If you wanna go and take a ride with me, we're 3-wheelin' in Pond instead of gettin tipsy, HEYY must mean we're healthy!

Yeah we are trying to pull out some Nelly. If you couldn’t tell from the title (we really don’t think there should be any confusion) we were teaching substance abuse this week!Our week started off with teaching about smoking. Since Nunavut spent $42 million on tobacco last year, we realized how important it was to present the scary facts about smoking in a very engaging manner. We presented the bad effects of smoking with an interactive exercise with the kids covering areas on the body they think would be hurt by smoking. By the end, the body was pretty well covered which really got our point across. To polish off the lesson we brought in lungs from the health centre that were healthy and then smokers lungs. We even had the chance to blow them up to show how well they breathe to complement our breathing through the straw activity. The kids were disgusted to see the smoker’s lungs and how much more trouble they had inhaling since one lung was not even working anymore. Some students even took our stop smoking challenge, which was SO awesome to see.After school Liz played some basketball while Reba ran walking club with some kids. Since we were told about the amazing views at the dump we figured we my as well let the kids guide us there instead of wandering for hours looking for it. The kids loved the trip and getting to know Reba outside of the classroom. Not to mention the trip allowed for some possible CD cover photos to be taken.Wednesday was our alcohol lesson with our junior high classes. We really stressed the dangers of homebrew since Pond is a dry community, and how alcohol not only can hurt our bodies physically but the mental and emotional problems abuse of the substance can cause. We then showed some pictures of liver cirrhosis that emphasized to the students how it really can hurt our bodies instead of just talking to them over and over about the ways it can have a negative effect. That night we had art club and this week was bracelet making! We had both boys and girls come and some major tunes blasting that some teachers even had to come in occasionally to dance to. Many friendship bracelets were made, except ones from Liz since no one would want to wear anything she made…YouTube tutorials will be watched…Our lesson on inhalants and the pictures we had on what it does to the human brain along with explaining sudden sniffing death syndrome kept the students surprised and interested in the lesson. To wrap up substance abuse Reba and Liz did some peer pressure skits substance abuse edition and relied on the kids to plan the outcome for us to act out. Not only did this create a more interactive lesson that the kids got really involved in and stirred up some laughs, but the answers used to help out the skits were really effective and helpful ways to say no to peer pressure! After successful lessons, we hosted a movie night of Rango, which we think we enjoyed even more than the kids did.BOYZ NIGHT IN THE AFTERNOON!! This Saturday we went to school early to get cooking since we know what growing boys eat. After hours of floor hockey and shield dodgeball (the boys were so low maintenance, legitimately run on their own forever) lots of pizzas, pasta, cakes, cookies, and some healthy treats were devoured. With full bellies, everyone rolled into place to either watch Liz star as Amanda Bynes in She’s the Man (tricked the boys into thinking I was actually her in the movie) or play some card games. Overall, it was an awesome day full of laughs and tons of fun. This weekend we even got to go out on a little scenic trip on an ATV! Since Reba tipped Liz off the ski-doo last week (pretty much barely escaped with her life) Liz only thought it would appropriate for some payback. Although she leached on well I think it’s safe to say Reba has a little more off-roading talent and Liz should stick to solid roads. Did we mention we got to meet a whole dog team before a seal feeding as well?! Hello full Northern experience! To wrap up the week we needed to do some major lesson planning for our upcoming sexual health lessons!! The time we have been waiting for…. Actually, that Reba has been waiting for (there was even a comment in the question jar asking why she wants to talk about it so badly)Can’t believe we have been here since May 2nd!! Time has been flying by in Pond because we have been having so much fun, so we remain cherishing every second we have left!Husky hugs from Pond,Liz and Reba