Fun and the Games!

Our belated Winter Festival aka Carnival is finally underway! It has been delayed by snow days, report cards, an unexpected sports tournament and then a respiratory virus that is sweeping the community. But we had our first day of fun today, and what a great day it has been!

We started off with four teams. Two teams came into my room and went on a scavenger hunt, in and around the schools. They had to find a pop can that was NOT a Coke or Pepsi can (a hard task indeed, LOL!); they had to find a certain teacher and get a photo with her after asking for her birth onth; they had to get the phone number from teh fuel tank and a photo; they had to build a six-person human pyramid; they had to make a poster that said, "Paatsaali Rocks!" and put it up on our display board, and take a photo of everyone pointing at it; they had to take a photo of one team member in a locker; and all sorts of other fun shenanigans like that. They had a blast!

Meanwhile, in the gym, the other two teams faced off for Keep-away, a sort of dodge-ball form of soccer. Tomorrow the two teams switch places. After recess, we had mini fun games. Some students had to take toilet paper and wrap team members up like mummies. Others had to blow a ping-pong ball across the floor with a straw. (Deb, do you remember 'Survivor' and the frozen peas? Guess where this idea came from, LOL!) Then we had a ball relay where you had to run with the ball between your knees. There was a variation of beer pong with only the pong part as a tournament. There was a frisbee target toss. And so on. A lot of laughter, a lot of cheering, a lot of fun.

In teh afternoon the elementary school came over and we had nine teams build cardboard qamutiik (sleds) which we then took out and raced as a relay. 3 pullers took 2 riders from Nuiyak to Paatsaali, and then 3 other pullers took 2 different riders back to Nuiyak. We only lost one qamutiik, so it went well! Into the gym for a quick frisbee dodgeball game, hot dogs and hot chocolate, and home. The kids were exhausted but all smiling when they left. Everyone had such a good time.

Tomorrow we have the same first activity, as mentioned, and then Inuit games with a stick pull, a one-foot kick, knee jumps, and so on. Then in the afternoon we join schools again to skate, toboggan, or play hockey. The night caps off with a fundraiser with my running girls. We're having a music night, a time of spot dances, a hip-hop contest, a broom dance, and acouple of other games with some gift certificates generously donated by the Northern Store and the Mitiq Co-op. Our canteen will be open and we are charging admission, so it should be a good night for the club. We raised over $800.00 in March alone, excellent for this area! So there may be a trip in June for a race. Our application with Sport Nunavut is currently under consideration for funding and I am keeping my fingers crossed. Oh, and if anyone ares to donate some thing to our auction, if you mail them fast they could arrive in time, LOL! Hint, hint! Box 202...hint, hint! And there are four lovely miniature paintings that I just KNOW someone will want to bid on, say maybe $200.00? Hint! Hint!

And somewhere in all this, we have to move to our new unit, which is lovely and has a HUGE storage area. Huzzah! Well, I can sleep all summer, I guess...catch up on my downtime then. Oh, and four weeks until the Science Fair! Oi vey...

TTFN!

Terri