Last report

Thanks to all who have followed and shared in our adventures. We are now safely home on St. Paul and St. George Islands. The last two days of the trip were superb, sorry this update with photos are so late, my computer decided to max itself out during the trip! On Thursday we were at the Kalama Intermediate School with Mrs. Prevenas and her Science club students. The Pribilof students performed Aleut dances for multiple groups of students, and we had many stations set up to teach about Aleut culture and the islands including: traditional Aleut visors – students made replicas out of paper decorating them with traditional designs, gut parkas – replicas were made on paper using wax paper to simulate the water repellency of the gut, fur seals – we’d brought our dance regalia so students were able to see and feel the fur pelts up close, reindeer – we’d brought supplies for making reindeer pendant necklaces, and more! Mrs. P and her students had stations too for us to learn about aspects of Hawaii and their culture. There were plenty of interactions between students as there must have been at least 100 students who rotated through the stations that day. We jumped over to the Makawao elementary school that afternoon and interacted with the 3rd graders and 5th graders through Aleut dance performances and making reindeer pendant necklaces and visors with those students also. Friday started EARLY with the packing up of the vans and checking out of the hotel in time to be at the Kamehameha School in time for their May Day celebration first thing in the morning. Each grade presented a spectacular program of traditional dances, a more modern dance, and a pledge showing their pride and promise to protect and promote their Hawaiian culture that brought tears to many. We met up with Ms. Matsurra’s class after that and spent the day with her students, showing off some Aleut dance, trading Aleut and Hawaiian words, making reindeer necklaces, and then we partnered up with her students for lunch and May Day games. The students were able to spend some time getting to know each other and beginning some long distance friendships. My students were reminiscing about their new friends throughout the trip home! They day ended with dinner and a trip to the airport. Apparently we were later than we thought when we ended up running through the airport to be the last people to board the plane in Maui! This caused us to have to claim and recheck our luggage (except two pieces that never made it on the plane in Maui) in Honolulu since Hawaiian Air couldn’t check it all the way to Anchorage. After checking in to Alaska Air – for nearly 45 minutes- we were late again and rushing through security to the plane! The Anchorage layover was much calmer since the luggage had been able to be checked all the way to the Island. This was an extremely rewarding and memorable trip that I know Ms. Edna, myself, and the 5th graders will cherish forever. Thank you to all who made it possible!
Aleut Dancers in Hawaii	Ataqan Akun
Gambling Dance	Conch Blowing, a Hawaiian Tradition
Kamehameha	Makawao School
Lunch in the cafeteria	Making reindeer antler necklaces at Kalama School
Making Friends
	Sumo bumper boys
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Thanks to all who have followed and shared in our adventures. We are now safely home on St. Paul and St. George Islands. The last two days of the trip were superb, sorry this update with photos are so late, my computer decided to max itself out during the trip!

On Thursday we were at the Kalama Intermediate School with Mrs. Prevenas and her Science club students. The Pribilof students performed Aleut dances for multiple groups of students, and we had many stations set up to teach about Aleut culture and the islands including: traditional Aleut visors – students made replicas out of paper decorating them with traditional designs, gut parkas – replicas were made on paper using wax paper to simulate the water repellency of the gut, fur seals – we’d brought our dance regalia so students were able to see and feel the fur pelts up close, reindeer – we’d brought supplies for making reindeer pendant necklaces, and more! Mrs. P and her students had stations too for us to learn about aspects of Hawaii and their culture. There were plenty of interactions between students as there must have been at least 100 students who rotated through the stations that day.

We jumped over to the Makawao elementary school that afternoon and interacted with the 3rd graders and 5th graders through Aleut dance performances and making reindeer pendant necklaces and visors with those students also.

Friday started EARLY with the packing up of the vans and checking out of the hotel in time to be at the Kamehameha School in time for their May Day celebration first thing in the morning. Each grade presented a spectacular program of traditional dances, a more modern dance, and a pledge showing their pride and promise to protect and promote their Hawaiian culture that brought tears to many. We met up with Ms. Matsurra’s class after that and spent the day with her students, showing off some Aleut dance, trading Aleut and Hawaiian words, making reindeer necklaces, and then we partnered up with her students for lunch and May Day games. The students were able to spend some time getting to know each other and beginning some long distance friendships. My students were reminiscing about their new friends throughout the trip home!

They day ended with dinner and a trip to the airport. Apparently we were later than we thought when we ended up running through the airport to be the last people to board the plane in Maui! This caused us to have to claim and recheck our luggage (except two pieces that never made it on the plane in Maui) in Honolulu since Hawaiian Air couldn’t check it all the way to Anchorage. After checking in to Alaska Air – for nearly 45 minutes- we were late again and rushing through security to the plane! The Anchorage layover was much calmer since the luggage had been able to be checked all the way to the Island.

This was an extremely rewarding and memorable trip that I know Ms. Edna, myself, and the 5th graders will cherish forever. Thank you to all who made it possible!

Aleut Dance