About Me

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My journey with the Alaska Gateway School District began in the fall of 2012. For the first two years, I was teaching the kindergarten through 2nd grade groups in Tetlin. For the next two years, I taught the same ages at another village school in Northway. In the fall of 2016, I transferred to Tok School to teach 4th grade for two years. This year I requested the third grade, as I always enjoy taking on a new grade level of students. Before moving to Tok, my background consisted of four years living in Botswana, Africa, with my husband where I taught mostly English as second language learners in grades kindergarten through fourth. Previously, we were long time Alaska residents. Most of our years in Alaska were spent living in the interior bush community of Galena, where I taught an alternative program for teens, 7th and 8th grades, Title 1 reading, and kindergarten. For a number of years before obtaining my teacher certificate, I was part of the classified support staff in addition to serving on the local school board. It has been great to be back in Alaska, and Tok has been a good fit for us.

Monday, September 12, 2016

Week 4

 Weekly Greetings!

I hope you have been having a successful fall harvest, and that the four-day weekend was productive.
 First of all, I want to thank all of you that contributed to the bake sale we had last Thursday! We had so many things to sell, and made $335.75! The students did a great job helping to sell items, and I was impressed at how well they could do mental math to give back change! It was well worth the time and effort, and I hope we can schedule something else for early October, possibly a dinner movie event.

With the parent letter going home, I will be sending home a permission slip for a field trip next week on Thursday, September 22. This is a short week, so I wanted to allow enough time to get the paperwork returned. We will be leaving school early that day to travel to Deadman Lake on the Tetlin Refuge. After walking the trails there, and observing characteristics of the boreal forest, we will travel to Northway for the Cross Country Running meet at 12pm. The school will provide a picnic bag lunch, but you are welcome to send any additional snacks if you think your child will need more for the long day.  Also, I sent home book order forms last week and if you plan on getting books for your child, please return the forms with the amount needed to purchase the books by this Friday.

Now, to recap a few highlights from last week...Our class now has ten students! Marco returned on Wednesday and the class was so happy to see him. The class puzzle is complete!

The students have completed the mini unit on the Six Keys to a successful year. The books they created really turned out nicely and will be in the class as a reminder of how important the keys are. Some of the pages were displayed on the WOW Wall outside our classroom before being combined into individual books.
 In addition, each student made a promise in an area they hope to grow this year to place on the Commitment Wall.
 The "All About Me" posters are getting finished, and each week there is time to share what everyone has filled in on the poster. Eventually, these will be moved out to the hallway for others to see.
To complete our Healthy Habits unit in Science, the class made a visit to the greenhouse to sample healthy vegetables. It was great to see how much the students enjoyed fresh Kale, cucumbers, and other vegetables they were allowed to pick.
This week, we will be continuing with a regular schedule in Math and Reading. In Social Studies, we will discuss the early beginnings of our nation in preparation for Constitution Day on Friday. In the afternoon, the K-5th grades will meet for a special movie commemorating the day.  If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call.

Enjoy your week!

Kind Regards,

Julie Brown


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