The sky

There's not much to report today. I've been working on the Staff Handbook and a new job description for the caregivers. 

In the meantime, here is a picture of the sky right now. 

A work in progress

Today I started to redo my office the way I want it set up. It took me the whole day, and I'm almost completely set up. I'll have only a bit of filing to do tomorrow.

These are the before photos (in case you don't remember):

This is mid-reorganization - furniture in place but nothing is put away:

It's getting there...

This is how I left it! Feeling much better!!

Since the weather has been wet and cold this weekend, we opted to stay inside. I helped my sister make some char chowder this afternoon, then made my very first batch of banana bread. We have eaten some and decided that it is quite delicious. 

I'm excited to go to work tomorrow and get started on my new projects! 

Interior makeover

After a rough week of being consistently under staffed, the board decided today to close the daycare effective immediately until school starts up again in August. 

This gives me the chance to give the centre an interior makeover, get a new program together, hire new staff, plan and host a staff orientation, and have an open house for parents to come in and see the new design and program. The Board is also hoping to send me to Cambridge Bay to get some training on all of the policies and procedures for running a daycare in Nunavut and how to write funding proposals, as well as shadowing the manager at the centre there, as it is full to capacity. 

If you are one of my professors, you should expect at least a handful of emails from me asking for advice and resources! Please feel free to offer any if you think you have something that may be helpful!

I have to say, I'm really excited about the rest of the summer. It will be a really great experience for me and the perfect opportunity for me to apply everything I learned over the past 4 years at school and through working at various centres. 

This first thing I did when they told me I could make whatever changes I wanted: get rid of all worksheets and cookie-cutter craft patterns. I filled an entire industrial size trash bag and I am covered in paper cuts! 

! 

Nunavut Day

With the baby we didn't have a whole lot of time to spend in celebration, but this is a glimpse of the party and culture up here. 

My sister and I looked snazzy with our bug jackets on:

The first contest was a fish filleting contest. Two winners were selected: the fastest and the nicest. There were ten competitors. Of course, the goriest of the  competitions was the only one I thought to take pictures of!

There were also contests for cake decorating, tea boiling and duck plucking, along with some Inuit games. 

The mosquitos weren't too much to handle, so surprisingly it was my hungry little nephew that signalled that it was time to head back home. 

This is my home: 

New goals

I'm starting to understand why they haven't been able to hold a manager.
Today I had no staff show up, and none of the casual on-call staff were available to come in. Luckily there were only 5 children, so nothing I couldn't handle, but it was certainly a long day with no breaks!

I had so many ideas about improving the learning environment, providing some training for the staff, developing a functional program, etc., but now I realize my main goal is to find some staff who I can count on to show up for their scheduled shifts. Unfortunately the number of individuals with ECE training is very limited, so I don't have much of an option when it comes to resolving this issue.

It has been a long second day!

First Day

When I got to work in the morning, this is the first thing I saw. I was sure that another staff should have been opening, so I thought there was no way this was the right building, despite the playground to the side.

I walked down to the health centre to double check, and they assured me I'd been at the right place. When I got back up the hill to the centre, one of the casual staff was there at the door. She introduced herself and I myself, and we were quick to learn that we had no keys. Thankfully, she had a cell phone and called a member of the Daycare Society to come and unlock the door for us.

Naturally, the first thing I checked out was my new office:

It isn't much, but it's still my very first office, so I think it's awesome. 

And now for the rest of the tour... 

The kitchen

The infant area

The colours in English and Inuinnaqtun 

The toddler and preschool area

A lovely mural :)

The kindergarten area

I'm so excited to transform this beautiful and open space into a quality learning environment. They have a pretty good start, but there's much to do with this newly renovated building.

As a first day, it was fairly uneventful. There are only three children attending the centre during the day, so there hasn't been much of a program created for them. I spent most of the day getting to know the children who were there and organizing the drawers and filing cabinets in my office. The most exciting part of the day was that a mother came in to register her son!

Today is Nunavut day, so the whole town is closed for some community celebrations, and I'm really excited to really be immersed in the Inuit culture and to make some new friends!