House of Estrogen

Guest Post: Elise on her Costa Rica Adventure, Part Two (Days 5-9)

I asked Elise (my 13 year old) to write a guest post and share the pictures she took on her exciting trip to Costa Rica. You can read Part One here.  -Ann

Day 5: Monteverde

Today we went to La Cruz Elementary School. It was very cool. There were only 9 kids which I thought was kind of strange, but it was kindergarten through fifth grade. They did a little dance for us which was kind of cool. For the last dance, they made us participate which was really, really fun. We donated things, so I took jump ropes and some school supplies. I forgot to bring my jump rope, so I didn't show them anything.

After the school visit, we went to plant some trees, and that was lots of fun. We named ours Felicia Leaf Le Weave III. The person who was in charge of everything liked our name so much that he recorded all of us saying it.

I didn't take any pictures at the school or tree planting, but my teachers posted some great pictures here. 

After that, we went to zip lining, and I was terrified, absolutely terrified. We did four or five by ourselves and another by ourselves that was kind of long. Then we did two or three with a partner. They were really, really long. One was a mile long. It was so, so cool. We got to see all of the mountains and the valleys, but we had to hike up there. I managed to take a video on one of the long ones that I did with a partner, but my camera battery died halfway through.

After that, the rest of the people went horseback riding, but I'm allergic to horses. I went back to the hotel and blocked out the rest of the world with my headphones and colored on graph paper.

Day 6: Pacific Coast

This morning, we packed up and went to the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. On our way there, we went on a bridge that overlooked a bunch of crocodiles. We got to take some cool pictures of them. Our tour guide, Erik, said that the reason there were so many crocodiles was because they used to be able to feed the crocodiles, so they keep coming back to that spot expecting to be fed.

We went on a crocodile tour, and it was really cool. We got to see lots of different crocodiles. One was 16 feet long! They call it Osama Bin Laden because of his ability to hide. We saw so many different birds, and I got a really good picture of the macaws.

the boat we were on for the crocodile tour

an iguana

macaws!

We went on a nature walk and saw lots of butterflies. I was able to get some good pictures of the butterflies and the chrysalises.  On the walk, we were able to see snakes, frogs, spiders, and toads, but they were all behind glass.

cool flowers that attract pollinators

blue morpho butterfly

chrysalises

We went on a ariel tram tour through the rain forest. It was really cool because I was at the very front, so I got to see everything. Also, there was a zip line that was going right above us, so we were able to see all the people doing that. We saw a little waterfall through the trees.

view from the tram

Day 7: Manuel Antonio National Park, Campos

Today we had burnt pancakes, fruit, and sausage and potatoes that I really, really liked. I gave up eating rice and beans. We walked to the beach, and we saw some monkeys and sloths, and then we arrived at the beautiful ocean! It was so cool. The water was just right, wasn't too cold, wasn't too hot. It was so clear and blue and green. The monkeys tried to steal my food and some of my friends' food, but they didn't succeed. It was really, really hot out, and I kind of forgot to reapply sunscreen. When I got back to the hotel, I figured out was really, really burnt.

I didn't take my camera to the beach, but there are some beautiful pictures on my teachers' blog post here.

Day 8: Sarchi and San Jose

We started heading back to San Jose, but we stopped in a town called Sarchi. Sarchi is famous for its ox carts and hand painted stuff. We got to see where they make things with the water wheel and how powerful that is. We also got to see the process of how they make the paint. It was really, really, really cool.

world's largest ox cart

cathedral in Sarchi

The folklore night was really cool. We got to see a traditional dance with the big skirts. We also saw belly dancing which was really too much for me. Then we got to do dancing. The food was really good. We had rice and beans. Again. We had some kind of chicken and coconut sugar balls for dessert. They were really good!  I think it went on too long because we had to get up at 3 a.m. to go to the airport. We stayed until 9:30, and that was not OK with me.

view of San Jose from folklore night

Day 9: Travel day back home

We got up at 3:00 and had a bag breakfast of peanut butter and jelly. You can't bag rice and beans. Customs was really, really, really long. It was nice getting back to where we can read the signs. I now have a new appreciation for other cultures and people who come to America with little English. I had a lot of fun. It was such a great experience, and I am so glad I could go.

This was such an amazing experience for Elise. Two teachers at her school organized this trip with EF Educational Tours. I'm thrilled that they took that initiative and were willing to travel with a bunch of middle school age kids. It sounds a bit daunting to me! EF did a wonderful job integrating education, fun, Costa Rican culture, physical activities, and sightseeing.  Despite growing a bit weary of rice and beans at every meal, Elise loved every minute of the trip. She has made memories to last a lifetime.

Guest Post: Elise on her Costa Rica Adventure, Part One (Days 1-4)

I asked Elise (my 13 year old) to write a guest post and share the pictures she took on her exciting trip to Costa Rica. Enjoy!  -Ann

Day 1: Travel to San Jose, Costa Rica

We got up really, really super early in the morning to get to the airport, and we got to Costa Rica around lunch time. Then we went to our hotel and got our rooms. We decided to take a walk through downtown San Jose to get to a lunch spot. It was really cool to see all the different stores and people and a different culture. Lots of the stores looked about the same. It was very, very smelly. There were people selling things on the street that were illegal, so it was very, very different from North Carolina. It was a good day!

not happy about the early morning flight

getting excited with Sarah and Paige at the airport

the hotel

downtown San Jose

crowded market

pigeons everywhere

Inside a cathedral

 

Day 2: Britt Coffee Plantation and Poas National Volcano Park

We got up at 6:00 in the morning to have breakfast at 7:00. Then we went to the Britt Coffee Plantation. We learned how they grow coffee, how long it takes to grow the coffee beans, and that they pick the beans by hand, so they only get the ripe ones. If you do it by machine, the machine gets all the beans, not just the ones that are ripe.

coffee plants

Gunner modeling the waist basket used to pick beans

Tara and Gunner tasting the coffee

Then we went to the volcano. It was kind of chilly, and we had to hike up to get there. We saw a salamander. When we got to the top, it was really cloudy, so all we could see was a white cloud. We didn't get a chance to see the crater, but the postcards of it looked really cool.  The sulfur smelled like rotten eggs. We stopped to see the La Paz waterfall. It was raining. Then we checked into our next hotel in La Fortuna.

view of the crater of the volcano

What we hoped to see

volcano selfie with Skylar

La Paz Waterfall

Day 3: La Fortuna

We went kayaking in Lake Arenal near the Arenal Volcano. Kayaking was really fun. I did it with my partner Dhivya, and we were so bad! We bumped into the instructor who was trying to help us go somewhere. When we got to the clearing, Dhivya didn't want to get out of the kayak, but I tipped us over, so we had to get out! Everyone was swimming around and talking, and it was a lot of fun! We held on to one of the people's kayaks who was still in, and he pulled us around. Then we got back on and had a long trek back. It was very tiring.

Then we went to the La Fortuna waterfall. It was so pretty! The hike was gorgeous but hard. When we got there, we got to take pictures by the rocks by the waterfall, and we got to swim. Swimming was lots of fun because we made it a challenge to see how far on the rocks we could get. We didn't get very far, but it was still fun to see how far we could get. It was a looonnnnggg hike back to the top which we did in the rain.

La Fortuna waterfall

After that, we went to Baldi Hot Springs. It was really cool to see how they set up their hot springs. They have bars in some of them. In one of them there was a giant slide that we weren't allowed to go on. Paige and I stuck together and tried to find one that was just the right temperature. We finally found one. Unfortunately, it was the one with the slide which was very crowded, so we left. We stayed there for two hours which for me was way too long because the sulfur was messing with me.

pretty views out the bus window

The dinner at the hotel was spaghetti, and that was probably my favorite dinner of the entire trip. The sauce had kind of a sweet tangy flavor.... and it was not rice and beans. I was getting really, really tired of rice and beans. We had rice and beans for breakfast that morning and lunch.

Day 4: Monteverde

Our hotel was Hotel Don Taco, and we checked in just in time for lunch. I really liked that hotel. We had a green bean omelet for lunch which was really good. I liked it. And we had rice and beans. The bathroom door wasn't really a door. It was an accordion door that was broken. That wasn't fun. After lunch, we went to the Santa Elena Cloud Forest for a nature walk. It was so pretty. We didn't see any animals which kind of made me mad.

Santa Elena Cloud Forest

 Read Part Two here.

First Day of School, 2015

Today was the first day of school.

Elise headed off to eighth grade, and in typical eighth grade fashion, she decided the dress code rules did not apply to her.  When I said, "Um... really? spaghetti straps and bra straps showing?"  She said, "Oh I have a T-shirt in my backpack in case I get in trouble."  Um. No. We are not starting off a new year with a dress code violation. I sent her back in to change. She seemed to have a great first day and likes her teachers so far.

Next we had nervous Nina heading off to middle school for the first time. Sixth grade is kind of a big deal, and thankfully, she survived. She only ended up in the wrong classroom once.

Then we have Addison...

who was clearly not at all nervous about second grade.

She and I are on our own now in the mornings. Nina was usually the one who kept us on track to make the bus on time, so it was no big surprise when we missed the bus this morning. As I was driving to school, it occurred to me that this was the first time in nine years of school that my kids have not taken the bus on the first day. Even in kindergarten, we always hustled them on to the bus, their backpacks weighted down with ten tons of school supplies. I drove along wondering how long the carpool line would be, assuming that many parents probably drive on the first day. Then, completely bewildered, I pulled up to a perfectly empty carpool line. It confused me until I looked over and saw the packed parking lot. Parents were walking kids into the building in droves. I briefly wondered, "Should I get out and walk her in? Is that what I am expected to do?"  I quickly pushed that thought out of my head though. If she is independent enough to get off of a school bus and find her classroom on the first day, then she can get out of my car and find her way as well. With that, I dropped her off as the one lone carpool kid of the day. I haven't decided if that makes me a bad mom for neglecting my first day of school parental duties or a really great mom for encouraging my child to be independent. I'm just going to go with the latter... makes me feel better. Don't judge.

Addison had a great day, and wouldn't you know... she found her classroom, all by herself.

Letter to Nina, Age 11-ish

Dear Nina,

I seem to have completely dropped the ball on writing letters to any of you on or near your birthdays. In the grand scheme of things though, it really shouldn't matter when I write these letters, as long as I write them once a year or so. At least I like to tell myself that.  That said, you had a big milestone this week, so what better time to write a letter!  Tuesday, you graduated from elementary school.

 

(First day of kindergarten picture)

You couldn't be more ready for middle school. At 5'7, you are now taller than every elementary school teacher you've had over the past six years. Not only have you physically outgrown the pint-sized chairs and desks, I think you have mentally moved beyond it and have just been ready for this chapter to come to a close.

 

After the ceremony, as friends in your class shed tears about their last day at the school and posed for pictures with every classmate, you eagerly held on to your diploma and exclaimed, "Can we leave now?"

 
It wasn't that you didn't enjoy your time there or aren't going to miss your friends who will be attending different middle schools. You had many happy years there and will definitely miss certain friends. You are ready to move forward though. You have seen what a great experience middle school has been for Elise, and you are excited about this next stage in life. You are ready for new friends, new challenges, and new experiences in a new school. For some of your friends, graduation day was an emotional day filled with sad goodbyes, reminders of elementary school memories and a slide show that tugged at their heartstrings. For you, it was simply the last hurdle to cross on the way to the finish line.

I am excited for you. I love that you are open to the new adventures that await you in middle school. As you love tell anyone who mentions middle school electives, your parents are making you take band next year. You love to point out what cruel parents we are to force this on you, but secretly, I think you may actually be looking forward to participating in band. You are such a music loving soul. You love to listen to music, find new songs on iTunes, and you thoroughly enjoyed playing the recorder in music class. Your one and only aversion to band is the stage appearance twice a year for the concerts. Your dad and I are taking the "we know what's best for you" role on this one. I predict that you will love it. Band has been such a positive part of middle school for Elise - the fun, the music, the band director, the friends, and the performances. We are hoping for a similar experience for you, and I think the many pros of band outweigh the cons of a little stage fright twice a year. How it all plays out remains to be seen though. We have assured you that if you hate it, you can drop out after the first year.

Right now, your major love is volleyball. You play any chance you get. Your goal is to be a manager for the middle school volleyball team in 6th grade and then play on the team in 7th and 8th. I think it is great that you've found a sport that you love. It is definitely a good fit for you.

 

Like band, volleyball was another activity we "forced" you to do. About a year ago, you had become rather sedentary. There weren't any activities, hobbies, or sports that interested you. We told you that you needed to choose something to do outside of school or we were going to choose something for you. You never made a selection, so without even asking you, I signed you up for volleyball. I didn't necessarily think you would love it. I wasn't even sure if you would like it. I just wanted you try something new. Of course, there was also that little overly optimistic voice in my head that said, "She has the height for volleyball... maybe she will love it, get really good at it, and get a scholarship." We are all allowed those pie in the sky parental dreams occasionally, right?

You played in a fall league for the team with the most losing record in the league. You lost every regular season game, but it hooked you. You had the time of your life. Last week, you started playing for a new summer league team which encompasses an older age group and higher skill level. I think you will grow and learn a lot as a player in this league. You plan to play in the fall again too. Volleyball has been great for you. It gives you a focus, an identity, a team spirit, and a great outlet for blowing off steam and getting some exercise.

Your other big interest lately has been sewing. You received a sewing machine for Christmas and have spent many hours designing, creating, and sewing. I think you enjoy the design aspect best. You are going to a week of fashion design camp this summer, and I'm anxious to see what you learn there. You have taken to doing a lot of "upcycling" - taking old worn out, outgrown, or out of style items from our closets and upcycling them into something new. This is one of your upcycled t-shirt creations.

 

I feel like this has been a big year for you... you have grown a lot, matured a lot, and really turned into the middle schooler that you soon will be. You have taken on more chores around the house and more responsibilities for taking care of yourself. If I need help putting Addie to bed or making her lunch, you jump right in. Of course, with this new tween maturity, we sometimes get the tween attitude as well. You have perfected a grimace that I have interpreted as a cross between, "I hate you", "You are the meanest parent ever", and "This is my evil look". Your glare with those piercing eyes can be a bit disconcerting. I'm hoping it is just a phase. Fortunately, you don't use it on us too frequently.

This coming year will bring a new school, new adventures, new friends, and lots of change. You seem wholeheartedly prepared and ready to tackle all of it though. And that... that is awesome.

I love you, Nina!

Love,

Mama

 

 

 

No. Just No. Enough Already.

"If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn't be here. I guarantee you that."

~ Michelle Obama, FLOTUS

Nina had three hours of English EOG testing yesterday. She has three hours of math testing today. Tomorrow is science. They have done nothing but study and prepare for these tests for weeks, and I just received this email from her teacher:

"For the science EOG tomorrow, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE make sure your child has gone into Study Island and completed the extra practice I gave them in science. Students should have already been working on it. They were given the assignment in class several days ago."

NO, NO, NO.  I will NOT make sure she has completed the extra practice to cram the night before the test. In fact, I will go out of my way to make sure that she does not do it. I will set her in front of the TV with a bowl of popcorn and play a movie. I will take her to the pool and buy her a Choco-taco from the ice cream truck. I will order pizza and declare it a family game night. I'm not sure what our plans will be tonight, but they will definitely NOT include Nina doing additional practice tests. No. We are done. Testing has started. Test prep is over in the House of Estrogen.

I forwarded the teacher's email to J.C. with the comment, "Bullshit. She is not doing this.'  He responded, "I'm going to make her do it twice."  He's a real comedian, isn't he?

EOGs: Day One

In honor of day one of elementary school EOGs today, I share with you John Oliver on US Standardized Testing.  Enjoy.

Middle school EOCs finished up last week with very little fanfare, no goodie bags, no free breakfast, no seat cushions, and very little anxiety or pressure that I could perceive in my seventh grader. If I hadn't bothered to ask about her day, I probably wouldn't have even known she had taken them.  Elementary school EOGs are a different beast though. Today culminates the past two months of no new educational material, practice tests for homework each night, discussion of test taking strategies and mock exams in class every day, good luck cards from first graders, goodie bags from kindergarteners, multiple emails about free breakfasts and getting a good night sleep, and pressure and anxiety pounded into them on a daily basis.  Given that, it sadly didn't surprise me when John Oliver pointed out the "official instructions for test administrators specify what to do if a student vomits on his or her test booklet." I wholeheartedly agree with him that "Something is wrong with our system when we just assume a certain number of kids will vomit."

Something is wrong... so many things... are very, very wrong.

 

EOG Frustration, Part 2

If you read my 4:00 a.m. Rough Draft, you'll be glad to know I didn't send it. After I edited it many times and thought I had sufficiently toned down the snark and sarcasm, I asked JC to read it. He started reading and said, "I'm about three sentences in, and you shouldn't send this."  That's when it is nice to have a blog - a place to rant away in a letter that never gets sent. He then said to me, "Have you researched to see if what you are saying is actually true? Would the kids pass without all this prep work? Maybe that's what it takes."  Good point.  Off to research I went. What I discovered depressed me even more. Apparently, the hours upon hours upon hours of test prep that our elementary school requires IS necessary for kids to pass the EOGs. Our school ranks in the top 20 of over 1350 elementary schools in the state when ranked according to EOG scores. Our percentage of students who met the standards by passing EOG's last year in reading ranged from 87-89% in third through fifth grade. The other nearby school that is an option for my children to attend had passing rates of 58-67%, right in line with the district average of 64-70%. The state average was 53-60%. In math, our school passing rate ranged from 81-87%. The other nearby school was 54-79%. The district average was 59-61%, and the state average was 46-47%.

To repeat, the state average for children who "met grade level standards" by passing EOG's last year in math was 46-47%. What?  Fewer than half the children in our state are considered grade level proficient for math? What is wrong with this picture? Is the test too hard  or confusing for their understanding of the material? Is the teaching that bad? Is the curriculum too difficult for their level of brain development?  Is there too much information crammed into the school year, and teachers can't cover it all? Are so many children behind that they'll never be able to catch up? Is it a combination of any or all of those?  Our school, apparently, has figured out how to work the system, and they are doing it well. Despite the fact that passing scores across the state and our district tend to fall in the 50-60% range, our school is consistently scoring in the upper 80's. All that test prep works. The hours of online test modules for homework, the Xeroxed copies of old EOG's that they do in the classroom, the weeks of instructional time that is taken away in lieu of test prep.... it all accomplishes the goal of increasing test scores. No matter how much I hate it, I can't argue the data. If the goal of education these days is high test scores (which it seems to be), then our school is doing that well. Any complaints I may have about the methodology would be shot down quickly with the numbers showing success.

That's not the way it should be though. Where is the disconnect between the teaching, the curriculum, the materials, and the testing that roughly half of our state's students aren't able to pass an end of grade test? Do half the students need to be held back each year to repeat the grade?

If the only way to be successful as a school is to do weeks of intense test prep, then the tests aren't measuring the students' knowledge that they have gained over the course of the year. The tests are measuring how many times the students have taken sample tests.

I don't have any answers... just lots of questions. It all feels broken, but I don't even know where to begin with a fix. Sigh.  I suppose I'll just sit back and enjoy next year with nobody in third through fifth grade. That's my one glimpse of positivity right now.

4:00 a.m. Rough Draft

If you have been reading this blog for long, you know it is that time of year for my annual rant about End of Grade (EOG) testing, like previous posts, Just Another Day at School and Letter to the Common Core Standards Initiative. It is 4:00 a.m., and I was lying in bed awake stewing, composing a letter to Nina's principal and teacher in my head. I was never going to go back to sleep without actually writing it, so here I am sitting at the computer, awake in the middle of the night writing a letter.

I certainly won't send it yet. A first draft written at 4 a.m. is much too snarky to actually send without revising several times. At the very least, I need to re-read it in the morning when I'm actually awake and can have a coherent thought about a more appropriate tone for this letter. For now though, you get the rough draft.

Dear Mrs. R and Mrs. S,

I have been frustrated for years at the time, priority, and level of emphasis that <elementary school name> places on test preparation for EOG's. This year has brought me to my breaking point though. When did elementary school stop being about teaching kids to read, write, do math, and love learning? When did it become nothing more than an SAT prep course for fifth graders? Nina has had SEVEN WEEKS  of required online practice test modules for homework, 56 practice test units in all. She was also given assignments in four additional online test-prep resources with instructions to spend "a good amount of time on each (including weekends)." Does no one else see the insanity in that?

Last night, Nina came upstairs almost an hour after her bedtime after doing test prep homework for two hours. She had a headache and was nearly in tears because she wasn't able to get a "blue ribbon" on every single test. I will admit that she had left too much of the weekly homework to the last minute, but she is an active kid with volleyball two nights per week, and steady pacing throughout every night of the week isn't always feasible.

My frustration is that I don't think any of this overblown prep work is for the benefit of Nina. I believe she would pass EOG's just fine after a bit of review of the science concepts that were covered early in the year and some hints on how to approach some of the typical reading comprehension questions. I would hazard a guess that the same is true for most of the kids in the classroom. All that this test prep has done is turn her into a tightly wound ball of stress. If she doesn't pass EOG's it will be because of the panic attack she'll have on test day. She was upset last night saying that she'll have to run a lap for each test that didn't have a blue ribbon. That was the best news I heard all night. At least she'll get outside and be active like an eleven year old should be. That has to be better for her health and development than hours in front of a computer doing online test prep. If I had known those consequences six weeks ago, I might have told her to blow off all of the assignments in favor of running laps instead.

If you could convince me that this prepares her for middle school, you might get me on board. It doesn't though. My seventh grader did great on EOC's last year by looking over her science notes from the year and not doing a single practice test. This is how it should be.

If the material has been taught well all year, the children have learned it, and they know how to fill in a bubble with a number two pencil, then they should be able to pass an end of grade test without two months of aggressive test prep leading up to it. If that much test prep is necessary for these kids to be able to pass the test, then something is wrong with the test, or something is wrong with the previous eight months of schooling.

Next year will be the first time in seven years that I won't have a child in third through fifth grade taking EOG's. I'll have a second grader and a sixth grader, so I have a one year break in the madness. I can't wait.

Ann

For any of you blog readers with elementary school age students, do your schools place this much emphasis on test preparation? Is this the norm?

Oops.

Addison was nervous about this afternoon because Nina was going to go home on the bus, and she was going to get picked up in carpool to go to taekwondo. She likes the security of having her sister around when things are different (she usually rides the bus).  I'm guessing this didn't help her anxiety level...

 

 

"I Am From" by Elise

Elise wrote this poem in language arts. I loved it so much that I asked her permission to share it here. She gave me the obligatory eye roll but consented nonetheless. It makes me smile.

 

I Am From

I’m from glasses

From Target and iTunes

I am from the house painted blue

Green, Purple

Smelling cookies

I am from ever greens

From tulips

Whose smell makes me all happy inside

 

I’m from Christmas Eve PJ’s

And Pizza and a movie night

Nina and Addie

I am from dinner with the family

 

From school before jump rope

From practice makes perfect

I am from treat everyone the way you wish to be treated

 

I am from Pocahontas

Apples and bananas

From the glasses I lost in the front yard

To the scares my dad gets from biking

 

My hard jump rope practices 2 days a week

The thrill of performing in front of people who have never seen jump rope

The breath taking experience of competing