This is why I love Summer

Nothing is better than waking up in the morning and hiking on down to the local strawberry u-pick. Yummy yummy strawberries in my tummy! And raspberries are starting to come into swing too .. although no local ones yet to be found.

Hmm... edumacational choices

Sigh, I love staring at curriculum documents! HA! Yeah right ... well not that my curriculum documents have been to much of a help either!

So I am enlisting the help of my readers. I have to do a novel study with my grade 5/6 group next year (and by the sounds of it I will be reading the book chapter by chapter to them) and I am trying to decide on a book to read to them for this group novel study.

Now, considering that I have no idea what is popular in the grade 5/6 range .. and I would also need a book that appeals to both girls and boys, this is what I've short listed so far:

1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
2. James and the Giant Peach
3. Freak the Mighty
4. Charlottes Web

I would rather do a book that also has an accompanying movie that more or less goes with the book (as watching a video of a book is always a good thing too - especially since we can do some fun compare and contrast activities).

So .. this is my dilemma... do I do one of these four ... or does any one have any other suggestions of books that might work with this age group? Cause, I can't even remember what book I did in grade 5 ... I remember grade 4 .... but not 5.

Summer Va-cay-cay

Ahh summer vacation .. the time of relaxation and baking under the sun .. if we had any sun, and if I had any time to relax. So far my summer vacation has been full of getting ready to move to the Yukon. Now you wouldn't think that this would be a difficult thing to do right? Wrong. Trying having to purchase almost everything imaginable to set up a household ... well .. almost everything. Some things I am just gonna have to do without until I get settled in ... and others well.. are a must - no matter what.

And yes, I know I haven't been blogging as much either .. this is because a) there really isn't anything much to blog about other than I got a really good deal on a microwave from Wal-Mart and that b) I just really haven't had anything big to blog about for the past four weeks.

Four weeks .. a month of my summer vacation is already gone! Where on earth did the time go??!! And in six short weeks I'm going to be making my 12 hour trek through the air to Whitehorse! Holy Crapola!

One week out

Well, I've been out of the North for one week now ... and boy does it feel strange. The temperatures down here in the south have either been nice and chilly (the way I like it) or disgustingly hot and humid .. well.. to me at least. To everyone else it's just normal early summer weather.

I haven't gotten too much accomplished during my first week out. Sure I managed to buy a new TV and mattress for the Yukon .. and i've done a crap load of laundry (now that I don't have to worry about running out of water halfway through a load) .. and I've picked up my Wii (need entertainment for the North ya know ... besides, it will be benefiting more than just me - ready for Wii weekends Kara??).

I've managed to dig my way through some of the paper work that GYT has sent me ... boy can they make the paper work any more confusing. I've been attaching post-it notes to all papers saying that part of it has already been forwarded to Teacher Recruitment (ie: my CRC and VS .. as it was easier to just run over to the RCMP in Arctic Bay than it would be trying to convince the RCMP down here that I need them not the Fredericton Police to run it).

And I've also managed to book my seat for the flight up to Whitehorse - to which Air Canada better not have a seat sale between now and then or I will be royally ticked off .. although, I did score one of the last two seats on the flight to Toronto to catch the connecting flight to Calgary then to Whitehorse .. so I guess in the end, it worked out. Oh, and of course, I took up Michael's suggestion of the Midnight Sun B&B for the 18&19 and will most likely be crashing at Michael and Fawn's the 20-22 (unless the GYT has arranged for hotels for us new to the Yukon teachers .. as there is this orientation thingy that we have to attend).

Oh, and I've even started repacking and organizing stuff that I'm taking with me to the Yukon ... at least what I brought home and already have in boxes here at the apartment ... looks like this weekend .. or maybe next week will be the dig through the storage locker to red sticker everything that I am taking with me (now if only I could find a volunteer who would like to watch me go completely insane while I decide what I should and shouldn't bring with me to the Yukon ... any takers? Anyone??!!)

Well, must get back to staring at this bus schedule ... gotta figure out how to get myself around this town with no vehicle for the summer (which I might add sucks purple monkey balls) .. but at least my truck will be waiting for me in Whitehorse when I arrive (yeah!).

Travel Update

Well, it has been a long day s far. I've been up for over 13 hours now (yeah, I know ... got to love it when you only get four hours of sleep the night before 12 hours of flying / airport jockying). And this fog that rolled in late last night was of NO help:






And then of course, there was the grey, overcast, crappy skies of this morning with more fog rolling in over the hills. This really put us all (at least the 7 of us who were heading out today) on pins and needles. We were ... well.. quite anxious to get out. I was more so anxious to get out as I haven't been back home in almost 10 months, and because I need to start coordinating my move to the Yukon!

But, by some large stroke of luck, the skies over Nanisivik were nice and clear (well.. as clear as they could be) and the plane landed (yeah!!!) and then whisked us all off to Iqaluit. And of course, Iqaluit was busy as usual with many flights all landing at the same time with 70% of those passengers heading to Ottawa on the two flights bound south. Out flight was filled with teachers from all over North Baffin (us lucky schools who finish early in the year).

So, that now brings me to now. Where I am slowly getting back in touch with reality, Internet (whoop-whoop! Free Wi-Fi!!! I was able to download an iTunes album in 5 minutes! Not two hours! It was great!). And OMG - I am drinking the most wonderful hazelnut latte from Second Cup right now. You have no idea how tasty this drink is to my taste buds. I am in heaven right now.

Well, Kate and OJ are now somewhere's in the air heading to Toronto ... Monty and Elizabeth are boarding their flight to Halifax, and I'm sitting here at Gate 19 waiting for my flight to board.. which should be soon. Not too sure where April and Nick went, but they did pass by here a couple of minutes ago.

Well, I guess that is all for now ... at least until I get home to NB.