Summer School Fun

So this was our first week of summer school and I'm teaching 4th and 5th grade math. It's only Monday-Thursday for half a day and the classes switch mid-morning. Today I did a really fun activity with both groups to practice finding mean, median, and mode. We collected data on the time it took to run an obstacle course, how many marshmallows they could fit in their mouth (that was my favorite!), how many free throws out of 5 shots they could make, and how many pretzels they could fit in their mouth. They had a blast!



Evan attempting the marshmallow challenge!




Summertime playground fun :)

Arrow Tournament

I looked out my window after school today and there were suddenly at least 30 cars out there and boys throwing arrows right at our house. It turned out to be Big Horn District's arrow throwing tournament (for these few weeks they have these tournaments all over the rez for a couple days each.) I ended up hanging out with the Alden family out there and watching some kids from school throw.. it was pretty neat!

I was sitting on my bed and all of a sudden I looked up and saw arrows coming towards my window! haha they were practicing in the area right in front of our trailer.

Painting Fun!

We're painting a mural at school! We've been wanting to paint one on the side of the big garage out by the playground, so we started this week and had the kids help during our after-summer-school activity time :)









I'll show you how it turns out!

Mountain Top Retreat

Bozeman, Montana
This past weekend was our last Big Sky retreat with JVC Northwest at a beautiful spot in Bozeman (about 3 hours west of here.)


The Big Sky JVs... in front of a rainbow!! with Fr. Joseph from Hays, the lovely, adorable old priest who facilitated our retreat, with lots of old stories and old songs :)


Excited about the rainbow over the mountains right when we arrived! It was beautiful sun and rain weather rolling over the mountains the whole weekend and we saw a few double rainbows (and even a triple!!)... so exciting!! (The first rainbows I've seen since IRELAND! must be special.)





Can you find Sarah? ;) Want to make this into a painting...


"Oh dear!" ;) so close!


Played with my fun Polaroid


Kathleen & Kate from Billings sitting in the flower field outside the lodge



Jess from Hays shared this meditation as an opening reflection at retreat and I just loved it, so I'm posting it here. Enjoy.

Do Interesting Things

“Whatever you dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.” - Goethe

We live in interesting times. We’re blessed that way.
The world is changing rapidly.
The way we work is changing, the way we live has already changed. Entire industries are crumbling, and more are growing on their ruins. People are empowered to express themselves, to create, to become a part of a global conversation and transformation, in a way that has never existed before.
What will you do with that?
What will your place be in this new, interesting world? Will you have a voice? Will you be a creator, or just a consumer?
Do something.
Do something interesting.
Be a part of the conversation, and say something remarkable. Create something unique, new, beautiful. Build upon the works of others and transform it into your own.
How to do this?

Write a book. Or an ebook. Write poetry and publish it on the web. Create interesting, lovely or funny videos, put them on You Tube. Be passionate. Write a web app that will solve a problem in people’s lives. Become a watchdog to replace the faltering newspapers. Explore the world, and blog about it. Try something you’ve always been afraid to try, and put it on video. Be yourself, loudly. Start a new company, doing only one thing, but doing it very well. Start a business that does a service you’ve always wanted, or that you are frustrated with in other companies. Put your heart into something. Say something that no one else dares to say. Do something others are afraid to do. Help someone no one else cares to help. Make the lives of others better. Make music that makes others want to weep, to laugh, to create. Inspire others by being inspiring. Teach young people to do amazing things. Write a play, get others to act in it, record it. Empower others to do things they’ve never been able to do before. Read, and read, and then write. Love, and love, and then help others to love. Do something good and ask others to pass it on. Be profound. Find focus in a world without it. Become minimalist in a world of dizzying complexity. Reach out to those who are frustrated, depressed, angry, confused, sad, hurt. Be the voice for those without one. Learn, do, then teach. Meet new people, become fast friends. Dare to be wrong. Take lots and lots of pictures. Explore new cultures. Be different. Paint a huge mural. (yes! in the middle of doing that right now!) Create a web comic. Be a dork, but do it boldly. Interview people. Observe people. Create new clothes. Take old stuff and make new stuff from it. Read weird stuff. Study the greats, and emulate them. Be interested in others. Surprise people. Start a blog, write at least a little each day. Cook great food, and share it. Be open-minded. Help someone else start a small business. Focus on less but do it better. Help others achieve their dreams. Put a smile on someone’s face, every day. Start an open-source project. Make a podcast. Start a movement. Be brave. Be honest. Be hilarious. Get really, really good at something. Practice a lot. A lot. Start now. Try.

Last Day of School!

Today was our last day of school! We mostly just had mass, recess, and an awards ceremony. I gave friendship bracelets to some of my girls and some special summer reading books to Jericho & Colton.. plus a mounted group picture from our field trip to the zoo for my 4th grade friends. Can't believe the year's over! Luckily we'll be seeing most of the kids at summer school which starts on Monday.



all smiles!


"Last day of school... what do we do?!"


Being silly with Colton


Me & Jericho


Now off to Bozeman for Big Sky retreat!

Reading Party

This afternoon, me & Mrs. Smith (our wonderful librarian) hosted an AR party for those students who met their Accelerated Reader goal for the semester (basically when students finish a book they can log on and take a comprehension quiz, each one worth a certain number of points depending on the book's level, and if they meet whatever the goal is for their grade level then they get to celebrate at the end of the term with a pizza party.) 

I was so excited because all three 4th graders that I've been working hard with this half of the year met their goals!! Jericho & Samantha both got the final points they needed yesterday, and their faces were priceless when they found out they made it. They were SO happy and so proud of themselves... and so was I!! We jumped around and celebrated and I felt like throwing a parade. These kids have never met their AR goal before and have just worked so hard with me this semester that they so deserved to celebrate ...and to feel proud of themselves!

Since they usually get to go to Pizza Hut but there wasn't enough time left in this last week of school, Mrs. Smith made it special with pizza, hot cheetos (these spicy kind of cheetos that everyone's obsessed with here), and root beer floats. I put on some music and we even turned it into a dance party (of course, haha)... it was so much fun! So proud of my 4th graders!!

Blurry but it's Colton and Jericho being reading champs :)

Last day of school tomorrow!! Unreal!

P.S. Updated this past post with working videos of the Talent Show!

Everybody dance now... for the last dance club of the year!

To end our hard work and fun times in Dance Club this year, and to celebrate their awesome performances in the Talent Show, we had an end-of-the-year Dance Club ice cream sundae/dance party... what could be more fun?!

Some of the girls were dancing around and wanted to make a video so here they are being silly :)

I had so much fun doing dance club this year and I know the girls really enjoyed it.. I'm so glad it happened! I'll miss it for sure!