Mine's the BEST!

To know me is to know that my standards are exponentially high and as a teacher, you hear the refrains of, “You’re the best teacher in the world…” or “You’re my favorite teacher” quite regularly. So it is not lightly that I say, “My son has the best 2nd grade teacher in the world.” I know this as an indisputable fact because she is not just Xavier’s teacher, she’s also my colleague. Teaching with this woman has truly been, and will probably remain, the highlight of my career. As both a professional and a mother, I couldn’t be luckier.

I started this blog last Friday night after coming home and reflecting on our awesome 2nd grade Expo (which you can read more about later), but I needed to finish writing it today. I needed to finish writing it after she passed along a piece of free-writing Xavier wrote about a favorite memory.

Though the spelling has been improved, the wording has not. Here is Xavier’s story about his favorite memory to the ocean:

The wind blew gently against our faces. The waves were as still as a silk blanket. Joy of children fill my ears. Suddenly, screams interrupted the joy. The waves crash down on shore like lightening bolts. The wind blows hard against our faces. A storm fills the beach. People get in cars and go home. Suddenly, everything is still. I dipped my feet in. The water was crystal blue. For the rest of the day, I splashed in the waves.

-Xavier (age 7), 27 January 2011

 Where did this kid come from? Where did all of this brilliance come from? See, I’m not blowin’ smoke. It’s true. All of it. She’s amazing. And I know, I know, Rob and I have a lot to do with it—I mean, we’re no dummies. But these stories and his development in 2nd grade confirms that Indonesia was a good move for us!

Now, onto our PYP Expo! Last Friday, Maureen and I watched our students as they toured their parents around our PYP Expo. The Expo was a culmination of our last two units of inquiry in which the students, in a nutshell, investigated how things evolve from seed to plant to table.

Here are some of the highlights:

The kids are turning vegetables into bread by following my grandmother's recipe for Zucchini Bread and Carrot Bread. These breads became bitings for their parents at the Expo.

 







Our Invent-A-Garden where students used their knowledge of plants and their adaptations to invent a plant which they then created through paper mache.

Our ongoing PYP Unit wall where we show student learning (from pre-assessment to summative) throughout the unit. Thank God for assistants!

 

Xavier and his partner doing their choral reading of "The Great Kapok Tree."

 

Two girls show their moms how the roots and stem of celery pull the water up to the leaves. Other students were conducting a chocolate taste test. Which is better? Indonesian, Japanese, or Belgian (yup, we all know who won!) and showing their parents food's journey from farm to table.

Here, a student explains the food distribution chain (from farm to factory to market) while another student is showing off the brochure he made in technology about his invented plant.

Here, Xavier shows off our Grade 2 garden--look how much our rice has grown. 3 more weeks and we can harvest.

 
A student and his parents take food items out of a basket, find out where they are distributed from, and then brainstorm whether or not we should be buying locally or globally.

 

Here, a student is showing her mom the stomates of a leaf while explaining their importance to humans (they take in the carbon dioxide and give off oxygen). Another student shows her mom a math problem after going shopping in our classroom store (basically a part of our store room turned into a mini-market) using Indonesian Rupiah. Students had to show their adding and subtracting skills (to the 100,000) to demonstrate what they could buy. Can you believe they are only in 2nd grade?!?!

Every place has its pitfalls and Surabaya is not exempt. But here is proof that we have chosen the best place for our kids and why I can say, “My son has the best 2nd grade teacher in the world.” 

Lovely Lombok

Clearly, we didn't know what to expect from Lombok. I've been to Hawaii more times than I can count so I guess my idea of Lombok was based on that--huge, deep white sand beaches, tourists at every corner, and hotels so high they touch the sky. But boy oh boy, was I wrong! After a brief 40-minute flight, we landed at Lombok's International Airport (think Kenya's Wilson Airport only with Bali-esque style buildings) and began to toss out our pre-conceived notions.

Moments after claiming our bag and catching a taxi, we were on our way to our beach hotel. Though the island of Lombok is different than the island of Java in many ways: size, population, clean air, etc... one thing wasn't different--the crazy Indonesian driving. We sped through the small streets going far too fast, dodging mopeds, delivery trucks, chickens, and horse-pulled carts. I think the only change was the number of animals that were added into the mix.

When we got to our small villa on Windy Beach we realized that we were certainly not there for the room! The villa was fine, but the views and ambiance were priceless! 30 steps from the ocean, we couldn't get away from it. Every night we fell asleep to the lulling pattern of the crashing waves and woke up to the same peace every morning. Unfortunately, the rainy season brought treacherous waves to our part of Windy Beach so putting our suits on and kicking around the waves was the extent of our beach experience at the hotel.

Day 2 we were bound for snorkeling at a private island called Gili Nanggu. This is where the difference between our expectations and our reality became very clear. Some of the beaches had tan/gray sand while others had gray/black sand. Because of the variant colors of the sand, snorkeling was a bit of a challenge. Some of the darker colored fish blend in with the dark coral and the dark sand. That said, our snorkeling experience was amazing. It took awhile for the kids (read: Anouk) to downsize the gear and pick the most essential snorkeling pieces necessary (mask ONLY!) and feel comfortable enough to explore without being a monkey on our backs, but once the kids found their groove... snorkeling was easy. One of Anouk's most memorable experiences was coming across a live bright blue starfish who had washed ashore. She picked up the starfish, asked to be photographed, and then took it back out to the reef for safety.

The island of Nanggu has a small hotel (sans hot water and electricity) and a restaurant. We had a late lunch and by the time we returned for one last afternoon snorkel, the 15 or so other visitors to the islands had gone. The only boat at the dock was ours, and we had the warm waters to ourselves one last time. It was an amazing experience and has the kids ferociously excited about snorkeling in the Azores this summer!

Instead of spending our pre-last day resting and relaxing by the pool or ocean, I insisted on taking the fam on a tour of the island. On our drive to the south beach, we were mesmerized by the sheer number and incredible beauty of rice paddies. Xavier was particularly impressed as he and his classmates got to plant in a rice paddy at school (in our grade 2 garden) and on a field trip this year. Our first stop of the day was to Mayura Water Palace. The Water Temple is the temple of the former King of Lombok and Hindus pilgrimage there on Christmas Eve every year. Though it was built in 1744, much of the temple has been rebuilt as it was the sight of a bloody battle between the Balinese and the Dutch in 1894.

On our tour, we stopped at pottery village [Mental note for next time: don't listen to the driver and take candy to the kids--crayons, pencils, and paper would have been a far smarter gift! The minute the bag of candy was opened, the kids from the village flocked to Xavi and Anouk to the point where we were REALLY uncomfortable and couldn't wait to get out of there.] and a weaving village. We watched young girls weave on traditional Lombok looms as they tried to explain the steps in their art. We were gently forced to dress in traditional weavings as if we were to attend a wedding. Only Rob rejected the offer... I think he just wanted to get back to our pool. Before we left though... I got to pick out my Christmas present-- a gorgeous, silk intensely colored wall hanging.  It adorns a special place in our front hall.

After hours of touring the countryside, the kids were done. So we made our last stop at Kuta beach on Lombok's south shore. We realized quickly that this is where we want to come back next time. Kuta is more along the lines of what we expected--warm turquoise water, light tan sand, and sheer cliffs in every direction. The tranquility of the villages and beaches of Kuta will soon be changing. The villagers will become less reliant on the seaweed and tobacco harvesting industry and more-focused on tourism as the new international airport is being built just 20 minutes away. The peace is coming to an end in Kuta, but for us... it truly was a heavenly stay and we hope to visit there once more before the school year ends.

To see more pictures of lovely Lombok... click here.

Now... time to have more fun with Grandma and Grandpa.