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.
