Hump day

In one word, today was rough (but still fun).  No wonder Wednesdays are "hump days"!  I started to get sick yesterday evening.  Last night I kept waking up from fevers, coughs, and Charlie horses in my calves (probably from mild dehydration; it is very dry up here, so you loose a lot more water to the air than at home).

Today started out with Leah's grade 5s.  They were the first class that we had when we came to the school, so I remember a lot of their names and I think that helps in the class running smoothly and being more fun.  After refreshing their memories with the pyranometers (a word I have yet to say correctly in front of a class despite practising for hours Monday night), we did an "albedo lab".  Albedo is the proportion of original light/radiation that reflects from a surface.  Even though we call it an "albedo" lab, the students are measuring radiation absorption (which is related to the albedo).  To do the lab, they make pockets out of two materials from: aluminum foil, multiple colours of construction paper, black or white cardstock, sandpaper, or cellophane.  They put a thermometer in each pocket and aim a lamp at the thermometers.  They record the temperature every two minutes (for 10 minutes) and then discuss the results as a group.

Albedo lab set up.

 Then we went to Jeena's grade 2 class for a half hour where we pretended we were air molecules.  When I read the activity last week I thought it was silly, but today I lead the activity and it was a ridiculous amount of fun.  The kids just got so into it!  We also had them use thermometers to measure the temperature of various glasses of water around their room.

After the grade 2s, we spent a half hour with both Darlene's grade 3s and Meeka's grade 4s.  With both of the classes, we taught them how to use their instruments: a wind sock, compass, and anemometer (measures wind speed), then we went outside to practice.

Grade 3s showing me they know how to use the instruments.

Grade 4s measuring wind velocity.

Grade 4s running inside with their instruments. 

We came back to the resaurant for lunch, but it was packed, so we ended up eating a couple of quickly made peanut butter sandwiches on our walk to the school.  In the afternoon we started off with Tamie's grade 6s (a very energetic group that doesn't behave too well), followed by Paul's grade 7s (who ask silly questions, but for the most part, behave really well).  We refreshed how to do calculations and use the pyranometer with them, then took them outside to take some measurements.

The third period after lunch was Pat's grade 1s.  They are so refreshing to visit!  Every time we come into their classroom they are eagerly waiting, with huge smiles on their faces, and greet us with "Hi Niall, Mel, and Ashley!"  We finished up the experiment we started yesterday and put a thermometer outside for them to take their measurements in the weeks to come.

We ended the day with explaining the pyranometers and taking solar insolation measurements outside with Veera's grade 6 class.

When we got back to our rooms, I took an hour nap.  I could have slept for longer, but after missing a decent lunch, I didn't want to miss supper.  I would have gone to bed by now (with how tired I am), but we were told that the Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights) usually come out around 10 PM on clear nights and tonight was clear.  We haven't seen them yet (including tonight), but it has been snowing every night, with heavy cloud cover.  I really hope we get to see them while we are up here!

While I've been up here, I've managed to pick up a new word in Inuktitut (technically "igloo" is Inuktitut for "house", "inuk" means person, and "inuit" means "people").  I don't know how to spell it, but it is pronounced "coy" (like the English synonym of shy) "N" (the name of the English letter) "nemy" (like the last syllable of the English word "enemy", with an n sound at the front).  There is a faint pause between the syllables.  The double "n" sound messes me up a bit and sometimes I mispronounce it as "coy"-"n"-"emy".  Once you've mastered it, you can say "thank you" in Igloolik's dialect of Inuktitut.