Early last week I had the opportunity to accompany and supervise the grade 5/6’s during their camping trip to Tlell. On Monday morning, the students hopped on their bikes and biked 37 kilometres from Sk’aadgaa Naay elementary to the fairgrounds campground in Tlell. I opted to get a ride with one of the parents, both because I’m not much of a biker and also so I could help set up the camp before the students’ arrival. The students made great time and were in high spirits when they arrived in Tlell. I was really impressed with their positive attitudes after such a long bike ride!

We spent two nights at the camp. The students were excited to set up their tents as soon as they arrived, and they were all very independent and capable. Once everyone was settled in, they immediately wanted to walk down to the beach to go for a swim. Once we finally got everyone out of the water, we headed back to camp for some dinner, and not 5 minutes after being all cleaned up they wanted to go right back to the beach! When we arrived back at camp after a second lengthy swim, everyone played a couple games of manhunt before going to bed. I couldn’t believe the amount of energy the students had – a 37 km bike ride, two trips to the beach to swim in the waves, and about an hour running around the campground playing manhunt, and they were all still happy. Impressive!

The next day we hiked to the Pesuta shipwreck. It was about a hour and a half, but most of the students didn’t make it all the way to the end because they had been before and because they preferred to play in the sand dunes. It was a really lovely hike, starting through mossy forest, continuing along the Tlell river lined with sea asparagus and sand dunes, and eventually opening out on to vast expanses of pebbled beach ending at a spectacular shipwreck. I would definitely recommend this hike to anyone that makes it up to Haida Gwaii!

Pesuta shipwreck

There was a bit of a storm Tuesday night and many of the tents soaked through resulting in wet students (and adults). But still, there were very few complaints. However, it was a bit too windy to bike back to Sk’aadgaa Naay safely, so we were lucky to have plenty of very helpful parents with pickup trucks that were able to take the students, all their gear, and their bikes back to the school.

On Thursday, Angus took us out on a fantastic tour of Masset. We spent some time at Tow hill, hiking up to the lookout where we could see Agate beach, North beach, and even Alaska! We hiked back down to the blowhole, which wasn’t too impressive as the tide was too low for any action.

View from the top of Tow hill

Overall, I had a fantastic, action-packed week!

Sk’aadgaa Naay Elementary

What a busy week! I only spent a couple days this week in the classroom because of all the other things that were going on around the school, but that time was mostly in Kindergarten. Monday the school had a talent show all afternoon – I was really impressed by all the talent in such a small school! It was a really great afternoon, and it was so nice to see the entire school so engaged in all the performances. You could tell how strong the school community is by how much respect each student was showing towards the performers.

After school Ashley, Taylor, Charlotta and I went to check out balance rock which is located on the beach just down the hill from the school. It was pretty impressive!

Balance rock

Tuesday was the bike rodeo, where the RCMP came to teach the students about bike saftey. The students brought their bikes and got to ride through a little bike obstacle course, which they seemed to really enjoy. The grade 1 teacher was busy until lunch fixing bikes, so Charlotta and I did some team teaching with the grade 1’s. It was cool to spend some time in the classroom with another teacher candidate; we had a fun morning! About 50 new bike helmets were donated to the school and given to students who didn’t own a helmet, or who’s helmet was broken. I helped fit helmets to students in the afternoon. It was a great way to give the kids more incentive to stay safe. I also saw many students riding their bikes in to school the next morning sporting their new helmets, so I think it gave them some extra motivation to ride their bikes as well!

On Friday the school celebrated Aboriginal day. The day began with a play put on by the grade 5/6’s. The play was organized by the students and told a Haida legend; it was really well done and very enjoyable to watch – the whole school was engaged. Afterwards, we got to watch some Haida drumming and dancing, and the students also showed off the new Haida regalia the school just received. It was really neat to see how connected many of these students are to their culture.

Afterwards, the whole school headed down to the beach for lunch and some traditional Haida games. One of the games was called “slippery stick”; two people held each end of a stick that had been greased up with oil to make it slippery. The students then had to try to pull the stick out of their opponent’s hands without crossing the line drawn in the sand. Traditionally, this game was played to determine who would be good at pulling up the fishing lines, as it tested an individual’s ability to hold on to something slippery. In another game, two lines of people stood facing each other, a bit like red rover. One side held a stick and called someone over from the opposing team. That person then had to come get the stick without smiling or laughing, and bring it back to their side. If they smiled, they would get brought over to that side. Despite some rain, everyone kept their spirits high, and it was a really fun afternoon with some delicious food, a beautiful setting, and lots of laughs.

Fighting for sunshine

Taylor, Ashley and I conquered Mount Genevieve yesterday, locally referred to as “Sleeping Beauty”.

It was about 2 hours each way. The climb up was nearly as steep as the Grouse Grind, but much more varied terrain which made it quite a bit more interesting and enjoyable. We also only saw one other person the whole time, so it was very peaceful. The views from the top were stunning – we could see Queen Charlotte as well as the two main islands of Haida Gwaii.

There was a nice meadow with some wild flowers and a lake at the top of the climb.

Surprisingly the way down was almost tougher than the way up! I think we’re all a little sore today…

It’s been a busy week! Our ferry arrived Monday morning at 7am and we had just a few minutes to drop our things off at our home stays and head up to Sk’aadgaa Naay elementary.

The view from my bedroom window

The day started out with a morning meeting; the whole school was assembled in the gym and the principle told the students about some upcoming events. Many of the teachers then got up and thanked specific students for some of the good deeds they had witnessed throughout the previous week. I thought was a really nice way to strengthen the school community. I spent the rest of the day in an English grade 1 classroom. The class only had 13 students and I was really impressed at how well-equipped it was, with a SmartBoard and a class set of iPads. After school we headed to the grocery store. Since the groceries only come once a week, everyone is sure to stock up on fresh food on Mondays!

Tuesday was the District Track and Field meet, and the two other elementary schools in Haida Gwaii joined us at Sk’aadgaa Naay for the day. It was a very busy, but very fun day, with lots of activity.

Wednesday I was able to help out in the Kindergarten class for the day, which was a great experience. It was also a small class with only about 15 kids. We had lots of fun making quilts. There is a big emphasis on outdoor education at Sk’aadgaa Naay. During music, the teacher allowed them to take their xylophones and go find a place outside that they felt like playing. I was worried that they would break the instruments, but they were very respectful with them. The students get P.E for half an hour every day, and on Wednesday the teacher took them to the forest to play. There is a large area of dense forest very close to the school where the students are allowed to just wander free and play. My experience with outdoor P.E. has been quite limited, and it was really great to see students of such a young age get so much freedom to play outdoors. After P.E., we went back to the classroom for centres, and many of the students were able to choose a centre outdoors.

Friday was a very busy and exciting day. I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a pole raising at Queen Charlotte secondary.

Left: raven; right: eagle

Two poles were raised at the front entrance, which were the first poles in decades to be raised in Queen Charlotte. There was a pole raised by the hospital about 60 years ago and another raised about 30 years ago, but neither of these followed proper Haida tradition, so the secondary school did their best to ensure that they were doing things right this time around. The day started with a couple speeches and dances.

The poles were then carried to the front of the school and mounted. Many speeches followed, and then we all gathered in the gym for a feast. There were about 600 people in attendance, so it was a very big event, especially considering the population of Queen Charlotte is only about 900. Myself and the other Sk’aadgaa Naay teacher candidates spent the day Thursday helping with set-up and food prep for the event.