Jenn's Journalings

OE- Wednesday

Wednesday was reef day. We took bancas from the base camp to the reef. (Here’s a picture of a banca, although it’s from Google and not a picture of one we actually were on.)

My squad had a banca just for us (and our stuff and the water to took to the reef site). Our banca had some motor problems, so although we were one of the first to leave we were one of the last to arrive. We had fun singing on the way there. We sang quite a few songs; the following list tells some of them: God’s Not Dead, How He Loves Us, I Will Follow, Our God, Who’s the King of the Jungle?, Let It Go, Do You Want to Build a Snowman?, and some of the Tagalog songs we sang the day before too.  (I included links, so if you want to hear some of these songs on Youtube just click on the title.)

Here’s my girls on the banca on the way over.

When we arrived we had a bit of scuba diving orientation, site orientation, and an entertaining demo for putting on sun screen.

The squads were split into 4 groups to rotate through the activities. We started with squad time, so we had a merienda (snack) of watermelon and had squad devotions. A few of my girls went on a short hike with another squad. Here’s a few of the pictures they took.

The next activity was either scuba diving or a craft. 3 of my girls went diving and the rest of us painted a rock. It was fun.

Next we went snorkeling. The water was a bit cold, but then it was fun. We didn’t get many pictures since we were swimming.

Our last activity was the squid dissection. It was pretty cool!

We had free time, dinner, a speaker, and then squad time. We had great squad devotions this evening.

We sang on our banca ride back to base camp the next morning too. We didn’t sing as much, but we sang lots of praise songs. The banca driver talked to me afterward. He was encouraged by our songs and said he was Brother ____. It was neat that we were able to minister to our banca driver on our way between sites.

OE – Tuesday

On Tuesday my traveling group stayed at base camp. In the morning we built sand castles.

Then we had ministry time at a local Filipino elementary school. We took lunch to the students and played games with them. My squad had 3rd grade; there were 78 kids in one room. It was really full! After everyone had food we gathered together for a Vacation Bible School type lesson. We sang songs with the kids – in Tagalog and English. There was a Bible lesson on Joseph, and our kids helped act out portions of the story. The last couple pictures are a few of my girls eating lunch on the way back to base camp.

The special event at base camp was the chicken kill. We had to kill our chickens for dinner. It was actually kinda cool. (Please note: These pictures might not be appropriate for small children or squeamish people.)

Then we had free time for a couple hours before preparing the rest of our dinner. The kitchen crew boiled our chickens and then my squad chose to use the rotisserie to BBQ them. We also cut up potatoes and carrots and cooked them in foil in the fire. Our dessert was muffins poured into orange peels, wrapped in foil, and baked in the fire. They were amazing!!

OE – Monday

OE this year was Victory on the Volcano. We flew out of Davao VERY early in the morning; I think we met at the airport around 3:45 or 4 am.

Here’s our group~4 adults & 42 students.

We had a 3-4 hour bus ride to base camp after arriving in Manila.

Here’s some of the traffic.

There’s always something interesting to see out the window ~ like unique water towers.

We arrived at the base camp early, but that turned out ok. I was thankful for some down-time after the travel. Our kids did great…despite the many “are we there yet?” questions. 🙂

Base camp had a dorm, swimming pool, kitchen, chapel, basketball court, and was on the beach. My kids took some beautiful shots at the beach.

The first day of OE consists of travel and some orientation. Each group does their squad intro and we have a speaker in the evening. You may have seen clips of the squad intros if you watched the videos in my previous post.

Fun with Proportions

In math we’re finishing up a chapter on ratios, proportions, percents, and a bit of probability. Yes, that was a lot to put in one chapter. 🙂

Anyway, since I was teaching in a classroom with students (versus cyber) I thought I’d try something I had done during my first teaching position. A fun way to introduce or practice ratios is to use recipes of some kind. The cheaper way (rather than making cookies with terrible proportions) is to use powdered drink mix.

So I split my class into 2 groups and they took water and iced tea mix and had 5 tries to determine the best ratio of water to mix.

They had to measure the amount of water and mix.

They taste-tested with spoons, so as not to pass the germs around.

Don’t forget to record what you did and what you think about how that ratio tasted!

We had some REALLY strong iced tea (as you can see on the left) and some more weak iced tea.

It was a fun way to start off the chapter. We’ve continued having fun using Nips (sort of like M&Ms) with probability too. It’s made for a slightly lighter chapter leading up to Christmas break. I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Calling all teachers!

We recently completed a new recruitment video for our school – Faith Academy Mindanao!

It gives you a glimpse into the school campus, some of our teachers, and (most importantly) some of our students!

It is such a joy to teach here and I am so blessed to work with “my kids” every day at school.

If you’re interested in serving here please send me an email or comment here on the blog and I’ll get you connected with the right people.

Poetry Post #7 – Outside the Window & Trust

The smell outside the window

The smell outside the window is so sweet
It reminds me of when I was little
when we would roll around in the grass.
When we would pretend we were super hero’s

The smell outside the window so clean
Just as clean as our newly washed clothes.
It reminds me of when I play soccer
being abel to stop a goal and smile.

The smell outside the window is now dirty
Now it reminds me of the city.
So much pollution in the air.
so sad I can barely bear it.

The sound outside the window puts a smile on my face
the sound of the air blowing the leaves.
It calms my mind
the falling of rain.

Now the city is taking over.
It hurts to think that the trees will be gone.

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Trust

Trust is like an eraser, the more you erase the mistakes, the more it gets smaller.
Trust is like paper, once its crumpled it can never be perfect again
Trust is like a diamond, it’s expensive
Trust is like glass, it can’t be fixed after it’s broken
Trust is like a friend, you have to cherish it forever

Poetry Post #6 – Dogs & Basketball

The rest of the poems will be by my 8th graders. The first one today is an ode, which is where something is celebrated.

Ode to My Dogs

Thanks to my dogs for giving me joy
for even letting me play with their toy.
They slobber all over me
but they are part of the family.

Thanks to my dogs who fill my heart with love
with each time they run they look like a dove.
So obedient in their ways
each day of all their days.

Now one of them is getting old
she has a sickness call thyroids or so we were told.
When she passes depressed we will be
because she is part of the family.

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Today’s second poem is a simile poem about basketball. A simile is a comparison of unlike things using the words like or as.

Basketball is like:
Basketball is like a counseling hour, you leave with a sigh of relief.
Basketball is like a work out it makes you fit.
Basketball is like an alarm clock it wakes you up.
Basketball is like an energy drink, it gives you adrenaline.
Basketball is like a drama play, you could be really happy of how it went or really depressed.

Poetry Post #5 – Wind & Friends

The two poems today are by 6th graders.

Wind

Wind is my shelter.

Whenever it blows, it cools me down.

Wind let water in the brook run.
Wind also carrys my voice to everywhere and everyone.

In anywhere, everywhere, wind watches everything.
Wind keep everyone’s secret.

However, If someone ask to wind, wind won’t
answer, but wind will carefully come to us and
whispher very quietly that we can’t even hear.

Wind blows flower’s leaf and wind carefully put
leaf down and let leaf become a another
beautiful creature to bloom again.

No matter how sun try not to let wind blow,
wind will always be there, from somewhere that
we couldn’t found and see.

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Just Like Home

I’m hanging out with my friends.

They’re similar just like the
ones at home. Their action
are similar to the ones at home.

Their personality are like ones
in the States. My friends in the
Philippines are better than the ones in the States.

The ones in the States are crazier
then the ones here. It seems
as the ones here are better.

But everything is difficult
to choose from here or the States.

(This one is a typical struggle for Third Culture Kids. They grow up in various locations and it’s hard for them to identify which one is home. Thanks for praying for my kids!)

Poetry Post #4- Pancakes & Boys

The poems today are written by two of my 7th grade girls.

Pancakes

Pancakes are fluffy and delicious.
They make you feel great.
They are like fluffy pillows that you can eat.

Pancakes can be in the fridge or on the stove.
wherever they are they are still pancakes.

Yummy yummy in my tummy

You can eat them with syrup or chocolate
You can put them in blender
or eat it with anything

When you are hungry you can have pancakes
so delicious and yummy

Everyday is a day for eating pancakes
Even when your sad
Even when your super happy.

delicious and wonderful that is what pancakes are!

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Boys

Boys are fun
some when they grow up want to own a gun

Boys are funny
Whe they are asking for money
They can be cute if you turned them into a bunny

Boys can be mean
Some of them love rice with many bean

Boys are ninjas
They appeare from anywhere
and you don’t know where they have been

Boys can be disgusting
The make me go ew
They do many things
Sometimes just a few

Most of the time they are nice

Boys can change
from one mood to another
in one second

Boys are weird (in a good way)

Poetry Post #3 – Looking Ahead & Books

This is by one of my 7th grade boys.

Looking Ahead

Looking on . . . and on . . . and on . . . and on.

Out in a world full of adventure and thrill
Who knows what’s ahead of us, plague or ill.

Thus I always plan ahead, jotting down the
goods and bads,
Looking onward to make sure there are no
stumbles in my path.
Who could guess what the world has in store.

Usually I get my hopes up, for things coming my way
If the thing is good then I’m a happy guy you’d say
But if it ain’t so nice then it’ll start to ruin my day.

I got nothing else to focus on
It continues to creep my mind
You never know what could pop up or what you
just might find

If you ask me, “What’s your skill?”
This I’ll tell you, yes, I will

Looking on . . . and on . . . and on . . . and on

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This is by one of my 6th grade girls.

Books

The world is filled with books and books

Books to the ceiling, almost touching the sky

Books about knights in shining armor, saving princess’s with
long golden hair, and dragon’s breathing fire hotter than burning coals

Books that make you cry and books that make you
leap for joy, books so old they might fall apart and so now they shiver

There are big books and medium books and small books
Books that have words that leap from the pages,
filling you with suspense, horror, love, sorrow, or happiness

Books with many times and places like in the jungle,
or in the city, in a mystical world, or even in the
future land, Books filled with creativity and action.

Books with many genres realistic fiction, non-realistic
fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, and so many more.
Books are books filled with books and books so read a book