottom left: Susan (7-12 Science) Nicole (Kindergarten) Molly (1-2 teacher)

 A neat mural painted on the mall

The view out my window. All day I could hear the trains blowing their whistles. It made me think of Logan and Jack.

     The week went by so fast. We had so many meetings it was difficult to get out and explore the city. Anchorage is a beautiful city and I am excited to get a chance to do a little more sight seeing the next time I'm in town.

Sunset in Marshall

     Since I have been in Marshall I haven't seen the sunset. Mostly because I am an old person and go to sleep around 10:00 and the sun has not set yet. Last night I had a chance to Skype with Shelly, we talked for about a hour and a half. It was really nice to see her and get a chance to laugh face to face. After we finished talking it was after ten o'clock. As I walked back to my house from the school I noticed that the sun was beginning to set, so I took a few pictures.

 Sunset at 10:55

 Yukon River

 The island on the other side of the Yukon

A neat old barn

Current Teacher Housing

     New teacher housing is being built, but until then I am staying in the old teacher housing. I am sharing my house with another teacher named Brian, he teaches Social Studies and is a cool guy. We have similar likes and dislikes. From the picture below you can see that he is a Seahawks fan, he is also an avid Oregon Ducks fan so he would get along with my sisters son Alvin.

My roommate Brain

My very BLUE house

No, that is not where they put the cows and horses when it gets cold, that's my house

Instructional Leaders Duplex, his house on one side and the third grade teacher (he has twins too!)

Houses around mine

Houses in the other direction

The mud room

The living/dining room

Kitchen

Laundry room

Stairs that lead to the two bedrooms upstairs. As you can see we have the dining room table all set up.

My room (notice Shelly my bed is made)

My closet, most of the stuff on top was left from the previous teacher

My tiny dresser

 

Last but not least my broken window. Don't worry they put up a piece of plexiglass to keep the cold out.

     I had my first work meeting today. We all introduced ourselves. It was interesting because the morning meeting included everyone. It was very neat because the school doesn't run on teachers alone it takes custodians, a secretary, cooks, maintenance, all number of classified assistants, teachers and a principal. I think it will make for a very cohesive group, no person or job is more important than the other. I am so excited to be here.