School play

 Max's class put on an updated version of Snow White...they did an impressive job!  And they are just so cute.  Max was the huntsman:

 Grandpa thought he looked a little like Bob Dylan.

 The Wicked Witch menacing Snow White.

 The really cute dwarves.

 The guards putting Snow White in her coffin.

A very serious guard.

We were glad Grandma and Grandpa got to see the play and the school.  The kids have really loved this school.  They're not too excited to go back to school at home.  :-(

First Trumpet Concert Ever!

Max's first trumpet concert ever.  The piece is called "Popcorn Prelude." 

I'm going to be posting more here while we're in Denmark.  Hopefully, I can give you all a little slice of Copenhagen life!

Cross Country highlight reel

http://youtu.be/3bl3Ft3O2_A

7th and 8th grade.  So cute!

Project Share

Max had to do a research project for his ELP class (Extended Learning or something like that), and he chose Machu Picchu.  Now I want to go there!  He had to give an oral presentation in front of several other students at the regional Project Share.  He did a great job!  I was so impressed!  He actually looked people in the eye, and he fielded a few questions.  Plus he had a good time at the learning sessions he chose: robots, electricity, and fish printing.  Nice job, Max!

What would you do with a million dollars?

"If I made a million dollers I spend it on a bunch of kittens or cats!  I love cats so that's why I would spend it on kittens.  Well I would problably use it on kitty treats.  I would maybe would spend it on 4 kitty beds.  It dosent relly matter what I would spend it on.  So relly anything would be fine for me." - M4

First Day!

3rd, 36th, and 6th grade!

Bittersweet

Last week was a bit bittersweet, as we said good-bye to two of our international "kids." I really can't believe how quickly the four years have gone! We can hope to see them in the future, which may be easier with Shitanshu who is moving to Seattle to work at Amazon. Inwook is returning to Korea to fulfill his mandatory military service, so we probably won't see him again for some time. What a couple of outstanding kids....

It was also bittersweet because both M and M finished the school year, and they both had great years. In particular, M4 had a fantastic year with a fantastic teacher and a great class. He got pretty teary as he made a card for Mrs. M to tell her what a great teacher she is. M3 wasn't as sad, but she was ambivalent after a year of friends, music, and new experiences at the middle school.

The fulfillment of her birthday present made things a bit better, I hope, as we went to see Taylor Swift in concert. It was really a fun show....definitely different than any concert I've been to: dancers, set and costume changes, fireworks, yada, yada , yada. It was a great show for a first concert! It's not like M3 LOVES Taylor Swift or anything (like clearly many of the screaming girls at the show do!!), but the girl plays multiple instruments, writes much of her own music, and doesn't rely on sleaze to sell her music. She's a good role model, and her songs are inoffensive and sometimes even good! I'd call myself a fan after this show. Plus there were people hanging from ropes and spinning, and I like any show where that happens.
M3 and a couple of her buddies before the show at dinner. First concert! Woohoo!

All about music...

It's definitely been a musical spring, what with all the concerts happening! M3 had her "all-city" band concert on Tuesday. Really, it should be called "all-school." All the band students from 5th grade through high school were together. Each played a few of their own pieces, then they all played together for the last piece. It was neat, because the younger kids (well, at least M3) were really excited to hear the high school and witness their possible future in band. Actually, it was nice for me to hear, too. It truly is impressive how much the 5th graders have learned in this one short year and exciting to hear the HSers, who sounded great! I do feel lucky to have a good music program in our schools.

I love this picture with all the brass:
Half the gym; half the band students:

In sadder music news, M and M's music (violin and piano) teacher is going to stop teaching. She's getting too busy with two high schoolers. So now we must scramble to find new teachers, and certainly there is no way we will find one who lives a block away like Sarah does. Hopefully, we will find teachers who have her patient and kind personality!

Nervous...

M3's spring concert was a week ago. She was a Nerve in the mini-musical they performed. For your viewing pleasure:



Tonight is M4's spring concert! In other news, M3 went to visit the middle school with her class today! *biting knuckles* Scary to think of her at the middle school! I had another yoga weekend which was really wonderful. Mark found out he was awarded this grant. Check out that hilarious press release, which was actually posted before Mark was even informed! Ah, the federal government.

On a much sadder note, I've been thinking a lot about a local family who tragically lost their son. Our whole town had been waiting and wondering since late January when he disappeared. I worked with his mom at summer arts camp, and they are just a wonderful family. My heart is really breaking for them. Kiss and hug your family! Right now!

Les artistes...

The art show for elementary students was a couple weeks ago. M3 made a kitty-themed sarcophagus (I was grateful it wasn't a "Twilight" themed sarcophagus like one of her classmates. I am horrible...I shouldn't be dissing a 4th grader's art project! Karma's gonna get me.):
And that's M4's clay pinchpot behind him, but really I just love this picture because of the hat:
On a random side note, Saturday morning M4 woke up before us and was very busy in his room. A bit later he came in with a letter he had written to Nana and Boppa, the first line of which looked like it read, "My pants are still sleeping." Then later he came in and said, "I know it's a bit late, but Happy Valentine's Day!" and presented us with a Valentine he had made that included the line, "Love is so nice!" Couldn't you just squeeze him to death?!

School girl...

I finally bit the bullet and enrolled in a Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga Teacher 200-hour training program. I equate it to a bachelor's degree of yoga. Right now, I have what could be considered an associate's degree or "an equivalent combination of education, training and experience." So while I'm sure we will cover many things I already know, I'm excited to go back to basics again. I'm excited to go back to school! I'm especially geeking out about all the anatomy we will study. Whee!! And it will be nice to have that little stamp that says I'm legit no matter where I go.

So for a weekend a month for the next nine months, I'll be heading here. The lovely thing is that it's only in Iowa City, an hour away, so I'll be able to commute and come home to kiss the kiddles before they go to sleep. Yippee!!

Lunch

The kids are taking their lunch to school more often these days, which is just fine with me. M3's favorite sandwich: cheese and lettuce. M4's: formerly PB & honey, now PB & J.

On the subject of food, I read about yet another E. coli illness outbreak from hamburger, and I'm just grateful that we can easily buy beef from a local farmer. Particularly with hamburger, I feel better knowing it all came from just one cow, and I know where that cow lived (and died, thank you kind cow). Plus one of our local CSAs, Grinnell Heritage Farm, is having a winter share for the first time! Yippee!! I don't think I'm a food Nazi, but I feel better if I'm attempting to keep some of the crap out of my family's diet, uh...E. coli in particular.

What has M3 been doing while she gets to stay home because her school has electrical problems, you ask?

Breakfast.
Lunch.
Thanksgiving dinner.

I got word today that the electrical problems are fixed and they will be back to school on Monday.

Public school quality food for thought...

Thanks to Erik for pointing me toward the Stop Homework website, a site devoted to the argument that there is "very little correlation between the amount of homework and achievement in elementary school and only a moderate correlation in middle school." There's a lot of good food for thought at the site, all of it deliciously debatable of course!! Now I know M & M need to learn to manage homework. We choose to send them to school (not that I haven't contemplated home schooling...sorry, kids, Mom would probably lose it). I do think socialization and learning to work with "the system" are both essential.

At any rate, the following was posted on the Stop Homework website, and it distilled my feelings about the d#*! reading log:

I Hate Reading Logs
by FedUp Mom

Every time I think we’ve solved the school problem something comes along to bite me in the rear. This week it’s the dreaded reading log. We found out about it from a letter the teachers sent home:

“Your child will be expected to read every night. We ask that you sign the log each night … We will also check the log regularly, in order to ensure follow through on your child’s part… Please sign the form below and return it to school tomorrow with your child.”

And now, the fun part:

“Thank you for your partnership in your child’s education.” (!)

And how does following the teacher’s directions make me a partner exactly? I feel more like an unpaid employee. Wait a minute — we’re paying them!

There was a little form at the bottom of the letter that said:

“I have read the above letter and agree to help my child by signing his/her log each night.”

I crossed this out and wrote in:

“We trust our daughter to do her reading.”

Then we signed it.

Then we sent the following e-mail to the teacher:

Teacher X: we have chosen not to participate in the reading log. We’ve experienced reading logs before and have these objections:

1.) They turn reading into a chore.

2.) They send a message that we don’t trust (daughter) to do the reading without meddling and micromanaging.

(Daughter) will do the reading she needs to do, but she won’t be logging the pages. Thank you.

I’m hoping that will be the end of it. I’m really tired of conferences and I’m sure we all have better things to do with our time.

Rocky Mountain National Park

M3 wrote this poem today. It seemed appropriate, considering I am so excited about PBS' doc on the National Parks which starts Sunday!

In these impressive slopes
There's many kinds of species
The soil's rich in nutrients
And though you may see feces

The Rockies are the greatest place
Intirely to be
A little sun and so much fun
To him and you and me!

P.S. Thanks to everyone for the supportive words re: M3's homework situation. We met with her teacher, and she was very receptive to our concerns. She said she'd "been paying more attention to M3" since I had stormed in on my rant morning. Maybe the attention is helping M3 stay on task at school or alleviating some of her frustration, because the homework situation has improved. Or maybe it made the teacher realize she was giving too much. I don't know...but it's working for right now!

Doesn't she get to be a kid, too?

RANT ALERT!!

Apparently I, too, had a blissful summer vacation forgetting all about the things that piss me off about school (oh yeah, M3 came home with a FULL-SIZE Snickers bar the other day).

So here's the thing...M3 has too much homework. It's just too much for a 4th grader. To illustrate: she comes home from school, sits right down at the kitchen table (where did she get that sort of self-discipline?? Not from me!!), and proceeds to do homework FOR THE REST OF THE DAY!! UNTIL BED-TIME!! PAST BED-TIME!!! (I told you it was a rant.) She has been reduced to sobbing on more than one occasion. She doesn't get to play; she doesn't get to draw; she doesn't get to play with her brother or go outside and run around. On top of the fascinating worksheets she has to complete, she also has to read 18 pages of a book every night. And guess what? If she doesn't do that reading (perhaps because her parents insist that she needs to get some sleep, and her mother is suuuure it's OK that she catch up tomorrow night BECAUSE IT SAYS SO ON THE NOTE FROM HER TEACHER), then she gets kept in at recess the next day to do the reading. Kept in at recess.

In what way does this instill a LOVE OF LEARNING in her??! Can someone please tell me?

Now, I know she is slow at math. She can do it; she's just slow at it. But when her confidence is shot, she can't do it all and says things like "I don't like math" and "I'm bad at math" and "I want to be an artist so I don't have to do math" or she just sobs. We just recovered her confidence last year with the help of her 3rd grade teacher. It is quickly slipping away again. To me, this time is critical...she needs to establish her math confidence now before she hits the horror-show that is middle school.

I know she can be fidgety. Is she more fidgety than any other 9 or 10 year old? I am willing to entertain the possibility, but I doubt it.

I don't presume to tell her teacher how to do her job (or maybe I do a little bit, which is not very nice). I really don't want to be one of "those college parents." I give props to any person who attempts to teach anything to a roomful of 25 children of varying circumstances and abilities. But to me, there is something wrong when a 9-year-old is not free to have some time to run around and play, to spend time in her own creative pursuits, to play a sport, or even to just lay around and do nothing for a little bit!!

So I did go see her teacher this morning to ask why M3 was kept in at recess for not completing her reading when it clearly states on her paper that she can double up the next night. Apparently, M3 has an older copy of the paper. So it's possible...just maybe...that I let some hints of my displeasure seep into our conversation. It's possible I wasn't as smiley and nicey nicey as most people from Iowa are. Just maybe.

We will meet again next Wednesday.

School "nutrition"

Just in case you were wondering, the kids' hot lunch at school on Monday was:

• Popcorn chicken (AKA chicken nuggets with less chicken)
• Mashed potatoes (do you think they're real?)
• Bread and butter (do we see a pattern here?)
• Fruit salad (phew...wouldn't have wanted a nutritionally unbalanced lunch)

What's even more frightening is that they are adhering to some strict state guidelines about nutrition for kids. Shouldn't there be pork every day?

On an unrelated note, M3 came home with a note yesterday that head lice had been found on a student in her class. She thinks it was the kid who sits next to her. AAAUUUGGGHHHHHH!

First day of school

How could I be such a terrible parent?? I didn't even take any first-day-of-school pictures!! Geez, I'm really falling down on the job. School started yesterday and both kids are very excited about the new school year.

I think they both have good teachers, although I hope M3 is challenged enough. I don't want her to slack because some things (reading and "language arts") come easily to her. We'll see how math is for her this year. Fortunately, her teacher last year helped her recover her enjoyment of math. (Thinking about her 1st grade teacher still makes me mad!!)

We took our new international student, who is from China, with us to M3's open house at school. M3 has about 21 students in her classroom. Our student said there would be at least 50 and up to 70 students in a room the same size at her school in China!! It's kinda hard to wrap my head around that.

And he put his face in the water!

Last week was M4's spring concert. Doesn't he look thrilled? No really, they were so cute! And he got to play the xylophone. Although he was upset he hadn't worn his tie (clip-on which doesn't match in any way!). For two weeks, the Kindergarteners have had swim lessons. M4 still is terrified of floating, but at least he's (semi-) dunking himself and putting his face in the water for a split second!

(I've been supervising the little boys getting changed for the lessons, which is its own brand of hilarity.) M4 does know how to turn on the camera-ready smile when I ask! Maybe he'll float a bit by the end of lessons!

Inventions

M3 had to come up with an invention for a program she's doing at school. To me, an invention isn't something you can just come up with when someone tells you to. But I think she came up with something good: heated monkey bars! She is a monkey bar enthusiast, but they get way too cold to touch in winter. And mittens don't provide much traction. She will take this to an "Invention Convention" in March. Of course, Daddy helped her bring the idea to life:
They will have warm water pumping through them. Pretty cool!