Final Week in Fort Providence :(

Hello All!Our final week in the classroom has been another busy one, and we enjoyed every second of it! With the students in kindergarten-grade 3 we continued to cover topics such as personal space, and kindness this week.This involved some fun arts and crafts, and exciting games such as an emotions version of Simon Says. With students in grades 4-12 we continued to discuss topics on sexual health. With grades 4-6, we talked about puberty, and the students were very curious and inquisitive to say the least. With the students in grades 7-12, we talked about topics such as safe sex and STIs. With all of our classes, our final meeting was spent playing a big game of Jeopardy to wrap up and review all the topics that we have taught over the past 5 weeks. Students loved getting competitive with this, and we loved to see how much they all remembered! This week during school we also got to be involved in the career fair. Students got to spend a couple hours browsing the different booths set up in the gym, asking questions, and collecting all the free swag. It was great to see the students' interest in all the career options and the opportunities for further education. After school this week we also ran 2 successful programs in the kitchen. On Tuesday we taught the students how to bake healthy cookies, made out of nothing but bananas and oats. The students couldn't believe how amazing they tasted, but this didn't stop us from putting a bit of icing on top. Thursday evening we got back in the kitchen for a slightly less healthy farewell party, that included making ice cream sundaes and having some good laughs. The kids not only loved decorating their ice cream, but also their hands and mouths with food colouring!Another night this week we were so fortunate to be taken fishing by Jonas, one of the local teachers. We drove out to the winter crossing of the Deh Cho river, and managed to fight off the swarms of mosquitos and have a great time. Although we both caught some Pike fish, we were certainly more skilled at catching weeds! This was a great educational experience, as we learned about some local ecology from such a knowledgable community member.Friday was our last day of school, and although it was very sad, we also had tons of fun. In the morning we had our final classes, and the afternoon was Family Track Day! All the students competed in long jump, shot put, and sprints. We ran the long jump station, and we had a blast seeing how successful the kids were. We also managed to sneak in on the fun, trying our hands at shot put and some 100m sprints in the adult division. Jonah came 1st in the 5om sprint, but Nadia was slightly less successful...Friday was not only our last day of school, but it was also Nadia's birthday! During track day, all the students sang her happy birthday in the gym, which was very sweet and thoughtful.We cannot believe that our time here in Fort Providence is coming to a close as the past 5 weeks have flown by. We have learned so much from the community here, not only in the classroom, but also about the Deh Cho Dene culture, NWT ecology, and local history from all of our extra curricular experiences. The Fort Providence community has been nothing but hospitable, welcoming, caring, and generous towards us in our time here. We cannot thank them enough and cannot wait for QHO to return here next year. A special thank you to the Deh Gah school, for allowing us into their classrooms, and to the students for making our lessons so amazing.  We are sad to be leaving, but hope that it is not a goodbye, but rather, a goodbye for now.Signing off as the Fort Providence Peer Educators for the final time,Nadia and Jonah