Game Night

Ohh…what a week.  I think my favorite part of being here so far was the wrestling match.  Seeing the kids come out of their shells, having fun interacting, and having such a great time…it was amazing.

This week, we didn’t have our counselor, principals, or many of our teachers or aides.  It was a huge mess!  They were sick, had surgeries, had to go back to where they were from, had to go to Anchorage for medical, and had conferences in Anchorage.  Ahh!!!  We got through it though.  It was a time to come together as a staff.

I got a few packages this week!  Mom, Karen, Dianne, and Brenda (the snowflakes) sent me a package from Horracks.  It was awesome!  A way for me to get my fruits and veggies!  Dried!  They are so good.  Everyone’s jealous here.  Thanks ladies!

Then I got some packages yesterday.  I got one from Mom and Pops – stuff from up north I think. J I got a Lake Michigan-Unsalted sweatshirt, Petoskey stone (it’s so funny to show it to people and they don’t know what it is and have never heard of Petoskey…), salsa, a Big Bang Theory Game!, and many other great things for me to keep and entertain myself here.  Laura asked if the weekly packages were going to keep up.  I don’t get them weekly!  But they are awesome to get when they come!  Thank you so much!  I also got my wireless router and “30Days of Night (movie)”, we should be watching it soon.

Then, we had anti-bullying day on Friday.  The kids learned about how bullying has effected others in each subject area and then made posters to hang around school.  It was a good impact on the kids. 

We had game-night Friday night where we just had a bunch of board games set up all over the cafeteria for the kids to come in and play.  We planned it for 1 ½ hours starting at 7:00pm, but they were all having so much fun we kept it open until 9:00pm.  The kids, parents, and elders had a great time.  And so did we as the staff!  Sara, Nate, Laura, Brynn, and I loved playing with the kids!

Tonight we’re having a movie night.  We’re doing Finding Nemo for the little kids and The Blind Side for the older kids.  They’re all excited.  We’re trying to do as much as we can for the kids on the weekends.  They don’t really have a lot to do here after school.

Laura and I wrote a grant to get Wii and Xbox 360 Kinect’s here to get the kids active after school and exercising.  I’m writing the NBA and Alaska Airlines to see if we can send the high schoolers to an NBA game in Oregon.  I don’t know if I’m going to get anywhere, but I’m really trying my hardest.  On that same note, we could really use some winter gear in all sizes here.  If you have anything, we would love to take it off your hands.  It’s a very needy school, so anything you can spare – gloves, hats, coats, snowpants, sweatpants…anything – it would help out a lot!  Again, you can send it to my PO box 234, Emmonak, AK 99581.  Extra snacks and food would be helpful too for the kids.  They come into my classroom quite often saying they’re hungry.  I’m constantly trying to buy Nurti-grain bars, Granola bars, and snacks like that to give them.  I have candy to give them when they’re good, but I’m running out of everything!  Thanks to anyone who can do anything to help the kids out here.

PS, I just posted this from my bedroom in bed.  I have two bars...if I don't move...maybe I can keep internet... :)