Days 14-15: Meetings and Greetings

Hey!

Today's been another fantastic day at KCS. Yesterday was pretty good, too. Last night's (as in Tuesday night) activities were amazing! We had our normal study hour with the boys and girls, and then it was time to have the student of the month party! It was basically a middle school dance setup with boys and girls ranging in age from 5 to 15. It was so much fun. Just like at middle school dances, all the girls were on one side, and boys were on the other. However, there were a ton of kids who busted moves on the dance floor while others stayed in a circle around and watched. It was definitely a fun experience. 

Today was an amazing day. Our Project director was expected to be here this afternoon to meet with us and talk about our placements so far. It was a great meeting. I was very happy to see a familiar face, and talk about how things were going with someone who has been a part of the project before. We ended up meeting in the older boys' TV room and talked about how things were going and what paperwork we needed to turn in. One of the other student teachers, Janace, was sharing stories about her teacher and her classroom. I think my favorite one is where a kid told her that his poop went away. We weren't sure if it was because the teacher scared him (she likes to yell sometimes, and these are first graders) or if he just wasn't thinking about it anymore, so he didn't need to go. It was hilarious! I'm just so happy to have a great teacher in my classroom and some good kids. 

In class today, I took over the "new concept" in math. We talked about fractions, and it was a good conversation and presentation of how fourths and eighths work. I can't wait for tomorrow, because we'll be discussing using thermometers. The best part about this week is that Friday is early-release (we get half days every other Friday), and then I should be heading to Phoenix to spend Labor Day Weekend with my cousin Kyle. I haven't seen his house in person, so I'm pretty excited! :)

Tonight, we had a fire drill. It was pretty interesting. Janace and I had to run in and rescue one of the little girls from the "fire." She was sound asleep, so we woke her up, tried to get her to put her shoes on, and then Janace just carried her out of the building. I think the girls need another practice soon. Her roommate just left her in bed.

Hope you all have a great rest of the week and a wonderful weekend!!!

Another awesome picture from D. I love the big dinosaur.

Day 13- Just Another Monday

Hello! 

Today was another Monday. We were supposed to start NWEA testing this morning, but I guess our computers were not ready, so it looks like it got pushed back a day. I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of how things are working in the classroom, even adding my own touch to some of the things in it. I really like my teacher, and we get along pretty well. The kids are doing alright, but I feel like today was a sleepy day for them. I'm hoping tomorrow will be much better.

Aside from the regular school day today, us ladies were held responsible for study hour (normal), and then we made a cute bulletin board for the parent open house coming up soon. I would've posted pictures, but I didn't take any yet... It's a cute apple tree made by Linda and Janace, with little apples describing some of the activities we do at KCS. It also has a title above it, saying, "Fall Back Into Learning." It's adorable. I also cut out 32 apples for the little girls to decorate during activity time tomorrow. They will be able to put them on their doors so their parents know where they are staying and may be able to see their room. I'm not really sure how this open house thing will work, but we'll see. 

That's really all there was for today... it was a pretty boring day compared to the weekend. :)

Hope you all have an excellent week!

Days 11-12: Wild, Wild Weekend

Well... that was interesting.

This weekend has been action-packed! We took a trip to Chinle in hopes of hitting up the fair and going to a gathering before an Enemy Way Ceremony. We saw some of the staff from the school at the gathering, and ate some great mutton, squash, and white corn stew, as well as some fry bread and fresh fruit. There were also some roasted green chiles, which were fantastic. 

Fry bread with roasted green chile.

After we ate to our bodies' content, we headed back to town, then decided on heading to Canyon de Chelly. There are a billion pictures on Facebook, but I'll put some on here, too.

View of the canyon from the first overlook.

I almost wanted to go down the stairs... just because it said it was prohibited. However, I was a good citizen. :)

Another canyon photo. You can see little cave-like things in the canyon wall. They're pretty neat.

Me looking at the canyon.

Just one of the more epic photos of Nick on the trip so far... no big deal.

Spider Rock!

Me in front of Spider Rock... also my new profile picture on Facebook.

Catching some rays and a breeze at the canyon.

Beautiful sunset...

Today was also very action-packed. Linda and I visited Kayenta Bible Church today, which seems like a great church to attend while I'm on the Reservation. It seems like a smaller version of either one of my churches back at home (LLBC and CBC), which made me feel very relaxed. I was so glad to be back in church after not being able to for over a week. :)

After church, we got ready to head out to one of the cafeteria worker's family's home, where they keep horses and sheep. The home is located in Cow Springs, but it's not really on one of the main roads. We spent most of the trip going about 10-25 mph on a dirt road. You really haven't seen backroads until you've been on these. 

These are the backroads... Barely paths, but people drive these all the time!

We let the sheep out to go graze in the field and get some exercise, then got the horses out. It had been awhile since I have ridden a horse, so it was like learning all over again. My legs were too short to reach the stirrups to get on the horse, so I had to stand on a cooler or something to get on, and then just jump off. I rode two different horses, Nahnibelle and Princess. Princess was my favorite horse because she was very compliant, and  liked to follow Billy, one of the male horses. The girls were both quarter horses, but Billy was a mustang, so he loved to run. We had a great time riding, and then cooked out afterwards. I went with Nick and one of the men to go get water from the well for the horses and sheep. That was by far the most interesting conversation with anyone I've had so far on the Reservation. The man, Jeff, was very open about his life and the Navajo ways he had learned as he got older. He talked a lot about how life is interesting and how there are so many things to learn as we grow older. 

When we got back to the house after retrieving the water and giving it to the animals, we made fry bread. the ladies inside had already made the dough, it was just our turn to make it into circles and stretch it out to fry it. Mine turned out pretty well! Apparently, if a single woman, like myself, makes good fry bread, she is a good woman for a Navajo man to marry. If I master this, I may come back with a husband! lol. 

The trip back to Kayenta was a little rough. My rear end was sore from a fall on the rocks on Friday night (I'm fine, no worries) and from horseback riding today. We ended up turning the wrong direction at one point in time because the people we were following were going too fast for our driver to catch up. When we came to a turn, we could not see where they went, so we ended up going the wrong direction. Once we got it figured out, though, it wasn't too hard to find our way back to civilization. We got home around 9:30, and now I'm exhausted. I'm looking forward to a great day at school tomorrow, although I'm pretty sure we start NWEA testing. Hopefully it will be a happy day!!!

Day 10- It's Friday!!!

It's Friday!!! No early release this Friday, but it is the end of week one for us, which makes me really happy! It was a great week, but it was so long. I'm looking forward to being out and about instead of being in the classroom all day. I love my kids and my teacher, but it's time for a break. :)

After school today, all the kids checked out of the dorm and went home. I took a nice little nap this evening, and when I woke up, I felt so energized. Nick decided he was going to take a hike up the rocks, since it's not really owned by anyone, and I decided to tag along and see how far we would go. The rocks in our backyard (of the school) are called the Toes. We ended up just in front of the Big Toe, but the rest of the climb looked pretty treacherous, and I was a first time rock climber tonight. 

The Toes

We saw some bones...

At the end of the first big hike... We went a lot further, though.

Nick looking at the sleepy little town we now call home.

Sweet pool up on the rocks. It was basically back to monsoon season yesterday, so the holes in the rocks were filled with water. I think it should be the new Kayenta Family Aquatic Center: only open after it rains. :)

Loving the view

The little Toes, up closer.

One of my favorite views.

The big Toe is right behind me... but the lighter part looked REALLY steep. This was my "I did it!" picture.

The last photo was probably taken in the general vicinity of the red circle, but it's hard telling. It was still an awesome hike.

Well, I think the photos with captions probably say a lot about my night. It was fantastic. There are also additional photos on my Facebook page. Hope you all had a wonderful day!!

Day 9- Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, today was another great day! I'm loving my kids more than ever, even though they are so squirrelly in the hallway. I have been the one in charge of taking them to lunch the past couple of days, which has been a bit of a struggle. There are just a couple of boys who really like to talk and move around, especially in the hallway. I am definitely open to ideas that would appeal to third graders... currently doing some research. I've heard of the "one on the hip, one on the lip," but I just feel like that wouldn't go over very well with 8-9 year old boys. 

Aside from my hallway woes, today was wonderful. I wore my boots my parents got me for my birthday and a sundress with a sweater. The boots were surprisingly comfy, since I've only worn them twice since I got them, and a bunch of the little girls at the school said they loved my dress and my boots. After school, we had a teachers' meeting with all of the teachers in the school. It was nice to be there for that, especially since they introduced us to the other teachers in the building who we may not have met.  

Tonight was full of adventures. It was a different kind of night at the dorm-movie night! The girls still had their normal study hour, but if they did not have homework, they could watch a movie. The two girls from my class who live in the dorm tried to skip out on their homework, but I guess that is what stinks about living with your teacher. :) They ended up getting finished just in time for bed, but one of the girls is behind on her homework, so we need to work on it pretty hard pretty soon. After study hour, it was time to head to Bashas' for my birthday with Linda and Nick, two of the other student teachers at my school. We browsed through the aisles and bought some necessities, such as juice and Gatorade. While on the prowl for some goodies, I found some of my favorite cookies. They are the Lofthouse frosted sugar cookies with sprinkles. Nick was kind enough to buy me the cookies for my birthday, and they were delicious, as always. We came back and ate some leftover fajitas, a cookie, and I got a giant Capri Sun from the bag of snacks I had for the trip out here. Greatest 10 o'clock snack I've had in a long time. Overall, it's been a wonderful day, and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I'm just wondering how I'll herd my squirrels around the school again. 

Hope you all had a great day!!

Day 8- Routines and Great Artwork

Today was fabulous. I felt like I was actually getting into a routine, and it was great. It's also Wednesday, which means the weekend is just around the corner. I love doing what I'm doing, but I'm also ready for not waking up before 6 AM this weekend. 

The kids in my class were a little crazy today, but that's normal for third grade. There's one kid who just gets so antsy. He's also very loud. He seems like a nice kid, though, too. I'm hoping he'll just start to get serious eventually. Today he was just abnormally loud and obnoxious. He got recess taken away today (by the teacher) and was working on the possibility of losing it tomorrow, too. I felt pretty bad for him because I know he probably needs to have some time to get out some energy. 

After school today, I met with my cooperating teacher to talk about how she'd like me to do lesson plans. I'm going to start out doing it like she does, and hopefully work toward doing more of my own thing later. I know our school is one of those that is pretty strict about what is being taught, so that will be a struggle, but I can see how she tries to sneakily add to the curriculum to give the students a richer experience. I have gained so much more respect for this woman than I had on Monday. I guess Monday is more of an "introduce what's going on" day, so it seemed so dry and boring and scripted. It's getting much better, though. We did literacy centers today, and even had some art time after the read aloud. It was great.

One of the kids is an amazing artist. Well, I think he is. The most interesting part of his drawings is his process. He make so many details, and will even do sound effects to make the picture come to life. It just amazes me. Here it is:

After supper tonight, which was pretty tasty (pork chops and french fries and broccoli), I came back to the dorm to help with study hour. The girls were a little crazy, but they're all under the age of 11 and probably didn't get to go outside very much today. I guess I'm used to camp and fun things more than being "mom" at a boarding(ish) school. The only thing that stinks is that the teachers expect the students to do things at home with their parents, but the girls who are dorm students only have the dorm aids (4 ladies) and then us 3 ladies from IU. Again, I'm sure this is something I'll adjust to, but I know the girls in my class didn't have time tonight to be drilled on their different math problems tonight. They needed to be kids and run around instead of spending 9+ hours "in school." The girls did get to draw some pictures today, and some of them just warmed my heart. :)

I told the girls about how I used to do gymnastics when I was a kid, and they were very interested. One made this picture of all the tricks she could do. 

This girl was talking about loving church. She also told me about her rough home life tonight. It was hard to hear, but I was glad she opened up to me. :)

This one is from one of the girls in my class. On the front it said, "love, [her name]. Look on the back."

After study hour and their half hour play time, the girls were starting to go to bed, and that was my cue to make myself hidden so they could focus on getting to sleep. I came into my room and realized I wanted to go for a walk. I texted one of the other student teachers, Nick, and we went for a walk around the grounds. It was great. We talked about our classrooms, how we're adjusting to life at KCS. It was great to talk to someone my age who is going through a very similar experience. I feel there may be some more walks in the future, especially if we're bouncing lesson ideas off of each other. 

Well, tomorrow is another big day, and I get to sleep in until 6 AM!!! Woohoo! 

Day 7- Good Days, Bad Vibes (there's a rant in this one...)

Hey, all!

Today was a great day. Emphasis on was. It started out wonderfully. I got up on time to serve breakfast, looking beautiful, if I do say so myself. Serving breakfast was fine, and so was the beginning of the day. It took a turn around lunch time...

I was put in charge of making sure my girls and a little first grader who got to lunch late would all make it back to class. Usually, after lunch time is a ten minute recess to get the wiggles out. Right after that, we all go back to class. Apparently, it took much longer than anticipated for one of my girls and the first grader to get outside. Our class was gone, and I did not have a key. I had to wait for the other teacher on the playground to collect her class and line them up to go inside. The first grader wanted to go to class on her own, and the girl from my class wanted to stay by my side. I let the first grader go to her room (she was right down the hall from us), and dropped off the girl in my class so I could go make sure she made it back. She did, thankfully. However, my second transport of kids for the day went pretty badly. One of the boys needed to go to the bathroom really badly as we were lining up to go back to class. I told him to go on ahead and go, as the bathroom was just around the corner. When I was counting the kids to return to the classroom, I was one short. He was missing. I asked the boys to check the bathroom, and he wasn't there. I took them back to class and told my cooperating teacher what had happened. I returned to the hall to look for him. I went to all the bathrooms in the school, peeked in the Resource Room (he's allowed to go there when he needs it), checked in the office, and also in the gym. I went back to the classroom and he wasn't back yet. "Oh great, I lost a kid," went through my head many times today. My teacher said to double check the Resource Room to make sure he wasn't in there. I opened the door, get ready to ask them if he's in there, and I look just to my left. He was there, the whole time, right by the door, playing on the computer. Phew. The teachers and I had a good laugh about it. Never again will I let this particular boy go to the bathroom on his own, not when he doesn't have the standard school hall pass, which is an orange reflective vest (similar to those used in construction sites and by people directing traffic) with the words "HALL PASS- EXCUSED" typed on them. 

The day was okay after that little freak-out. During dismissal and after school, I was talking with Nick, who made the day a little bit better with some humor and awesome tales of the eighth grade. He took a tour of my classroom with my teacher and I, and we walked back to the dorms to get ready for the pre-supper activities. The little girls (the ones in my wing) were all showering, so I went over to the cafeteria about 40 minutes early. I ended up talking with some of the cafeteria workers and attempting to kill some flies. We had a great supper tonight-mutton stew and fry bread with fruit/marshmallow salad. It was delicious.

After supper was the real downside of my day. I guess some of the people we are working with (not from IU) have been saying things about us not meeting their expectations. I don't get it... all of us have been so willing to help, never turned anyone down if they ask for something. I know I'm always asking what I should be doing, who I can help, etc., so I am not quite sure how I could be described as "lazy" at this point in time. The worst part about it was that they haven't said ANYTHING to any of us about doing extra activities, even when we ask. It's frustrating, but I'm hoping once we all get into a routine, things will be better. Maybe we will even communicate with one another. :)

After this discovery, I made it my priority to be a great helper tonight. I asked the dorm aid what she wanted me to do since the girls had finished watching their fire safety video. I was the one running around like a madwoman, making sure the girls were getting their homework done, getting their PJs on, and getting ready for bed. The dorm aid was the one handing the girls their freshly laundered clothes (she washed/dried them, I'm pretty sure) and making sure they brushed their teeth and sending them to bed. It was a pretty crazy night. The other two ladies from IU were also helping with homework and bedtime, too. 

Hopefully we're not considered lazy anymore. :) 

Aside from that, it was actually a good day. I just want to play outside, though. I feel bad for the girls because they only get so much free time since they are in bed by 8. :/ 

I'm thinking tomorrow will be great!!! It's hump day (middle of the week) and the day before my birthday! Yay!