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.

Sunday, April 30, 2017

Week 37

 Weekly Greetings!

Everything is in place for our week long educational field trip starting next Monday, May 8-12. Please find the attached permission slips and itinerary with the parent letter. There are two forms to sign for the trip. One is approved by the school insurance agency, and the other is the usual one used by Tok School that gives permission to receive medical treatment in case there is an emergency. I will send home more information on things to pack by the end of the week. Since there are a few things to sign this week, I am also sending home the permission slip for our day trip to Chicken the week after we return from Fairbanks on May18. I am hoping it will be easier to do all the forms at once, and one less thing to send home when we get back from our week away.

Additionally, please remember that we will be going to Moon Lake on Tuesday afternoon to view the spring waterfowl that is returning for the summer nesting season.

As for last week, Jill Kranenburg introduced the class to handwriting with calligraphy pens. She has been coming in twice a week since we returned from Spring Break to assist with cursive handwriting. Jill even had purchased real calligraphy pen tips and ink for the students to enhance their handwriting style.  
The students also completed the MAP testing, and I think we are all glad there will be no more standardized test this year. When they finished, we celebrated by tossing the foam Frisbees to the song "I Like to Move It!" from the movie Madagascar.
Please note that this will be the last week that I will be sending any nightly homework. After this week seemed like a good place to stop, as the end of the school year quickly approaching and we will be finishing our last Treasures unit on Friday.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Kind Regards,

Julie Brown

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Week 36

Weekly Greetings!

This week is only four days, and there will not be any school on Friday due to teacher in-servicing. Also, the class will be taking their last series of MAP testing for this year starting on Thursday morning. Please make sure your child is well rested and on time for breakfast that day. They will continue testing the following Monday on May 1.

In other news, I have a number of field trips planned to finish off our school year. On May 2 we will be going to Moon Lake with Tim Lorenzini from the Tetlin Refuge to do some waterfowl identification activities. The permission slip will be going home with this Monday's parent letter. Later this week, I may be sending two other permission slips home. Originally I planned a trip to Chicken on May 4 that will enhance our Alaska Studies unit, but I am trying to change it to a later date. If I can secure a van, it will be moved the May 18 so the students will be able to do some gold panning while there. The second permission slip headed your way will be for our week long educational trip to Fairbanks May 8-12. I will have an itinerary attached and details about chaperons, housing, etc. There are a few things I am still ironing out and hope to have things all in place by mid-week.

As for some highlights from last week, the class had their last Art class with Ms. Shauna. We have been so fortunate to have her volunteer this year and share her artistic talent with the students.
On Friday, Tim Lorenzini was in to do an activity in preparation for our field trip to Moon Lake a week from this Tuesday. After a short lesson, the students picked cards with waterfowl pictures on them and had to correctly identify and categorize the cards onto a large poster. The class did really well and enjoyed their time with Tim.
I hope you have an awesome week!

Kind Regards,

Julie Brown

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Week 35


Weekly Greetings!

Last week started off with a visit from Ranger Rudolph from the Tetlin Refuge. He returned the student's literature and poster entries for the 2018 Migratory Bird calendars in addition to certificates for each student that participated. Two students from our class got regional first place ribbons for their literature entries, and those entries have now been sent on to be a part of the final calendar judging.
In Science, the class has continued to study the rock cycle and made observations using a variety of rocks that fell into either the sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic categorizes.
The students also enjoyed working in small groups using a number of reading concept games available in our class. It was a fun way to use some of the strategies we have had covered through the year, such as inferences, cause and effect, fact or opinion, and following directions. 
On Friday we had a number of students absent, but those in attendance got to search out some Easter treats after lunch. We also celebrated another birthday and crowned a class king for the day.
This week in Science, the class will participate in another AK Teach activity and Tim Lorenzini from the Tetlin Refuge will in to work on waterfowl identification with the students.

I hope you have a great week!

Kind Regards,

Julie Brown

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Week 34

 Weekly Greetings!

A large part of last week went into completing the new state required tests, and the students were all really good sports about testing for three days. When they were done, we celebrated by putting on music and tossing foam Frisbees around the room and at each other. Most of the class wanted to know how they did, but unfortunately the results will not be returned to the school until next fall. Some said the tests were easy, and some said the tests were hard...
In Science we are still studying rocks and minerals, and the class did a simulation using chocolate pieces to create sedimentary parts being crushed into metamorphic rock. Then we heated it all together to form igneous rock. The best part was at the end, when they could eat the "rocks" that were created.
On Friday, with spring in the air, the students made painted paper collages. I had a lot of painted paper scrapes for them to sort through and everyone in attendance made a colorful picture with visions of spring in Alaska. You can see the finished projects displayed outside our room.
I have been working on a final plan for an end of the year field trip with the class. Our first idea was to go to Valdez, but even though we have had a fund raising activity every month we only raised about half of what would be needed to do that. We do have enough to do a five-day education trip to Fairbanks though, and the dates will be May 8 though May 12.  I still have a few loose ends to tie up, and then I will send home all the information and permission slips.

Also, Friday will be the last day for book orders if you want to purchase any books from the order forms I sent home last week.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Kind Regards,

Julie Brown

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Week 33

 Weekly Greetings!

Spring is here, and so are the statewide tests that start for the fourth grade on Monday. The new test is called Performance Evaluation for Alaska's Schools or PEAKS and the students will start with Science on Monday, Language on Tuesday, and Math on Wednesday. Please make sure your child is on time those days, and well rested. It will help them think more clearly and give a more accurate measure of their progress this year.

Last week the class finished the novel unit we did on the book Shiloh. They enjoyed reading in small groups, in a large group, and independently as we discussed key concepts from the novel.
On Friday, we watched the movie made from the novel and compared the book to the movie. We also ate like the Preston family from the book, and had warm cornbread.


A highlight bi-weekly is Art with Shauna Lee. Last week the class started another clay project and you can see by their smiles how much fun they are had. 
Thank you to everyone who contributed or purchased baked goods at the 4th grade sale last Saturday. There were lots of yummy treats, and it was a fun environment to be selling items during the adult basketball games. We made $245.50. This is also the last week of the T-Shirt sale, so please have orders returned to me by Friday.
With the parent letter, I will be sending home book order forms. If you would like to order books for your child, please return the form to me by April 14. This will probably be the last order I will place for this school year.

I hope you have a productive week!

Kind Regards,

Julie Brown