This week has been focused on getting report cards out. They are due Sunday night at 11:59 pm. Because we have a levelized system here instead of grades for student placement, it is A LOT different from anything I am familiar with. (Story of my Alaskan life.) Anyway, every child has a list of standards to complete for each subject. The subjects I grade my students on include Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies, PE, and Employability Skills. Once all standards have been completed in one level, the child can then move up to the next level. Standards can be checked off according to skills, performance, or projects. Skills standards are based on a point system, performance standards are graded by marking developing, proficient, or advanced, and project standards are graded by marking A, B, or C. Each child is working on a different standard from basically everyone in the class. Every child moves at his or her own pace. Because of this, I have some eight-year-olds that are on the equivalent level of a first grader in math. I also have some six-year-olds that are on a second grade reading level. It is crazy. To make matters worse, the teacher they had last year in Kindergarten did not enter the standards correctly (I mean... it is all such an easy concept. *Sarcasm*) so I have to go in and fix everything. In addition to that problem, the teacher that was in my room last year left halfway through the year on maternity leave so everything her students did the rest of the year did not get checked off.... SO I have to go in and fix it ALL to get the kids where they are supposed to be. This includes testing the kids through the standards assessments, informal observation, etc. By the way, each student has about 200 standards in each grade level and I have 13 students. I had to test 9 students in level 1 and 2. Do the math. It equals TOO MUCH WORK FOR ONE WEEK! But, it is finished! Now, I just have to record the grades/standards/levels/behavior on report cards. Safe to say, I feel like I know this system quite well due to the problems I was handed to solve.
That has consumed my week so I do not have anything interesting. Sorry to all of the non-teachers out there who might be even more confused than the teachers after reading the above story!
The first snowfall happened this week! I had to put ice cleats on my boots! They will probably not come off my boots until April or May.
We are supposed to move into the new teacher housing at the end of the month!!! Hopefully, it will be soon so I can add more pictures to my blog! The new housing is looking REALLY NICE!!!!!!!!!
Oh, four seals were donated to the school. And I thought I was the one with the bad week... poor seals!
Yes, it is legal for Natives to hunt and kill seals and whales here. They cut out the blubber, boil it, and eat it. The blubber is a two or three inch layer of fat right under the fur.
This is our janitor. His nickname is Buster.
He is one of the funniest guys here and his youngest son is in my class!
Oh yeah, and that is a seal he is cutting up. :(
There are small parts of the rib cage~ They have a lot of ribs.
That is one of the paws. :( Poor little fella...
There is the fur (obviously covered in blood). It is supposed to be white with black spots like on the paw of the above picture. After they stretch the fur out, it can end up being twice its size. To wash the fur, they use warm, soapy water and a washcloth or sponge. The fur can also be thrown in the washing machine to wash, but it stinks up your washer for weeks... (or so I was told by one of the elders).
To the left you will see the inside parts of the seal, in the middle is the fur folded in half, and to the right is the head. This seal weighed about 30-40 pounds total. That is a baby seal.
Buster... caught red-handed!
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