Our Teaching Adventure: The Rez Rocks!

Hello world!!! Sorry for the lack of updates!! Our school actually blocks the website we use for our blogs :( ANYWAY..... the first two weeks on the reservation have been incredible on so many levels, I don't even know where to begin...

School:

I am teaching an amazing group of 3rd graders! I have 24 students who have completely different types of personalities, interests, and they are constantly keeping me on my toes. The second week of school I was able to start teaching math lessons! The kids were amazing and grasped a great understanding of all the concepts that were taught! GO ME! My teacher is very sweet, and I'm excited to start taking over more in the classroom this week!

My class on our Friday walk!

My backyard...yeah!

School playground!

Dorm:

MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE PART! These kids are....hilarious! After the school day, I get to go to the dorm and help students, 1st-6th, with homework and having fun! We typically do the boys homework session and then go to dinner. During the boys homework session I am always entertained and pushed by my 1st and 3rd grade boys. They love to laugh!! They have such personalities that are truly incredible for the lives that they live. Their strength truly inspires me! After dinner, we have "dinner recess!" We run and play outside, and typically I'm pushing kids high on the swings! "MISS KAILEY! MISS KAILEY! PUSH ME HIGHER!!" (It never gets old!) After going inside, we move on to the girl's study time! The girls also have big personalities, and huge hearts! When all the work is over we get to have some fun! This fun typically includes going to basketball games, making signs, playing xbox, playing games and talking about life! This week we are taking a field trip to the swimming pool! Updates on that soon to come!

Dorm supporting our basketball teams!

My crazy kiddos!

Basketball team!

Weekend Exploring:

When we aren't teaching or in the dorm we get to travel and explore the amazing area we are in! The first weekend here we were able to go to the four corners, bluff and monument valley. Words do not even come close to explain the beauty of the area! It is just....WOW! The second weekend explored Hovenweep, a hiking trail filled with ruins, and Abi and I were invited Kinaalda! A Kinaalda is a puberty ceremony for a girl entering woman hood in the Native American culture! We had gotten to the home where the ceremony would take place around 11:30pm and left at 9am!!! It was a night filled with singing, laughing, blessing, and reflecting! The family was very open, and made sure we were involved throughout the night! As a parting gift they had given us each our own blanket, that they had blessed throughout the ceremony! This weekend Abi and I traveled and met up with the four boys in our program, Jake is one of them! hahaha! We met up and went to a high school basketball game. Let me tell you...high school basketball is VERY different from a elementary basketball game! On saturday we spent the day and a spay and neuter clinic. My heart was melting the whole time!! I was specifically in charge of caring for two two-week-old puppies. They had reason to believe that the two dogs had polvo :( It was truly an amazing experience, and we are hoping to do it again in February! Sunday, Abi, Jake, TJ and I took a road trip to Telluride, Colorado! (Or as Jake says Tugaloo!) We spent majority of the day driving through the Rocky Mountains, but got to walk around and enjoy the town. I was very tempted to hit the ski slopes; they looked very inviting!