Tales From the Yukon

Yes. I. Am. A. Bad. Blogger.

But it's not my fault! Really! It's the zombies that chase me around at night and steal all of my free time and sleeping hours :-) Blame the zombies! (in particular the lesson planning zombie too) There just isn't enough hours in the day (but I am working on fixing this)!

So, I guess, now, while I wait for my coffee to finish dripping is the time for an update.

Let's see ... well, i've been here in the Yukon now for just over a month. Yes, one month down - hard to believe eh? Seems a little strange - yet it feels like much longer at the same time. My class is pretty good, although, they do test me at times - but I"m not letting them win the battle of the wits. It's either follow my classroom rules (which are pretty basic here) and follow the school rules or see-ya later! For the most part, the class gets it, but there are a couple that are still playing the "let's see how far we can push her over the edge game". All in a days work eh?

Hmm... what else.... oh, my truck. The truck is doing just fine. I'll be taking it into Whitehorse soon to get winterized (as in the first oil change and check over and to get my winter tires put on) only wish I could do it all in the same trip - but that's also life in the North. As when the only places that do maintenance on vehicles are located in Whitehorse (ok - yes I know there are other places in communities where I can get basic work done ... but all of my oil changes and maintenance (minus tire changes) have to go through my dealership if I want to keep my warranty - pain in the butt if you ask me, but that's the price you gotta pay if you want your vehicle to stay in tip-top shape (which you do way out here).

hmmm.... let's see... ahh - the satellite. Yes, I am still without my satellite. I only noticed yesterday as I was getting ready to mount it on the post (I'm trying the 8-foot post method first before I beg someone to watch me fall off my roof) that there weren't any mounting screws in the box that Bell gave me. I have all of the hardware needed to put the dishes together ... just nothing to stick them to the house / pole. Sigh. Good thing I'm heading in to Whitehorse this weekend - another thing to be added to my growing list of needs.

Whitehorse .. oh Whitehorse ... it was rather tricky to get a room in Whitehorse this time around as apparently there is this huge learning disabilities conference going on - so practically every hotel is booked (at least those that I've stayed at so far), so I'm staying at a different hotel this time ... gotta give them all at least one chance to impress me. Fortunately for me, I have my next two stays already pre-booked so they can't get rid of me.

So.... readers ... I will make a better effort to keep you all in the loop ... as soon as I get my act in gear :-)

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Wheew! What a first week of school. It was busy. Between wrapping my mind around curriculum, hunting down books and getting to know the kids, I am exhausted! This last week had it's ups and downs like any other classroom would - but in all, I do have a good bunch of kids.

This past weekend I loaded up my truck and ran away to Whitehorse for a grocery trip ... I think I'll be back there in three weeks for more - cause even thought I had a list and I thought I bought everything I needed ... I was wrong. Oh well, that's life. And there are always people heading into the city too, so I could always beg them to pick up my forgotten items.

The trip up and back was pretty uneventful. Weather was pretty good, and the critters were well behaved staying in the woods and not on the roads. And it is definitely fall here in Yukon. The trees have begun to turn golden yellow and orange, and the temperatures are dipping down near zero at night now. But it sure is pretty to drive through.

And of course, on my way back to Ross River, I couldn't stop without getting a cinnamon bun. Last time I headed out, I got my cinnamon bun at the lil bakery in Braeburn .. this time though, I remembered my mom saying that I had to stop at Mom's Bakery to get a sourdough cinnamon bun. Yummy! It was very good just as it was, but even better once I got it home, and smothered it in butter and then grilled (fried?) it in a frying pan.



So, what do I have to get on my next trip into the city? More cinnamon buns and the rest of the ingredients I need to make my own sourdough cinnamon buns :-)

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Just a quick note (as I am literally falling asleep on my computer (and it's only 10:00pm as I type this) ..

Day one of school went off without a hitch. I (so far) have a super group of grade 5/6 students ... although, I think I might have also entered the twilight zone too as they asked to do math today. Yes, you read right. They ASKED to do math rather than do some basic get to know you activities / writing. So... off I went and did an impromptu math class.

Students, I don't think I will ever understand them ... yet I was one not so long ago ... hmmm....

Well, off to sleep as tomorrow is a full day ... lucky for me, I have tomorrow and most of Thursday already planned (yeah!) ... now if only I could get my schedule to work properly ... have to stuff one more math class in there somehow, yet I don't seem to have a spare slot for it ... oh well, back to the drawing board. Night all!

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Only in the Yukon do we have these amazing sights to see as we drive .. along our very well kept dirt highways (yes, you read this right ... dirt highways - tis how we roll in the North), although the main highways are 'paved' ... and the one I drive on (The Campbell Highway is partially paved, although the dirt sections are much better than the paved sections).

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So yes, I am aware that the blog has been quiet lately ... and with good reason! I’ve been busy getting ready for the new school year! And do I ever have a lot of work to do! Between getting a classroom ready, hunting down text books (or at least one copy for me), unpacking all of the resources that I shipped off to myself from Nunavut and reading my curriculums it’s been one busy week!. And I don’t have much time left either to finish getting ready, but I at least have things ready for Tuesday when my students arrive and soon will also have things ready for the rest of the week ... as soon as I figure out what I am teaching between my two curriculums (which, by the looks of it will be mainly grade 5 as the majority of my class are grade 5 students - I only have two grade 6 students!).

So here ya go, a glimpse at my classroom before students arrive.....

Computer Corner

Text Book Corner

Classroom Novels

Classroom Novels and all of my Teaching Resources

Filing Cabinet, Fridge, Sink

My Corner of Chaos

The Classroom Door

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