Good-Bye Chevak!

Parker's class says "Goodbye" to me, Flat Stanley! They are standing in front of my bulletin board where I am pictured with all sorts of famous people. Ann Bender - that is what everyone calls her here, Annbender - like one word! Anyway, Annbender evenposted part of the blog so the kids all over school could read about my adventures here at Chevak and at Knollwood. Annbender will pack me up tomorrow in my old box and her husband, Tombender, will ride my envelope on his four wheeler over to the post office where I will be placed on the big sled to go to the airport. At the airport they put me on a little bush plane and then I fly to Bethel Alaska, then to Anchorage and hopefully from there to Atlanta. I get tired just thinking about all that traveling. But I will be so glad to see all my friends at Knollwood. I wonder if you guys have gotten any taller since I've been gone?


Look at the cute little girl in the photo above- we went on a drink break together!

Below, I helped Jeanne and Waderon make a Blackfish trap. They boil them here and eat them with salt. Jeanne actually goes fishing with the folks here. They travel miles for the best fishing spots and fish in very cold weather. Of course they have to dig holes in the ice to get to the fish. I'll just have Annbender put one photo of the Cup'ik people ice fishing.




I've had the best time. People here love Chevak and have a great time fishing and hunting for their food. There are no stores like Atlanta, no roads, no movie theaters, or Chuckie cheese, or Pizza Hut, or MacDonalds. But they do have lots and lots of snow, Musk Ox, Blackfish, snow machines, lots and lots of snow, Eskimo dancing with drums, Elders, Easter egg hunts in the library, and lots and lots of snow. I will always remember what a wonderful time I had in Chevak and what fantastic kids live there.

Career Day

Hi, y'all! When I'm not traveling or visiting in a classroom I hang out in the media center. There a special display with books about Alaska, the iMac with the blog, and a map with Chevak circled on it so everyone will know how far I've come. Well, today was Career Day and was the media center busy! Mrs. Tingle, the counselor, greeted all the guests and they ate breakfast and lunch there. I enjoyed meeting all the important people and I even got to eat a muffin with the policeman.
Later, I visited in first grade with Mushu and his handler. She was teaching the students about how to be a pet care provider. See you soon, Stanley

Hi Knollwood. Today I got to see an Elder. An Elder is a person who comes to a classroom and tells stories in Cup'ik about old times. Here is what Regina told me about the Elders:

"Some Elders talk about stories in our class. Like about a man who was catching food for his family and other stories that we never have heard in old Chevak. The elders come in our class so we can listen to stories and learn the Cup'ik language. We want to learn about our past, about our people. Flat Stanley wishes that Knollwood could have elders speak to them. Sometimes we have to listen closely to understand since some of us do not speak Cup'ik very well."

Wow, I had a great time listening to the Elder although I did not understand a single word. Later, the Elder held me in the photo. You have to be over 65 to be an Elder. All the kids were very quite and paid close attention. Later all the students designed a qaspeq for me to take back to Knollwood. They used pencils to decorate it and then used markers and crayons. Regina wans me to come back and visit again. She has never met someone who was sent in the mail before.
Here's me with a BlackFish - they are delicious.

Each year during the season the Native Alaskans can get a ticket to hunt for one Musk Ox. This year Stewart got to go with Mr. Boyscout (his nickname is OX) and hunt for a Musk Ox. You can use the Musk Ox wool to weave beautiful warm hats and scarves. The wool on a Musk Ox is worth thousands of dollars. I was not allowed to go on the hunt, but when they brought the Musk Ox back in with them, I got to watch them skin it and then cut up the meat to freeze or dry. The young man in the photo is only 12 years old and this was his very first Musk Ox hunt.
The Musk Ox is not really that big once you get his coat off. In one of our photos you can see the herd in the background. In another, you can see me, Flat Stanley, with the Musk Ox hide. I did not like all the blood, but that is what they call subsistence living - the Cup'ik people have to kill or catch whatever they eat.

Something Fishy!

Hi kids! Today, I was fortunate enough to accompany the whole third grade class to the Georgia Aquarium. Ms. Keith’s class was my host. It was a long bus ride to the aquarium, but we had fun on the ride. When we first arrived, Mrs. Robin took us into a small room to tell us about what we were going to experience. There were many things that we got to see and feel. We saw fish and coral. Did you know that coral is not a plant? It has tiny holes where animals are living.
Then, we saw Zebra Sharks. When they are little, they have stripes, but when they get older, they have polka dots. Next, we saw whale sharks, stingrays and lots of other fish. We also saw poison frogs and baby sea horses. Last, we saw a 4-D movie. It was really awesome. I hope one day you will be able to experience the fun I had today. Oh, and by the way, while walking back to the bus, snow flurries were falling. It was 50 degrees and everyone was complaining about how cold it was. Well, hope to talk to you soon!

PS - If you click on "Something Fishy!" you will link to a site that tells about how the Georgia Aquarium works. There's a neat video there that will show you all the different things we saw.

Easter Egg Hunt at Chevak w/Flat Stanley

I had loads of fun at the Easter Egg Hunt for the faculty children here at Chevak. The hunt was held in the school library since there is no ground or grass or places to hide eggs out on the snowy tundra. It would have been entirely too cold for the little kids anyway. So the moms hid all the eggs in amongst the books in the shelves, in and under the bean bags and tables and chairs, and around the computers. There were hundreds of eggs. I had Mr. Bender take my photo on top of one of the shelves and then with the kids afterwards.

Busy Day

Hi, y'all! Y'all is what everyone says down here when they mean "everybody." I kind of like the way it sounds. Well, y'all, I had a very busy day. Mrs. Nevil took me to the cafeteria at
breakfast and I got to try grits! Grits are sort of like a cereal that is served hot. You can put butter and sugar on them, or you can mix them up with some grated cheese. My friend here liked her's with just butter. I must admit that they taste better than they look! I think I'm going to eat breakfast in the cafeteria every time the grits are served. (There are two kinds of grits - white and yellow. Breakfast grits are usually white. Grits for shrimp and grits are yellow. The yellow ones are like Italian polenta.)

After breakfast, I was picked up by the bird club
for their meeting in the Library. The club eats breakfast together and then goes out bird watching around the school. When we were getting ready to go outside, the students surprised me with my own pair of binoculars! The students in the club are practicing for the Georgia Youth Birding Competition in May. They know all the birds that come to the feeder outside the library window. I learned some of their names: cardinals, chickadees, tufted titmouse, downy and red-bellied woodpeckers, chipping sparrows, juncos and more I can't remember. I think the club members liked showing me how to use my new binoculars.

Later in the day, Ms. Blue, the computer lab teacher, invited me to come and help out the third grade while they were working on Study Island. That's a program everyone uses to get better at math and reading. Kierra didn't need much help, she is so smart and funny! Ms. Blue runs a pretty "tight ship" in the computer lab.



Last week I did some traveling, and I will write about that next time. Say hi to everyone for me y'all! Stanley

Flat Stanley visits Seth's 4th grade

I've been spending some time in Seth's class this week. Actually they all call each other by their first names up here. That would never go over in Georgia! Anyway Seth took me down to his fourth grade and I spent the day with them. These kids work really hard! In the photo above I am helping Grace read my book. My books have become quite popular since my arrival.

I hung out on the board for a while just observing things. Then Seth let me actually visit with some of the kids while they were doing their work. I helped students with their math and reading classwork.
Joe let me help him with the math game.

I got to look over Germain's shoulder and I picked up a few hints about long division!

Axel let me sit on his desk while he worked on his classwork. Seth gives lots of classwork. We have been studying about survival. Sometimes a person can get stuck out somewhere all by themselves and they have to know what do to when that happens. We've been reading Tough Boy and Sister, The Cay, and Hatchet. My favorite was The Hatchet. That boy was pretty resourceful.
Here I am helping Ty with his writing assignment. We try to write things about survival that we have read about. Survival techniques are important for us to learn in Chevak because we could easily get lost in the snowy tundra on our way to Hooper Bay or when we go fishing. We ride snowgo's when we go fishing and sometimes we go a long way out and we cannot see the town anymore. There are no roads here and we have to be very careful. Sometimes people get lost.
In the halls the students are very orderly and quiet - except when I am in line with them. Then things get a little fun. The class even took me to PE with them. I'm telling you I was worn out at the end of the day.

My New Qaspeq

Here is a close-up photo of my new Qespeq. I love the pattern - very manly! I'm fitting right in now amongst the Cup'ik people. We're going to do some dancing later this week.

Clearing the Snow

Wow. Chevak has a bunch of snow. I had to help Leo the maintenance man, clear the snow with the front loader. That's me right there in the center. I gave directions. There is so much snow that when the strong winds blow, the snow makes huge drifts and people can't walk from place to place. It is much easier to get everywhere if you have a snow machine. Anyway, Leo plows down the snow so people can walk back and forth to school. Here I am on a pile of snow we moved.


Our whole village is about the size of, uhmm, well about the size of four Wal Marts put together. Or, maybe the size of two football fields. We can walk anywhere. In fact I am getting a lot of good exercise.

Did you notice my new qaspeq? Stewarts wife, Carrie, made it for me Everyone wears qaspeqs here - it is the common native dress. Anytime people dress up, they wear qaspeqs.

Gassing Up and Pep Rallys

James, a second grader at Chevak, took me with him to fill up the snowmachine with gas. I thought James was too young to be driving around on a snow machine, but he does! We paid $5.00 for the gas to put in the machine. We have had two blizzards since I have been in Chevak - the winds were blowing 40 miles an hour and I had to hold tight when when I was outside.



At school the kids had a pep rally. Basktetball is really BIG here. Everyone goes to the games, the entire village. This pep rally was to send the girls off to the semi finals. At pep rallys the Cup'ik people always Eskimo Dance. I got my photo taken with the drummer. The older original drums were made from seal skin. Now in more modern times the Cup'ik people might use cloth tightly fitted to the frame. The drums can get very LOUD!

Seussical, the Musical

On Wednesday, Flat Stanley went to Seussical, the Musical at the Alliance Theatre. He rode on the school bus. He had a great time. He wasn't scared of the Cat in the Hat. He didn't need his jacket when we were in the the theatre. He saw Horton, Gertrude McFuzz, and the other characters. He could not wait to go to that play. He was amazed when he saw the eagle fly across the room. He had a good seat so he could see good. We can't show you how it looked because you're not allowed to take pictures in there. He sat by the window on the bus so he could see what it looked like in downtown Atlanta. He had the best time ever!

Visit to Martin Luther King Home

Hi, Chevak students,
I got to go on my first field trip in Atlanta. Knollwood's fourth grade showed me a great time. We rode in a school bus filled with lots of kids. We were given multiplication worksheets to do for fun on the way there. One of the jokes on a worksheet was: What happened to the boy that ran away with the circus? He had to bring it back! Haha. The first place we went when we got to the Auburn district was Martin Luther King Jr.'s house. We had to wait in a loooooong line for about an hour just to get into the house. The kids were complaining about how cold it was outside, but I kept telling them it is much warmer than Alaska. The house was really cool because the kept it just like Martin Luther King Jr. lived in it. My favorite part was when we saw his room. It is so neat to think that this guy lived right here. After we finished with the house we walked to the Martin Luther King Visitor Center. It was a museum about the civil rights movement. The kids in the classes seemed to know alot about it, but I learned alot...so much in fact that Ms. A. Brown, their teacher, wants me to have a report to her by Monday! And I thought I was on vacation!
See you, Stanley

PS If you click on the title of this post you can go on virtual tour of the home and see what I saw!