Blogging behind....

I have had all good intentions to blog several times over the last few weeks... however, they remained just that... intentions :) Our internet is currently out in teacher housing and by the end of the school day, I really want to get out of the work environment and into comfier clothes and be at home. BUT, I must, must write! I have such a terrible memory and these blog entries are truly part of me documenting my life in VAK. So, write I must.

I'd like to give a shout-out to Chet from Dillingham :) I had the pleasure of meeting him while in Anchorage at the end of my summer break. He told me that he follows my blog and his one complaint is that I don't write enough! That was a super awesome compliment and it definitely was nice to meet someone who follows my journalings. So, thanks Chet!

Also, Allison B. from South Carolina has been following my blog for a time now and has encouraged me to keep writing. Thanks! It is motivation to kick my butt into gear and get writing because before I know it, another year of school will have flown by!

Alrighty...

we had our first full week of school this week. My kiddos were shown no mercy and we jumped right into the Smart Start of our reading program. Vocab, phonics, flashcards, dotting i's, capitalizing the first letter of our sentences, characters/setting, beginning/middle/end.... you got it... Miss Nelson's class is back in session! Lol

I feel like I learn so much each year... it is always different from the previous. And, I love that in some ways. It definitely gets old starting from scratch when it comes to saying things like, "Do we need to yell Miss Nelson over and over again?" or "Do we need to yell out when we are finished?" :-) These things are part of training little buddies for second grade... it comes with the job. They are already learning so quickly though. I hope to see great gains with this group and that I will give them everything I have as their teacher. Children never fail to give you a challenge, and those are what I live for.

This semester I will be taking two grad courses through UAF. One is an independent course and the other will meet weekly. This means... I am poor! Lol. I really wanted to earn my master's without taking out loans, and so far that has gone well for me. But, this year I will take two classes in the fall and two in the spring, as well. It will be a tight year financially, but worth it in the end... right?! ;)

Though I am excited for my readings and the papers to come, I am enjoying my last week of no real due dates for me. A colleague loaned me a book about one family's experience with Hurricane Katrina. It is a book completely worth recommending and is titled, Zeitoun by David Eggers.

Also, last night I got together with a close friend of mine and we built a fire last night not too far from teacher housing. It was great! Every fall I tell my co-workers that I want to have a good ol' campfire, but it never happens. Though it was a pretty sad fire, we did it and invited some neighbors to join us. Good times were had and Becky's coat totally smelled of fire today... it was worth it :) The only lame thing was that neither one of us had a camera to take a pic of our little spontaneous adventure! Next time, next time.

Alaska has not had the best of summers this year... and, Chevak is no exception. We have had about a day and a half of sun since I returned here two weeks ago, though I hear Anchorage is finally getting its sumer.

Hope you all enjoy the pics and I hope that I will make it a point to post again soon so that my writings are not so far and few between, and so that the postings will be a tad shorter...

Cheers!

Misty