Wordless Wednesday

Weekly Challenge

I hope you were all able to figure out how far you live from Barrow. It's probably quite far away!

Yesterday, we saw a walrus swimming in the ocean. It was the first one we had seen (not including ones in zoos) so we were pretty excited. There were actually two swimming around, and a seal was nearby as well.

In honor of that event, for this week's challenge, answer these questions about walruses:
1. What do they eat?
2. How much can they weigh?
3. What is one other interesting fact about them?

Things are getting chillier up here, and we even had a little bit of snow over the weekend. None of it stuck around, but we are looking forward to hopefully getting more this week.

Wordless Wednesday

Weekly Challenge

Try to figure out how far your town is from Barrow, Alaska!

Weather

Did you keep the weekly record of your temperatures and ours? We are probably much colder than you are, but we are actually a lot warmer than we usually are at this time of year. In fact, one day this week we set a record as the highest temperature on that particular day ever recorded. Sometimes we already have snow by mid-September. You might think that high forties and low fifties is still quite cold, but we walk around without jackets and look forward to taking the dogs swimming in the lagoon in such "spring like" weather.

Wordless Wednesday

Weekly Challenge

Our high school football team won their last home game of the season this weekend! It was quite cold for that last game, and the wind was whipping right off the ocean. But they pulled off a victory anyway! They have a few more games left, but they are all away. The team will need to fly on a plane to all the away games. Imagine doing that every time you played against another school in one of your sports!

The weather turned cold and windy this weekend, but Friday afternoon was gorgeous! It was probably close to fifty degrees, which felt quite warm. We took our dogs out running and one of them even took a little swim in the lagoon! Everyone tries to get out on those sunny afternoons before the weather turns wintry and we start to lose our daylight.

For this week's challenge, keep a record of the temperature in Barrow each day. Also, keep a record of the temperature in your own town each day. Compare the two and figure out the temperature difference for each day.

Have a great Monday!

Weekly Challenge Answer

The Alaska state flower is the forget-me-not.


Tomorrow is our last home football game. Perhaps you've caught some of the stories about our team on TV lately--we are getting a lot of attention for being the northernmost football team in America! Go Whalers!

Sunsets

The other night I had our dogs out around 11:00 pm, and there was a gorgeous sunset. I grabbed my camera and took off for the beach, which is a couple minute walk away. This week's Wordless Wednesday pic was from that night. Here are a couple others:

Wordless Wednesday

Weekly Challenge

Last Friday, the students at my middle school had their first school dance of the year. The kids here listen to basically the same music that many of the students in the lower 48 listen to. There was lots of rap, hip hop, and rock that is popular on the radio. Everyone seemed to have a great time!

Our students are beginning their third week of school and are well into the swing of things with their classes. Each student in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade has two core teachers. One teaches language arts and social studies, while the other teaches math and science. They also have two "elective courses", which could either be band, P.E., computers, or Inupiat. Eventually some students will have my reading class as an elective.

This week's weekly challenge question is: What is the Alaska state flower? Try to also draw a picture of it.