*** Destination Vacation ***

I grew up traveling every summer with my grandparents. I love visiting places! Some of the places we went included Mount Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, Denver, Nauvoo, Illinois, Branson, Missouri, and Kansas City, Missouri (every other year).

We would visit KC to see my aunt and uncle. Mostly we would just hang out but we would make sure to catch a Royals baseball game and visit Worlds of Fun. :)

We ALWAYS spent a week at the Oregon Coast. I don't have pictures from there because it's been way too long since I've been. We would take a camper and head to Cape Lookout State Park.

(Taken from OregonStateParks.org)

It is a great place. I spent a lot of time playing around the campsites and out on the beach. Now the Oregon Coast is not a warm beach. It is cold, I usually had to get numb to play in the water, and it has a habit of being windy, but it is gorgeous! We would walk the beach, make sand castles, fly kites and take little day trips.  We would visit Depoe Bay and Lincoln City.

I have to mention were I live…South Central Alaska! I say it collectively because if you want to see the best places, you do have to travel a little. Be prepared to pull some long days but it is an amazing place! When we have visitors our must see places include:

Palmer Reindeer Farm:

Some kind of ocean excursion out of Seward or Homer…charter fishing trip, wildlife tour, or just out on a boat of someone we know, if they don't keep moving :)

Hikes…they are all over the place! 

Musk Ox Farm in Palmer

Fishing on one of the many rivers… This is the Kenai.

This is the Russian River and yes, that is a mama brown bear with two cubs.

 Visit a glacier…pick one. This is the Matanuska Glacier

The Native Alaskan Heritage Center in Anchorage

Visit Talkeetna to try to catch a glimpse of our country's highest mountain, Mckinley AKA Denali.

Or even just a nice river float trip.

Our favorite place to eat is Moose's Tooth a pizza place in Anchorage. We don't drink but a lot of people like the place because they brew their own stuff. I just like the pizza. :) For a spendy place to eat, I also like Glacier Brewhouse in downtown/tourist area Anchorage. 

You should totally come visit! 

There are many places that I have not even touch on. 

North to Alaska! The Last Frontier!

Five for Friday: Back in the Groove

I've been MIA for the past couple of weeks. I have been busy figuring out some unexpected things for school and then trying to relax at home with my family. Key word: trying 

My husband is super sweet and I am lucky that he tolerates my incapacity to just leave things alone. I am hoping that by Mid-September that I will have the majority of my kinks worked out. 

Now for...

My husband finally came home from his {10 day turned 2 1/2 week) work assignment right in the middle of back to school. I will admit, I was a little overwhelmed during that time.

He is definitely my rock.

 

We had a beautiful double (full) rainbow and a view of Pioneer Peak. 

We were in the car so this picture really doesn't do it justice.

We meal planned and I had leftovers for a lunches for a couple of days. Yay!

This is the Asian Beef Noodles (made with moose meat) from Chef in Training.

We've also had Baked Cream Chicken Taquitos. 

Both were yummy and not difficult to make. 

This is my first go to website for fairly simple recipes.

I found a solution to the passing out/collecting materials!

Future post to come.

As well as how I am going to run my intervention reading class, social studies for each homeroom, and my *hopefully-still in the planning phase* somewhat flipped math class! 

We have an "Opening Day PD" for the ENTIRE district (we span at least 2 hours driving from one side the the other) the Friday before Labor Day every year. I think part of it is because the Alaska State Fair starts after we go back to school, so they give families a day to go without missing school. We teachers meet and have kind of a "State of the District" address, a keynote speaker or two, some pretty yummy food from our nutrition services and get out early.

Our district is beginning "Capturing Kids Hearts" from the Flip Flippen group. 

They also made a "Happy" video, I didn't get the part that our kids were in but if I am able to post it, I will.

Saturday Snapshot- Hubby Version

These are pictures that my husband took on the boat during his 3 week work assignment in False Pass, AK. 

Check out other pictures including the amazing photos by the linky host, 

Run! Miss Nelson's Go the Camera.  :)

*Steph*

Wednesday Link Ups

A busy week with family…. my parents & nephew flew out this morning. Now I am packing mode for me and the little one. We fly out the night of the 4th of July. Don't worry, I won't miss much. With it being pretty much daylight all the time during the summer, you can't really see any fireworks. That's one of the downfalls to Alaska because I love fireworks. Oh well… can't have everything. 

I have been taking all sorts of pictures for the last 10 days. We have had tons of fun in the Last Frontier. However, when I went to see if I had a picture that I could use for this fun linky…I found none! I took all the pictures and was hardly in of them! Ever happen to you? I'm hoping my mom got at least of few of me with the kids on her camera. So this week you just get to look at my adorable little girl again.  

Pant/Jacket: Carter's Set

Life Vest: Kids Don't Float 

(It's awesome! Most of the docks up here have vests that you can borrow for kids to go on the boats.)

What sort of "celebrities" do you have in your area? 

This is Lance Mackey, a dog musher who is also a 4 time winner of the Iditarod.

New Grade = New Rug

 I am a sucker for things that have to do with the geography. Moving into 5th grade opened up my classroom for things related to the United States instead of just Alaska. There are a lot more resources/fun stuff available to me now! :) I found this rug at Costco for $16. It's not super big, but it will work in my new, smaller classroom.

I got a kick out of the picture they had associated with Alaska.

 Seriously people, we don't live in igloos.

I'm going to add this to the Fabulist because I think it is a fun rug for a reasonable price. :)

*Steph*

Art Tuesday: Leaf Rubbings

In an earlier post, I mentioned that my 4th graders made calendars with pieces of art based on Alaska. I saw that Mel at Frog Spot has an art link up. I thought it would be fun to show a few of the calendar pieces we do. I will share one today and another on a different Tuesday! (I need to have something to blog about throughout the summer!) 

September here in Alaska is way different from the lower 48! I remember growing up in Eastern Oregon and then spending time in Cache Valley, Utah for college. The fall was lit up in color! Here in AK, we mainly get yellow/green in the fall. It is also very quick! Once the leaves turn, it is only a week or two before they fall. My school is named after a creek, which is named after a common tree up here, cottonwoods. We try to get all the kids to do a rubbing of a cottonwood tree for the calendar, but it doesn't always happen. This is usually the first calendar page we do. 

We take the kids out and let them find a few leaves from the ground. After they all have their leaves,  they practice leaf rubbings on a blank paper before they do it on their classifying worksheet. Once they have their rubbings, they identify the shape, the vein pattern, and the type of edge. After all of that, they are usually able to get a great rubbing for their calendar! They also get creative and start mixing colors. 

To do a leaf rubbing there are a few key steps. 

First, have a fresh leaf. If the leaf is old, the veins aren't as plump and won't show up in the rubbing as well. 

Second, use a crayon that doesn't have any paper on it and hold it horizontal. 

Three, hold the paper with the non-crayon hand so that it doesn't slip around. If it slips, your rubbing will become all smudged and not as clear.

Four, if needed, lift the crayon and carefully push away from you on areas that are not being cooperative. 

Practice makes perfect!

How do you integrate art and/or science into your day?

*Steph*

Are We Crazy? Overnight Field Trip

The rite of passage activity for the 4th graders at my school is an overnight field trip to Seward, AK. It takes A LOT to get organized. There are arrangements with places to be made, permission slips and money to collect, food to buy and prepare to serve, and then actually be willing to spend almost 36 hours straight with our students. CRAZY! The days before the field trip are busy, busy and the kids are super excited. There are a few times that I think "I'm crazy. I can't do this." but it always works out well and everyone has a lifetime experience! That is why we do it. That is why we stress ourselves out and even corner some parents to get them to sign the permission slip. For some of these kids, this the only time they will ever be able to experience anything like this. 

Our first stop is the playground/pavilion. The kids get to run around after being on the bus for 3 1/2 hours. This year, they actually were on a bus longer because their first bus started overheating so they had to get a new one. (I drove my own car because my little family was able to come with. You'll also see my daughter in some pictures instead of students because I don't have to blur out her face.)

They were able to see a sea otter and a couple of sea lions from the shore by the playground!

Our next stop was the Alaska Sea Life Center. It is a great place that focuses on Alaska marine animals. It is also a rehabilitation center for some animals. The kids were divided into small groups and sent with a chaperone and a scavenger hunt. This was a must. If the students don't have something specific to be looking at/for, they tend to just wander through without paying much attention to the information. 

Enjoying the Touch Tank!

Sugar, the female sea lion, putting on a show for they kids. Woody, the male sea lion, was in a back area. He is huge though! He weights 1,700 lbs!

We walked past this little cafe and one of my students pointed out that if they took out the Z then it would be my cafe. I couldn't resist a picture after that.

Playing a little bit of football with an awesome dad! 

We stayed the night in the gym of the local elementary school. The next morning we were up and at 'em and headed to the boat. We participated in the Kenai Fjord Marine Science Workshops.

Heading out into Resurrection Bay

Kids pulling in some plankton to look at under microscopes. They had to identify zooplankton and phytoplankton.

Checking out animals that are decomposers, consumers, and scavengers after a prevention from a park ranger.

Pulling in some water to determine the salinity. 

Sea lions! They did have a class on marine mammals and sea birds and their adaptations for the arctic.

We were able to see many different animals. On the shore, we saw mountain goats and sea lions. Out in the water, we saw a North Pacific Humpback whale, Dall's porpoise, many sea birds, sea otter, and a small pod of orcas!

One even decided to come check out our boat! That was really exciting!

The field trip wouldn't be the same without an awesome team that coordinates their jackets without talking!