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Alaskan Summer

Alaskan Summer

alaskaWith a love for the outdoors and children, Laura Barnhardt, a third grade teacher at Caleb’s Creek Elementary School, enjoys spending her summers in the great outdoors teaching children about nature, and bringing what she has learned back to her students in Kernersville. This year she traveled to Sitka National Historical Park in Alaska.
Last year, Barnhardt went through the Teacher-Ranger-Teacher Program at Mount Rainier. She wanted to do something similar again this past summer; however, having already gone through the program, she wasn’t sure what would be available.
“This year, I volunteered as a park ranger,” she said. “I had to apply through the National Park Service.”
Barnhardt wasn’t the only volunteer working at the park this summer. She had two roommates who were volunteering as well.
“The program provides housing. I had two roommates who were in their 60s,” she said.
Though much older than her, Barnhardt said her roommates were a lot of fun.
“They were awesome. Of course, they took me under their wings, but we went out and did everything together,” she said. “One lady was a retired accountant, so she did a lot of the books for the store at the National Park, and the other lady was a retired teacher, so she worked at the visitor center.”
Although this year she was volunteering, Barnhardt was still required to do an assignment.
“This year, I developed a monthly preschool story hour, but I had to (first) learn about the park itself and the town of Sitka,” she said. “I also visited the town’s library to observe their preschool hour, and from there I figured out how I was going to do my story hour.”
Barnhardt developed a theme for each month, with the first month being about salmon.
“The salmon start coming up the rivers from the ocean to lay their eggs. After they lay their eggs, they die. This is also the time when all the bears come down from the mountains,” she said. “The salmon do this in August, so since it was August, I was able to teach the first lesson. I came up with a craft, we had a snack, played games, sang a song and I told a story about salmon.”
Other themes Barnhardt created were about bears, whales, and snow. She also did a theme on the rainforest and totem poles.
“I did a theme about totem poles because they are very important to the Tlingit tribe, a native tribe of Alaska,” she said. “I also did a theme about the rainforest because it is considered a rainforest there, which a lot of people don’t know.”
Barnhardt noted that she saw firsthand the amount of rain Sitka receives, and why it is called a rainforest.
“I was there five weeks and there were only six days that it didn’t rain,” she said. “My main mode of transportation was a bicycle, so I biked everywhere in the rain.”
Along with creating a preschool story hour at the park, Barnhardt worked at the visitor center, where she said she did a lot of interpretation for tourists who came off of cruise ships on a daily basis. She also worked at a camp for local children.
“The kids were a lot different than kids here,” she said. “They are very outdoorsy. They get really excited about being outside.”
Barnhardt said she was impressed that the children enjoyed playing in the rain.
“That’s what they are used to because it is always raining,” she remarked. “We went to the ocean and the children would play in the tide pools. They would find different sea creatures like purple crabs, sea stars and sea cucumbers.”
When Barnhardt wasn’t working, she did a lot of fishing and hiking.
“We met some locals who took us fishing. The first line I threw in I reeled in a 26 pound Alaskan King Salmon,” she said. “I learned how to cook fresh salmon and never had to buy any other meat while I was there. I have never had so much fresh salmon in my life.”
Barnhardt said Sitka was very mountainous, and she always had to be alert while hiking because of the grizzly bears.
“I ran into two of them and that was the one time I didn’t have my bear spray. We had to act very big and they finally ran off,” she said as she noted that there is one grizzly bear per square mile on Baranof Island.
She was also amazed at how many bald eagles she saw.
“It was neat to see so many in person,” she said.
Barnhardt said she learned a lot on her trip, which she plans to share with her students.
“It was in the 40s and 50s and rainy all summer, and the kids loved playing in the rain and creeks. One day they dressed up like bugs,” she recalled. “When I got back, one of the lessons I did with my students was that I dressed up like a flower and we did some gardening together.”
Since Russians settled Sitka, Barnhardt plans to teach a lesson on Russian-American history.
“I don’t think people know about how much the Russians have to do with Alaska,” she said.
Barnhardt shared a few interesting facts about Sitka.
“The time difference there from North Carolina is four hours and we only had about four hours of darkness at night. Also, Sitka is on Baranof Island, which is where the Russians first came. Sitka was the capital of Alaska, although Juneau is now the capital,” she said.
She also plans to stay in touch with the island of Sitka by Skyping with the lead ranger.
“They are starting a distance learning program in Sitka,” she shared.
Barnhardt said she loved experiencing a new culture and a different way of life.
“There were no Walmart stores and everything at the grocery store was expensive because it has to be brought in. They have a very simple way of living and I loved it,” she said. “I would go back in a heartbeat. Everyone was so welcoming. I was only there for a little over a month, but if felt like I had lived there for years.”

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