The District is happy to announce the hire of Ms. Mary Fundeen and Ms. Diane Seitz to fill our final two elementary positions. Ms. Fundeen is a graduate of Bristol Bay and someone who just completed her student teaching experience in our school. Ms. Seitz has many years of teaching experience, most recently in Chevak, Alaska. We are very excited that both women chose Bristol Bay as their next step.
Please help all of us welcome our new teachers! We know the new year will be very exciting for all.
Teaching Alaska Culture in Our School
6th Grade Learn to Smoke Fish
Ms. Janet Monsen's 6th Grade Social Studies class learned the process of smoking salmon. I was lucky to get a taste of the finished product, and it was delicious! Today, May 20th, they cut, bagged and took their fish home. Great job 6th Graders! Submitted by: Lois Herrmann
Alaska History Fur Sewing
Martha Johnson teaches Alaska History students how to make fur mittens out of beaver.
Jr & Sr Alaska Culture Days
Our Junior and Senior class participated in cultural activities April 7th, 8th & 9th while the rest of the high school were doing the Standards Based Assessments & High School Graduation Qualifying Exam.
B.J. Hill (pictured above) coordinated & taught several culturally related activities for our students. Rod Cyr showed the class some of his flutes made from natural woods found in our area, as well as some of his bird carvings. Paul Boskoffsky (pictured below) shared some of his life stories, his traditional lifestyle and presented his book.
Drum Project:
Mrs. Hill had the students do a personality test and let them decide how they felt their personality could be portrayed as a part of Alaska's culture. The students made imitation native drums from quilt hoops & airplane fabric choosing a part of Alaska culture to display on their drum.
Scroll down for more drum pictures.
Fur Sewing:
Some students did fur sewing making Eskimo yo-yos & little pouches out of beaver fur & leather.
Fish Print Project:
The students made fish prints using a real fish stamp on muslin, and then decorated their prints.
The class made Catherine a fish print birthday card for her 18th birthday which everyone signed. The mask seen in the picture was an example of Native artwork, and not part of Catherine's card. Several people loaned examples of Native art projects for our students to see and these pieces were displayed around the room and can be seen in several of our photos.
More fish print pictures below.
Feast:
The end to a much enjoyed class was an Alaskan traditional feast prepared by the students of akutaq, salt fish, smoked fish, fried bread & Indian pudding made with cranberries.
Thank You Everyone!
A special thanks to B.J. Hill for teaching this class. Also to Marilyn Tolbert, Angie Lawrence, and Cheryl Wilson for their assistance. An extra special thanks to Darlene Groat who had this wonderful idea to engage our upper-classman to keep them in school during the testing days. She also gathered most of the materials used throughout this class.
The funding for most of the materials was made available through our Naknek Native Village Council's Johnson O'Malley funding. NNVC has been helping us through the JOM Program for many years enabling our students to participate in & learn many local traditions and Alaska Native lifestyles. Thank you very, very much!
Lois Herrmann, Federal Programs Coordinator
More Drum Photos:
More Fish Prints:
