My ECE class!!

School started for me on September 1st. My classroom is in a building owned by the Native Corporation, known as the EDA or the IRA building. All villages have one and in some villages, this is where the ECE/Head Start class is (like here in Golovin). In some villages, the Head Start is held in the school or in a district building near the school.

I have 3 other teachers working with me, employed by Kawerak and not licensed, who are wonderful and have grown up in Golovin -so they are a very good resource for me!! I have 11 students, 7 four-year olds and 4 three-year olds. We have school Monday through Thursday from 8:30 - 3:30. Next week though, we will start having a 3 hour day on Friday, just for the children moving on to Kindergarten in August 2011. This will be a great chance to make sure they are truly ready for school!!

So far, the parent support has been wonderful! Most of the parents work in the same building where I am teaching and so they can pop their heads in and see what is going on and they have been supportive and appreciative of my presence in the classroom and with their children. This makes teaching so much more enjoyable.!!

Teaching this age group is always so fun and fast-paced! Children at this age learn so fast and it is always amazing to hear what they pick up from activities and stories!!

One of the biggest differences in teaching young children out in rural Alaska versus the east coast is the environment. There are no fenced playgrounds with a certain amount of ground cover, no closing school because of a little snow, no rules about keeping plants out of the play area. We take our kids out most every day and they run around a rocky cliff or we go for a walk through the bushes and down steep hills. In the fall, they would pick berries and eat them. In the winter, they slide down the hills on their snow pants. One of our best areas for games is on the road -and all the children know to move over for a truck or 4-wheeler (they call them all Honda's, though there are a few that are different brands) Soon, if we keep getting snow, I guess we will have to move out of the way for snow machines!!

My little ones go and play on the "big school" playground after school and on weekends and once in a while in the fall and spring, we will walk them down the hill (1/2 mile) and let them play during school -then bring them back in one of the teacher's 4-wheeler trailers!! We have skis for all the kids! I can't wait to watch them skiing! We still need more snow and we also need more skis!! Some of the teachers from other sites have even talked about how they took the kids ice-fishing in the winter... WOW! How fun would that be!!

My classroom on the right side of the stairs.