The frozen window

When I got back from the Christmas break, it was very cold in Egegik, it had been for some time.  In my spare bedroom, the windows had completely frosted/iced over the sills.  As you can see in this first picture, the ice completely covered the black casings of the window.  Now completely white, no opening of the window was possible.  Not like I'd want to anyhow, but it was new for me.  The bathroom window was the same way as was the giant window in the kitchen.  Sometimes that one gets opened when cooking goes awry!   What I didn't know is that when they start to freeze and stay that way for so long, cracks start to appear.  In this first picture you can kind of see it but in this second one, you can see how long it is.  It wasn't there one day, and BOOM, there the next.  Amazing what a little cold weather and pressure from all sides can do.  The window just couldn't "breathe" anymore because it was frozen all around.  The crack in this window and the one in the front room from the beginning of the year are now all covered with bright pink duct tape thank you maintenance, so things look bright and cheery!

As school creeps along through January, the blizzard warning came in, we got dumped on with snow, blowing snow, high winds and some more snow!  It was amazing to see how our little village changed in a matter of hours it seemed.  Everyone says it's the most snow they have ever seen here.  I'm glad it's the winter I am here.  I love the fact that I am getting a big winter with a lot of snow to play in.  Though when you are outside, it's cold and you have to bundle up well, it's worth it to go and play!

Here we have our Elementary students out with their teacher.  They are out by the gym where a snow drift has started and it's one of the only places where you can almost get away from the wind.  The wind is blowing the snow around so much that you can barely make out the houses in the background.  They were starting to dig into the drift to make a cove of sorts.

Huddled into the little cove in the drift, the two girls caught a break from the wind before jumping through the snow in the playground just before lunch time.  Snow like this doesn't come very often and they really seemed to enjoy themselves.   Oh, I did too, let's not kid ourselves!

Being a kid

One can say that children grow up and get too old for things but we all know that this can possibly be true. After all, Disney is still fun for adults too right?  I see the light in my student's eyes and it warms my heart.  They have much to learn and enjoy the play while learning.  Each time I see the light bulb moment it's heartwarming.  Each time I see the innocent play, it makes you think that all in the world could be right if we all chose to make it a good place to live.

Just swinging away.  Such a nice day we had to be outside for a few.

Bet you can't climb up the pole!

We have been working on genetics, Punnett squares and DNA in Science.  Making some DNA keychains in class on Friday the kids learned about phosphate and sugar and that ATGC are always paired in certain ways.  They got to make up their own genetic code but had to follow the rules.  We then got to twist them to make a double helix.  Following directions creates a pretty cool keychain.

Not following the directions makes a genetic mutant DNA strand.  *The inside and outside there are supposed to be attached.  Someone in class didn't follow directions.  They keychain still looked cool in the end but we found out that it just was a genetic defect and they decided it was Super AIDS.  This resulted in a discussion and some more education.  My ending thought was that they had indeed watched too much South Park.






Have a good one!