9-18-2010

One of the nice things about a small school is the ability to plan whole school outings without a lot of preparation on the part of the staff.  Ok, no planning on my part.  The high school science/math teacher did the planning and did just fine without any input from me.  I wonder why she didn’t ask me for any help, but maybe it was because I was avoiding her knowing that she may ask for my help.  Whatever the reason, I’m satisfied it’s not my fault.  Our outing was to go out and do some berry picking.  Many types of berries grow out in the tundra and they are the only fresh fruit that grows up here.  Most of the students have gone berry picking with their families many times.

Berry picking is not a dangerous endeavor. However, picking berries near an airport without a reliable schedule can be.  So of course, students ran straight for the airport.  As they say up here, “The berries are always more plentiful on the other side of the runway”.  If there was a giant, spinning wheel made of broken glass shards and rusty nails, (I’m not sure why there would be one of those) kids would walk as close to it as they could.  Well, some would walk closer than they should.  This is why we have rules and procedures keeping us from doing fun things.  I would love to stand and watch that wheel, but for the safety and survival of others, we must stay back.  Ok, back to the airport.  When the students were told to stay on this side of the airport, they seemed angry that they couldn’t pick berries where they wanted to.  Some of their complaining was drowned out by an unexpected airplane.  I suggested that they could come out after school and pick berries over there, since they wouldn’t be under the strict control of the school.  They just looked at me like I was recommending they listen to that new polka album.  

Overall, the berry picking was a huge success.  The students spent two hours talking, playing, and picking a few berries.  The sky was clear and it was about 55 degrees out on the tundra.    Some of the older students were complaining about how hot it was outside, and they asked how I could wear a jacket in this heat.  They knew the answer, as it was implied by the tone in their voice (wimp).  The older students did do a great job of helping the little ones in picking.  They shared what they picked, because my students were trying to pick the most berries in the class.  We didn’t have a trophy, but berry picking bragging rights carry a lot of weight.  In case you were wondering, Naomi picked the most: 1440 cranberries. 

We used the berries the next day in our math lesson.  The high school students came in the classroom and helped us count and weigh our berries.  The most amazing part of this was that after class was over, there were no berries squished on the floor.  With over 5,500 berries counted, not one made it under somebody’s shoe.  My class works very hard on respecting their new school and taking care of it.  The older ones in my class get on the little ones if they drop a piece of paper on the floor.  The grossest part was that some of them made juice out of the cranberries while they were in the Ziploc bags.  (The berries, not the kids)  They then drank it from the corner of the Ziploc bag.  But still, no mess.

I’m sure Miss Fina will plan more outings for us since this one was such a success, even without my input.  I’ll remind her of that if she does ask for my help.  Good luck to her on finding me.