Week Before Xmas Break!

The students have been busily practicing their original play for this year's Christmas Dinner, which is an annual potluck event held at the Gold Bridge Community Club taking place on Tuesday, Dec. 13. We dedicated a lot of time this week to costume and prop preparation, as well as to practicing our lines without scripts. With just four students I am really impressed at the ideas we have come up with. It is called The Biggest Loser: North Pole Edition, which, for those of you who don't know, is a spin-off from the reality TV show The Biggest Loser where contestants who are overweight compete to see who loses the most. I have actually lived without TV for quite a few years now, so I was very excited when the kids knew exactly what I was talking about when I proposed the "biggest loser" idea for the play. We then wrote the script together, and it is hilarious.

I am the announcer for the play, and my first line goes:

Things at the North Pole had been slow lately. With the rise in popularity of internet ordering coupled with toy manufacturing being moved to China, Santa and his team were bored, depressed, and spending too much time on the couch watching TV and eating.


Curtains open to a very overweight elf, Santa, Mrs. Claus and Rudolph sitting on the couch, fighting over a bowl of popcorn and the remote. It is going to be quite funny.

This afternoon we also set up a little sales table at the post office/library to sell the cards, Christmas tags and bookmarks the kids have been making to fundraise for field trips. We also sold poinsettias for the Parent Advisory Committee and some lovely baked goods made by Sandy Oakley, my Teacher Assistant and right-hand woman. In an hour we raised over $215!!!!! Not bad! It was great practice for the kids' public speaking, as I got them to tell incoming post office customers all about what we were selling and why, and also encouraged them to make change and handle the cash. We are also selling our leftover wares at Turkey BINGO this Sunday.

Earlier in the week we had the unique experience of witnessing the skinning and packaging of meat from the doe. Super interesting. I had to phone a couple parents to ask if it was okay, and they were thrilled to have their kids participate. After all, it was quite the learning experience: anatomy, cooking, hands-on engagement. The kids were absolutely riveted, as was I. I thought there would be a lot more blood, but it was quite a clean operation, as the carcass had been hung up and bled for days, and the animal was gutted on the spot out in the bush so that it was easier to drag to the truck.

Kathy plans on using the skin to make moccasins, and she is even burying the head to keep the skull as a decorative item, which I appreciate. If one is going to take an animal from the earth, I think they should use as much of it as possible.

In class the next day we brainstormed some ideas for writing about the event, and the kids wrote the most elaborate and descriptive paragraphs I have seen from them yet! One thing I am learning is that their quality of writing is best when it is about something they have directly experienced, which is why I try to get them out of the room a couple of times per week followed on the subsequent days by journaling about the experience.

Below are a couple of pictures of the skinning in small size so that those of you who wish can easily skip over them. We also got to try deer tenderloin before we made our way back to the school; probably the best meat I have ever tasted!!!

WARNING: GRAPHIC PICTURES BELOW...


Click on the small pictures to see them in large size, if you're into that ;)

Kathy carefully cutting through the tissue that holds the skin on to preserve as much of the hide as possible.  

The kids are totally captivated!











Kathy skinning over the "kill shot", which was in the deer's upper shoulder.






Watching the meat being prepared and waiting for our lovely tenderloin to cook.








Kathy laying out the full hide.







The mouse has been back. It took tiny bites from the corner of the soap bar in the dish above the sink because that's all there was to snack on. I crammed tin foil into the opening where he was gaining entry and haven't seen him since. (Interesting how I assume all my animal visitors are "he"). Hopefully that's enough to keep him out. I have always wanted a pet snake, and the students seem very keen about the whole idea, so perhaps if mousey keeps hanging around he will become some snake food if I get one in the new year. I would have to rig some sort of live trap, but living out here demands innovation, and I have plenty of time on my hands and access to the internet for research; hopefully it doesn't come to that!

On Saturday I am helping an old-time cowboy in the area move his horses from where they were summered into the barn at his place. I'm looking forward to it as I haven't been in the saddle since I moved from Lillooet. After that I am headed to a housewarming party in Lillooet. It has been WAY too long since I've been to a house party! ;)