Monday March 4, 2024

 Hello all

18 of our secondary students were taken to Montreal for a week to experience southern culture, and to explore post graduate educational opportunities.  The trip was put together by our School Director.  It was an outstanding opportunity for youth to see what is going on outside of this remote village.  From all reports, the students were well received, and they really had their eyes opened.  They went to museums, post secondary institutions, and were partners in a student exchange.  They also got to see the Montreal Canadians play!  Wish I could have been there!!  The other students will be coming here in April.

Weather continues to be the story .  Last week we lost 3 school days because of the snow, ice and blizzard conditions.  This means that services such as water and sewage are put on hold because they can't get around in the heavy snow.  The community has 2 loaders, and their main job is to keep the airstrip open.  Then of course, one of the loaders had mechanical issues.  The whole community comes to a crashing halt!  This afternoon, the one loader finally made it to our place to clean out the snow so that the trucks could get in to do their job.

At school, no water and no sewage either.  There is a lot of snow to first be moved.  If it is not moved, there will be no school tomorrow.  Always something.  There are 14 calendar school days left before the holidays, but already things are happening to reduce that.  My guess that we will have maybe 12 good days or less of actual school time.

With so many disruptions, it is very hard to keep the kids going, and to keep them motivated.  My little class keeps chugging along.  They like active learning, so I have a lot going on.  They love the singing games and Kodaly stuff that I used years ago.  That, along with the Marian Rose Step Lively dance series, and rhythm band, we are having a pretty darn good time.  We are even doing some jazzy tunes with syncopation!!

Looking forward to seeing some of you during the holidays.

Blowing snow on my classroom window

You can see how the snow is blown into drifts, closing down the road way.

Practicing, code red, that is lock down, kids are to hide--in this case, under my desk!!!  There are crazies here--in the fall 3 people were murdered by rifle in this community, so everyone takes lock down very seriously.