cookies, chapel, and clearly cloudy skies

Sometimes I can go for two weeks without any blog-worthy events and then there are other times when I feel the need to post everyday in order to keep up with all the action in my life! This week is the latter, so here are some more pictures and stories about what's been going on around here lately.

I've talked about subbing at Maugenhard before, but you may have wondered what exactly that means. Usually I eat dinner with the boys then work on lunch prep, which means chopping veggies, arranging meat and cheese in Tupperware for easier grabbing in the morning, and counting out granola bars and Capri suns. After lunch prep, I get to do some sort of baking, which is a wonderful stress reliever. Lately my specialty has been the chocolate chip cookie, and I make a triple batch that gets scooped and frozen for future use.

Last night I decided to try something new, and ended up actually baking some cookies so that the boys could have a treat during "toast time", a 15-minute break that they take during their study hours. I found a recipe for peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and gave it a whirl. Much to my surprise, they came out perfectly! Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, with just the right combination of peanut butter, oats, and chocolate. One student compared tasting my cookie with seeing the gates of Heaven flung open. I'm definitely adding these babies to my recipe box.

This week the eighth graders led chapel from start to finish as part of their Bible class project. They led the worship, did a human video (that's old school for "skit put to music"), and gave a message about teasing/bullying. I was so proud of them! The best part for me was seeing them perform their human video to Brandon Heath's "Give Me Your Eyes," the very same song I played for them when I spoke about loving one another back in December. Way to go eighth grade!!

It's hard to believe that it's almost MARCH! Thankfully we've been given a respite from all the snow and the gray weather that plagues Kandern's winters. This past week the temps have been in the 40s and 50s with sun! Yes, there has also been rain every day, but as long as the sun comes out it's a good day. Below is a picture I snapped on the way to school yesterday morning as I stepped outside wearing only a fleece. Hopefully my winter coat can stay in the closet for the rest of the season!

differences

Today I had a chuckle as I graded the life science tests that my seventh graders took yesterday. I often end my tests with a few short answer questions, and it's always revealing to see the differences in my students' responses. Look closely at the last question on this page, where two students answered using only one sentence. If you'd like to actually read the responses, click on each photo to enlarge.

Yes, that one on the left is ONE sentence. It's ironic to note that the long, drawn out, detailed answer came from a student whose mother tongue is Korean and could be borderline ESL, while the short, simple answer came from a student whose mother tongue is English. It amazes me how hard the students who are not native English speakers work, while many of the native English speakers are often content to get by with average or mediocre work. What incredibly talented students God has created! It makes me wonder how I would do if someone plucked me from America and made me finish high school in Spanish after taking only a few language classes.

step into my classroom: math

My sixth grade math class is studying a chapter on proportions, ratios, and percents. Last week we learned about scales and how artists use scales to paint large murals and mapmakers use scales to represent large distances on small pieces of paper. While learning how to find the scale, we also created scale drawings of characters from the Flintstones. We used a 1:5 scale, so that 1 centimeter on the original image would be 5 centimeters on the drawing. It was a challenge for some students while others enjoyed every minute of it, and it was interesting for me to observe the various methods and responses my kids had. Here are some shots of the artists in action.

Laguna

Tonight I chaperoned the 7th grade class party to Laguna, an insane indoor water park in Weil am Rhein. I originally planned to swim with the kids, until I realized that I did not have the proper swimming apparel. Usually I wear board shorts over my swim suit, but that would not be acceptable at Laguna. As you can see, the dress code is rather restrictive... in more ways than one!

So instead, I opted to stay dry and take pictures of the kids. HA! Good luck with that one. The kids spent the evening running back and forth between the wave pool, the sauna, and the INSANE tube slides! I spent the evening running after the kids with the camera and trying not to look at the Speedo-clad German men. *shudder*

The blue tube slide takes you outside the building and back inside again, and spits you out at Niagara Falls. No joke. It kind of reminded me of a sewer or a storm drain...not exactly comforting thoughts!

SeEun exits the red slide with a splash!

The wave pool goes off every half hour. When you hear the gong, everyone drops what they're doing to jump into the wave pool for about two minutes of crashing waves that make everyone bob up and down like little buoys.

The "warm water baths" creeped me out. The room is hot and stuffy, and to the side there's this little sweat hut with steam pouring out. In the middle is a shallow, round pool where everyone lounges around lethargically like walruses on the beach, basking in the sun. There seem to be no personal boundaries here, as everyone was just lying on top of each other! No thanks...

I think maybe I'd like to go back to Laguna someday when I don't have 16 kid to watch and when I DO have the right type of shorts for the pool. Tonight I got my feet wet and that was enough for now!

a much needed victory

This weekend BFA hosted the last home games of the season against the Bamburg Barons. As usual, I ran the clock for the Friday JV games. Usually I do the Saturday JV games as well, but this time I decided to do the varsity games instead. BFA won three of the games I watched, although two of them were suuuper close!! The boys' JV went into double overtime and won, and today the boys' varsity went into overtime and won. During the varsity game the score kept coming to a tie, and both teams had 10 fouls, so at any point one of the teams could have been awarded two free shots! It was a nail biter for sure. It was so great to see all the students encouraging the players and hearing the deafening roar of their cheers, which were so loud that the buzzer wasn't even audible. God knew BFA needed this victory after these recently rough days.

One of my favorite things about working the table at the games is the refs that come to officiate the games. They are tall, large, and intimidating, but also very fun. One in particular reminds me of the monsters from the movie Space Jam. I wouldn't have bothered to blog about this little thing, except that before last night's game the refs made everyone working the table place their hands on the game ball and shout "Fun!" on three. If you've ever seen Space Jam, then like me you are laughing right now envisioning those little aliens getting their all-star monstar power from that magical ball.



Oh, and this ref (the one who reminds me of a monstar) is super tall. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that this picture ends at his KNEES. There's still about two feet of legs left that aren't in the picture. (Picture courtesty of Mark Powell, and this is actually from a game in January).

did I mention I'm a Swiss coffee heiress?

step into my classroom: life science

In my life science class we've been learning about genetics and last week we built DNA molecules using gummy bears and licorice whips. The lesson idea I used came from a teacher in the states (http://www.middleschoolscience.com/) and said to use mini colored marshmallows and Twizzlers licorice, but unfortunately those luxuries aren't available in Germany. So, I spent an hour one night sorting 2 kilos of gummy bears for the students to have four colors, which represented the four bases. Here are some shots of my budding geneticists!

happenings

Today was a spirit day in the middle school. Unfortunately, student participation was about 5%. So, I have no pictures of the students, just this wicked staff pic. The theme was fear. Susan is the man who runs the recyclinghof, I am a dentist, and Joy is Natasha, the KGB agent. No, I don't personally fear dentists, but I AM paralyzed with fear at the thought of ever breaking my teeth, so I borrowed a lab coat from the high school science department and whipped out my mask from swine flu week. Instant dentist.



Last week we got dumped with a bunch of snow (which has since melted away) that made the view from my classroom go from dead brown winter trees to sparkly frosted winter trees. Also, someone got creative with the shovel and left some "graffiti" on Ken's Court. I love snow but I hate being cold!!