Weeks 2 & 3!
Hard to believe it’s week 3 here in Webequie - time is flying!Last week, we taught sexual health and healthy relationships in the school. We used “The Game of Life: Puberty Edition” to teach all the children about the changes our body goes through physically and emotionally during puberty. We also had many fun demonstrations, such as the condom demonstration that was very popular. Power outages on the Tuesday and Wednesday forced us to think of creative ways to condense and review the material, since there were larger gaps between our lessons. Overall, it was an excellent week of teaching.
Our after-school programs continued to be a huge success last week. We made stain glass windows during our craft club, managing the chaos of glue and tissue paper fairly well! Thursday, we introduced soccer baseball to the kids and that has been very popular ever since, although we doubt they fully understand the rules – ha! Friday, we hosted our first QHO Movie Night. Despite the small crowd due to late notice, we had great fun projecting Horton Hears a Who! (compliments of the technologically savy Justice Durland). Lots of popcorn and lots of laughter was a perfect ending to a good week.
Saturday – oh Saturday – had a hilarious turn of events. After preparing all morning for the Summer Olympics 2012 with various arts and crafts (including country flags, a “dragon boat”, torches, etc.), we dragged our supplies outside into a hurricane wind. The hurricane wind quickly brought in the scariest cloud we’ve ever seen (could have sworn the world was ending). Screaming (and laughing) we all ran into the gym. Unfortunately, most of our Olympic activities were lost, so played the Ultimate Frisbee instead. It quickly became very intense, and the game got so heated that even Fabi – the fair play goddess – began to scream at the top of her lungs for her players to get focused and open!This week has been very successful so far. We have been teaching Substance Abuse in the school. We have had to adjust to teaching a much more serious topic. It has been difficult to teach these difficult topics in an engaging and relevant way. However, we have tried to stay upbeat and use trivia games and board games to keep the young ones happy.Wednesday afternoon was the 17th Annual Webequie Career Fair. Fabi and Justice were lucky enough to reserve a both for a nutrition board. It was an excellent opportunity to reach out to the community at large, and discuss relevant issues with local parents and elders. We offered several healthy budget-wise recipe options, as well as information about reading nutrition labels and cutting back on sugary foods. Our fruit basket door prize was extremely popular, featuring real “treats” like pineapple, cantaloupe and mangos! Fabi and Justice both received “Certificates of Participation” on stage at the end of the day as well as a bag and travel mug! The travel mug has already been put to good use!
At the Career Fair, we met the health teacher from WAHSA and had a great discussion with him regarding the main issues in regard to health issues and teaching health issues in Northern communities. He had great insight and will be a great resource to use in the future. In addition, we will be guest speaking on his radio channel high school course about our experience and QHO health topics!!! We are both so excited (and nervous) to be radio stars – ha!Post Career Fair activities included a game of soccer baseball with the older students and putting our Nutrition booth recipe handouts to good use: a healthy and delicious rice dish! Getting to know some of the older students has definitely been a highlight of this week. We even threw out the idea of starting a “Quit Club” where students can kick some unhealthy habits like smoking or simply fitting in more physical activity- plans are in the works!Unfortunately, a water pipe broke in the school this morning… So, no school (again) today. We are spending this well needed time to catch up on lesson plans and blogging!Best part of the week:Hanging out with our favorite NAPS police office, Constable Bryan Doherty! Fellow Survivor fan and master lasagna maker took time out of his busy schedule to help us assemble our Nutrition Booth, what a gem.Best lesson thus far:Grade 5 Safe Sex Lesson: Justice reveals wooden penis very suddenly out of a paper bag for the condom demonstration, watching the student’s eyes pop out of their head was priceless!Grossest part of the week:Invited over to Tony’s house for dinner. Ulterior motives were revealed as we proceeded to clean the cheese stains that were conveniently located all over the kitchen. Well worth the delicious meal!Most embarrassing part of the week:No first aid needed this week- success! Although some interesting off-topic questions have emerged in our Question Box, they shall not be named… Signature moves:Fabi’s permanent messy bunJustice’s “ever light hair”Drink of choice:Almond milk (for Fabi… lactose problems): Both grateful for all the fresh produce Mr. Spiess shipped up for the second half of our trip!Best Purchase(s):1) Straws- Used to simulate the effects of smoking: running, pushups, and playing a game of Smokes & Ladders were all done while breathing through the straws2) Pizzas- Shannon, one of the lovely teachers here at the school, is making homemade pizzas for tomorrow… may or may not have each ordered our own..Looking Forward To:Bingo and the Flea Market on Friday – great way to kick off the May long weekend!Ever! Justice & Fabi