School News

We had several big events in January- starting with the district spelling bee. It was held as a video conference since the weather prevented us from flying our students to White Mountain where it was held. No matter- one of our team won!!! She will travel to Anchorage later in February for the state competition.

The district spelling champion.
Shaktoolik's spelling team.



Family Math Night



Family Math NightWe had a good turn out of students and parents for an evening of math games.


The One Hundredth Day of School
Kindergarten and First grade classes celebrated the 100th day of school. 80 more to go!
Amanda and Gloria had to get in on the act!

January in Shaktoolik

I came back to temperatures that were 25-35 degrees below zero. Bud and Buddy joined me a week later. It has been either too cold or too windy to do much outside. Bud did get out ice fishing once. Some of the men have traveled 100 miles round trip on snowmachines to hunt caribou. We traded some whitetail meat for caribou. Everyone is hoping the herd will come closer to us, but it doesn't look like it.

Poor Buddy is getting cold feet out in this weather. We have to get boots for him. The sled dog booties we have are too small so I have ordered others.
How do you like my wolf ruff? It is great when the wind blows. Behind is Norton Sound in the Bering Sea- frozen has far as we can see.

Winter days in Shaktoolik/Nathan

The days are at their shortest- we have about 5 hours of daylight. The temperature this week dropped to 20 degrees below zero so the ocean is freezing. It looks like a sea of whipped cream. I will in Montana for the next two weeks. Just a few new pictures until I get back. Nathan
The frozen sea.
Sunset at 3:30 pm
High noon- mid December

Bud's Mountain Lion

While hunting for deer in the Swan Valley Bud caught sight of the head of a lion. He took a shot and got it. He will have it made into a rug to hang on the wall.

A snowy Thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving weekend was great for skiing. My skis arrived that week so I was anxious to get out. Once I was out, many of the young kids also wanted to ski. The school has skis for them so we got them out. Friday and Saturday were great. Nice snow on the roads, a small hill down to the river. I did get out on two long runs by myself, then played around with the kids. I only got a couple pictures before my camera battery died, so I will get more later. Unfortunately there will be no skiing this weekend. The temperatures have been in the 30-40 degree range, we had some rain and last the night and today 50-60 mph winds!. Now we have a muddy, icy mess. I hope is gets cold and snows again soon.

I put a link to Jess's blog on top right hand side of this page. Go there for more news and pictures.

Family Literacy Night

Last week we held our first Family Literacy Night. Students and parents could choose from five activity centers. One was winter books featuring The Mitten, one was animal books featuring polar bears and penguins, and another had Dr. Suess books. At each table were related craft or puzzle activities. There was also a station for making bookmarks and one for computer activities. About 12 students and their parents participated. (that is half the elementary school, not bad for the first time) Next month we will have math night.

Erin and Tom

For those of you who have not seen any of the wedding pictures of Erin and Tom's wedding I have posted two. One from the ceremony and one of Erin and Bud dancing.

The latest news is Erin and Tom are expecting a baby!! The baby is due next June.