Sometimes your hands get dirty reaching for the stars!
Green School gardens (& staff mustaches) are growing with vigor as Bali rains begin to fall. The High Schoolers did a great job raising awareness about men’s health with their very funny mustache fundraiser, which they unveiled the “winners” of at Friday’s assembly. Beautiful art class mandalas made of rice & flowers adorn the campus as students continue their diverse adventures in learning.
In this issue:
Green School News
- Parent Information and Events Calendar
- GS takes part in Model United Nations
- Bamboopalooza
- Check Out the Amazing Green School Shop
- High School students invited to attend Theater Fest in India
- Green School Maths Winners
- Student Village has Openings
- Monthly Photography Contest Winners
- Snake Expert visits Green School
- Movember Madness
- Minding that Monkey Mind
Upcoming Events.
Ongoing Events.
Media & Links
Also in the Green School Community
- Green School Family Snapshot
- All Green Camp Staff become First Aid Responders
- Oyster Mushroom farm right next door to Green School
- Holiday Fair at Bali International School
- Submit future Newsletter items here
Green School News
Parent Information and Events Calendar
Hello staff, teachers, students & parents: Mosquito season is here! Please turn over every coconut or container of standing water you see and report any larger ones you don’t feel comfortable dealing with by yourself. Thank you!
Calendar of Events:
November:
Nov 25: Advanced English Discussion Group Monday at 2pm in the Meranggi Bale near the Art Studio. The first of a regular weekly group to improve English conversational skills. Please e-mail leahnewman@yahoo.com if you will be attending.
Nov 28th: Parent, Principal, and Directors Morning Thursday at 8:30am in the Mepantigan, you will have an opportunity to meet with the School Director, Chris Thompson. This will be a great time to ask questions about the school and the educational program and to share thoughts and ideas. We hope you will join us!
Nov 28th: Kul Kul Connection Walkabout to Sibang Thursday at 3:30pm, depart from Green Warung.
Nov 29: Green School Community Association (GSCA) Friday at 11:00am in the Living Food Lab (If we move due to rain we will leave a notice of our new location). Get an update on volunteer projects, dreams and plans!
Nov 29: Indonesian Celebration of Art and Culture! Grade 4 Gamelan Performance, featuring shadow theater, plays and music: 2:15 in the Mepantigan.
December:
Dec 3: Bamboo Tour Tuesday at 9am (approximately 2 hours long). Cost is 160,000rp for one person or 240,000rp per couple (120,000rp per person). Send an email to tour@greenvillagebali.com to reserve a spot.
Dec 6th: Bamboopalooza Goes Tribal! Come join your Green School tribe, starting at 2pm. With a huge array of activities for all ages, vendors, a fantastic line up of live music and a phenomenal auction, this event is not to be missed. Volunteers still needed! Please contact Rachel at rachel.glitz@greenschool.org.
Dec 6th: Green School High School Performing Arts presents: William Shakespeare’s As You Like It Friday at 6:45pm in the Mepantigan. Tickets will be sold in advance and at the door for 50.000rp. All proceeds help to cover production costs.
Dec 7th: High School presents: William Shakespeare’s As You Like It Saturday at 6:45pm in the Mepantigan. Tickets 50.000rp.
Dec. 9th: High School presents: William Shakespeare’s As You Like It Monday at 6:45pm in the Mepantigan. Tickets 50.000rp.
Dec 10: Insights on Crystal and Indigo Children with Arno Colin. Tuesday at 2pm in the Mepantigan.
Dec 11th: End of the Year Music Extravaganza Wednesday at 2pm in the Mepantigan.
December 14th: Payment deadline for the second Semester.
Dec 14 – Jan 6th: Holiday Break
Dec 27 & 28: Soulshine Festival at Green School with Michael Franti
Jan 7th: Back to School
February 7th-9th: Green School Educator Course: In this introductory course, participants will spend 3-days learning about the Green School pedagogy while staying overnight in our brand new Green Camp Lodge. More details about the course will be posted on our website by the end of the month.
Parent Reminders:
Weather Policy:
Soon we’ll start experiencing lightning and thunderstorms. They usually occur 2-4pm, often at dismissal time. Below is what to expect.
- Red flag on the field means no one is to go onto the field.
- If heavy thunder/rain, kids remain in class until it subsides.
- All students dismissed via HOS and warung path- no one on field.
GS takes part in Model United Nations
On November 8th, 9th, and 10th, fifteen Green School students took part in the second annual Bali Model United Nations conference at Bali International School in Sanur (next year it will be Green School’s turn to host the conference). Fifty students from four international schools in Bali gave speeches, wrote resolutions, and debated topics ranging from the use of drones in counter terrorism to improving the coordination of efforts against human trafficking. In March Green School MUN students will be attending a conference in Beijing.
Bamboopalooza
Our thanks to parent Darrin Lin for the beautiful poster he has created for Bamboopalooza Goes Tribal!
Mark your calendars for Friday, December 6 beginning at 2 pm – (early dismissal) and come join your Green School tribe for a fun-filled afternoon of music, entertainment, games & activities for the entire family, vendors from around the island and a phenomenal auction. Please click on the poster to learn more about our performers, vendors and sponsors.
Your children are already gathering in their tribes in anticipation of this event. This week’s tribal tug o’ war brought Earth, Air, Water and Fire out on to the field for some tribal sparring. Here are the results:
1st – Fire - 50 pts
2nd – Water – 30 pts
3rd – Earth – 20 pts.
4th – Air – 15 pts.
Next week (Thursday, November 28), students will have an opportunity to earn more House “tribe” points using bamboo stilts. Remember, the winner of the most Bamboopalooza tribal points will earn an extra 100 points for their House “tribe”.
You don’t have to be in Air, Earth, Water or Fire to join in the preparations. You can:
*Donate your gently used items for our annual Garage Sale. Contact Wen, 4A’s class ambassador, (ilnew@hotmail.com) or drop them off at the Welcome Desk with Ibu Yani. This is a fantastic, very popular and very “green” part of our event.
* Donate decorations! Feathers, shells, beads, natural fibers, wood, fabric scraps, paint, adhesive, and any re-purposable items can all become part of a beautiful design that Ibu Michelle is coordinating for construction by our students. All are welcome. Please email Michelle Navarro at michelle@greenschool.org if you have some items you’d like to donate (or have a source of items to suggest).
* And, there is still room for students, parents, teachers and staff to volunteer to help, both before and on December 6. For more information, please contact rachel.glitz@greenschool.orgThank you!
Check Out the Amazing Green School Shop
Our Green School Shop has amazing products that will make some great holiday gifts for family and friends.
And if you are looking for your own shirt to improve your wardrobe check out the new Green School Tee shirts in children an adult sizes.
These are made in Bali from soft, light and very comfortable U.S.
Organic Cotton (Certified by GOTS).
High School students invited to attend Theater Fest in India
The High School is very excited to announce an opportunity for 10 students to travel to Chennai, India to take part in an international theater festival focused on women’s equality issues. The festival, entitled “EQUALITY, DIGNITY, SAFETY” will take place at the American International School in Chennai and will be attended by students from around Asia. Ibu Sarita and Ibu Emily have created a unique curriculum based on women’s issues and theater studies. All interested High School students are encouraged to apply. All of the relevant information can be found here: http://istatrip.weebly.com/ Applications must be in by January 7th.
Green School Maths Winners
Jaap De Ruiter, Grade 6
WAY TO GO GREEN SCHOOL – Our students were amazing!! The Bali Maths Competition was held on November 2nd at BIS. A group of Middle and High School students, some dedicated parents, Pak Sal and Pak Kyle had a great day full of numbers. All students competed like Einsteins, met students from other schools, and had a lot of fun.
Special mentions:
- Jaap De Ruiter (Grade 6); Second Place in the Individual Junior Round.
- The Grade 7 Bamboo Mathletes team of James Jenour, Paul Lonsdorf and Valerii Komeranko; Second Place in the overall Junior Team Competition & Second Place in the Tournament Round.
- The Grade 6 Super Maths team of Arielle Chenawa, Noor Voorwald and Shiraz Dejbakhsh; First Place in the Code-Breaker Round.
- Our High School team, the Pi Pythons, Natasha Ahman, Talin Chaturantabut and Maxwell Hidajat; Second Place in the overall Senior Team Competition.
Student Village has Openings
We’re gearing up for another fun and productive semester starting this January with exciting updates happening around Student Village; the international boarding program at Green School for students Grades 6-12.
Located in Bamboo Village on the east side of the Ayung River and Millennium Bridge, Student Village will be bringing together educational, social and commercial elements right here in our own Green School community. Also, the bamboo residences are currently getting a facelift to help bring the homes, facilities and amenities up to date with new materials.
If you have friends who live in Bali or if they live abroad and have expressed an interest in sending their children to Green School, please do not hesitate to pass along our contact information. There are options for students to reside full-time or five-nights per week at the Student Village. Contact us at studentvillage@greenschool.org
Monthly Photography Contest Winners
Congratulations to all who entered the November photography competition. The competition this month
attracted 15 entries from staff and students in the High School. Once again voting was very tight and only one vote separated our first and second place.
Drum roll please…
Congratulations this month goes to Pak Glenn for his stunning work! And coming is a very close second place is Taj Naugton in Year 9 (who also was awarded 2nd place in our September competition).
Thank you to all our photographers who contributed this month. To view all entries please visit our online gallery at www.bamboogallery.org.
In December the theme for the monthly photography competition will be “Green School”. How you interpret this is entirely open to you. The competition will be open to all Green School staff and students in High School and Middle School. Submissions will be open on the 1st of December.
Get those camera’s out and get clicking!
Ibu Jen
Snake Expert visits Green School
If you were on campus Monday or Tuesday you might have heard the buzz…. “The snake guy is here!”. Every year we invite Pak Ron Lilley (snake expert extraordinaire) and his reptilian friends to Green School for his snake “show n’ tell”. During Pak Ron’s visit children have the opportunity to learn about various types of snakes living in Bali, how and why the snakes are a critical part of the natural environment, what to do in case you come across a snake in the wild and, importantly, what to do in case you happen to be bitten by one. In addition, children are able to admire, touch and even hold live (non-poisonous) snakes as a way of experiencing the beauty and grace of these amazing creatures. Finally, children are given time to ask any and all questions they might have about snakes and to share any personal experiences or stories they might have. All in all it is an amazing experience and we are so grateful for having Pak Ron join us. Thank you Pak Ron!
If you happened to miss him this week don’t fret! Pak Ron is scheduled to be back Dec 6th for our Bamboopalooza event!
Movember Madness
Thanks to the awesome generosity and testosterone of the Green School Staff and Community, the High School Student Council Movember Fundraiser has accomplished the following:
- Raised enough for 10 free HIV exams for men who can’t afford them (2 million rupiah total)
- Collected 400 votes from our community
- provided 19 very different and wacky pieces of facial art that will be roaming around GS for the next week
Here is a link to a video about the organization you helped:
http://alerehiv.com/video/the-alere-pima-cd4-in-bali/
Terima Kasih Banyak,
Emily, Leslie and the HS Student Council
Minding that Monkey Mind
“Last night I could not get to sleep. So Daddy taught me the Relaxation Bubble exercise and I fell asleep before it got up to my shoulders.” – Luna, Grade 2, after her father attended the Mindfulness presentation.
Last weeks Mindfulness at Green School teacher presentation for parents was so well attended we completely filled the Merenggi Bale.
Currently the Mindfulness program is running through the school and led by Lernik in Kindergarten, Yeshi in Primary, Nicola in Middle School and Andrea in High School.
At the presentation, the Teachers covered “What is Mindfulness?” and its benefits to students in developing qualities such as:
Deep and critical thinking
Concentration
More sophisticated higher emotions:
- empathy,
- awe,
- deep sense of connection to all of your life
- deep belonging to all of your life
- compassion
Nicola and Yeshi presented the concept to Teachers at Green School during our Personal Development week in August and plan to do inservice training for teachers at Green School. Andrea has started a weekly mindfulness session for staff on Wednesday afternoons at 3.30 in the Heart of School.
By popular demand, parents who missed the presentation can look forward to another workshop in the second semester, on ‘Practical Mindfulness and Well Being’ from Soojin.
Upcoming Events
Green School High School Performing Arts presents: William Shakespeare’s As You Like It
“All the world’s a stage…” and we are exceedingly excited to bring you Green School’s very first Shakespeare production. A collaboration between our Visual and Performing Arts departments, our show includes unique shadow puppetry, original music, and script adapted for our bamboo stage by Pak Joel’s advanced literature students. One of our goals is help our Green School community love Shakespeare’s work as much as we do, and we aim to make the play accessible and enjoyable for all ages. It would be wonderful if you could read this quick plot summary together as a family before coming to the show (As You Like It for Kids). Here is a fantastic resource for kids full of fun information about William Shakespeare (Shakespeare for Kids) We will also be visiting classes to talk about this romantic comedy with Green School students.
We premier the same night as Bamboopalooza (6:45pm in the Mepantigan)
Our shows: Friday, Dec. 6th; Saturday, Dec. 7th; and Monday, Dec. 9th at 6:45pm.
Tickets will be sold in advance and at the door for 50.000rp. All proceeds help to cover production costs.
See you there!
Ongoing Events
BSSA Volleyball
Another good week for Green School on the volleyball court with one week left of round robin matches before the finals day on Wednesday 4 December.
Matches on Wednesday 27 November:
9/10s 2 vs CCS 2 at GREEN SCHOOL 2.30pm
9/10s 1 vs Sunrise at Sunrise School 2.30pm
13/14 Girls vs AIS at Australia Int School 3.30pm
11/12 boys- no game
11/12 girls vs CCS 3 at GREEN SCHOOL 3pm
Senior Tournament: Thursday 5 December!
Thursday 28 November at 3.00pm: 15+ friendly vs Dyatmika at Dyatmika School- bemos leave 2pm
Community Soccer:
Wednesday After school with Pak Jade
Ages 14+ students, teachers, Kul Kul, and GS community members.
3:30pm until Dusk
Brazilian Soccer:
Mondays and Tuesdays 3.30pm for Primary students with Pak Eduardo
Contact: petta@agenciatie.com.br
Ultimate Frisbee:
Thursdays 3.30pm on the field
Yoga Studio Schedule Changes
From next week to end of term Tuesday has changed to Thursday, so the new schedule is as follows:
Mondays 9.15 am – 10.15 am – Heart of Yoga with Naren
Thursdays 8.30 am – 9.30 am – Heart of Yoga with Naren (NOTE- earlier start!)
Fridays – 9 am – 10.30 am – Vinyasa Flow Level 2 with Jo
Green School Bike Club Fundraiser
As part of the middle school C.O.R.A.L. Fridays, the founding members of the Green School Bike Club have created a crowdfunding campaign on indiegogo to raise money to build a bike shed. This shed will serve as a repair shop, shelter, and storage for our growing number of community members who choose to bike to school. Derek Montgomery of Build a Bike in Sanur has generously donated a tool kit and bike stand for the shed so that we’ll be ready to go as soon as its built. Meanwhile, the students have been busy mapping trails around campus and polishing up their repair skills so that they can assist in guiding new members around our community and maintaining bikes.
Every little bit helps, so if you can please visit the site at: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/green-school-bikers-club-shed and spread the word to all your friends on facebook and beyond to help us reach our goals and build a shed to help all in our community get out of their car and onto the trails of Sibang. Many thanks in advance!
Know Thy Neighbour
When was the last time you took a stroll through the village surrounding Green School and met one of our neighbours?
Come and join us for November’s Kul Kul Connection walkabout and meet Pak Gusti Ngurah, the Head of the Sibang Subak.
Pak Gusti will show us the bio-gas unit he uses for his local business and take us for an enchanting stroll down to a beautiful part of the river you have almost certainly never set eyes on. Let’s show our Sibang neighbours we care by showing up in good numbers!
When: Thursday, November 28th, 3:30pm
Where: Look for Tim in front of Living Food Lab
Who: Come one, come all – kids welcome for a stroll too!
How long: We’ll be back at the Green School warung by 5pm.
Media & Links
From the Mailbox
Hello this is Megumi Yoshinaga from Tokyo,
Even though one month has passed since the APEC event finished,
I still remember the surprise of Green School when I first came to Bali!
Green School is not just a school, but a work of art and a dream world!
It is was a great honor to meet all of you in my age.
During the APEC programme, I was so moved by John’s speech,
I sincerely hope that I can become a part of your team. When I heard John’s speech, my whole heart was beating. I KNOW THAT THIS IS MY CALLING, HERE IS MY DESTINY. I would love to establish a Green School in Japan in 6 years, just one year before the Tokyo Olympic is going to be held.
I saw the homepage and found that there are several vacancies available. Now, I am a junior student in Waseda University, If possible, I’d love to work with you after my graduation next year. Maybe now I have a lot of deficiencies to catch up with but I have some time and will do my best for the goal.
I am really looking forward to hear your reply and I would love to have some advice from all of you. Thank you very much.
Regards,
Megumi Yoshinaga
Also in the Green School Community
Introducing a New Feature: Plant Family of the Month
We are pleased to introduce a new feature to the newsletter: Plant Family of the Month! Each month, the folks at Green Camp will highlight a plant family from the amazing world of tropical plants, and bring you new information about these plant families on a regular basis. As plants form the majestic structure of beloved and magical rainforests, provide shelter and food for thousands of species on earth including humanity, and indeed provide us with much of the very air we breathe, we are thrilled to bring more information about these brilliant organisms to your fingertips!
Gnetaceae
Believe it or not, this family is represented by noteworthy red-fruited trees all around our campus! You have probably walked around many Melinjo trees, the scientific name of which is Gnetum gnemon L. This tree in the Gnetaceae family is amongst one of the most ancient lineages of plants; indeed, the Gnetaceae belongs to the “gymnosperm” group of plants, known for their “naked seeds.” Have we piqued your interest? Stay tuned next week for another update about this ancient, largely edible (but please don’t eat any without asking an expert!), and amazing plant family!
Green School Family Snapshot
Aubrey Cody and her three children, Finn (Grade 1), Wyatt (Kindy) and Sabine (Geckos) are a new family to Green School. Aubrey moved the kids here from Washington DC to expand their worldview and instill, early on, an enthusiasm for nature and sustainability.
Aubrey has lived all over Asia and Africa working in humanitarian relief, specializing in refugee, maternal and newborn health. She is currently the Director of Sage Innovation (http://www.sageinnovation.co), a global health consulting firm dedicated to bringing life-saving technologies and innovative solutions to improve the health of women, children and families in developing countries.
The children’s father, Kit Cody, is visiting Bali and the Green School this month for the first time and is blown away by the school. Kit is a social entrepreneur and sustainable business consultant. He co-founded Rwanda Ventures, a social business incubator in East Africa, and currently works in the United States with CleanFish (sustainably sourced seafood www.cleanfish.com) and Chinook Book (mobile coupons for eco-friendly merchants).
As for the Cody kids, they are all settling in nicely. Finn loves going to the science center with Pak Matt, Wyatt loves having baby chickens at school and painting in kindy, while Sabine loves gardening, visiting the yoga studio and singing Bahasa songs with her gecko friends.
All Green Camp Staff become First Aid Responders
Green Camp is delighted to announce that all Green Camp staff are now First Aid certified. Our full multi-lingual team was trained in CPR and on the use of an AED (automated external defibrillator); on recovery positions; how to manage choking, wounds, and bleeding; preliminary fainting and shock treatment; and burn assessment and first-stage treatment.
The experience was incredibly enlightening for all of us as to the critical influence a first aid responder has on a patient’s survival and care. We were thrown into numerous mock emergency scenarios and successfully fulfilled both a theoretical and practical written test. An effective response within the first few minutes of an emergency can make a crucial difference between life and death or disability, and can translate to a quicker and fuller recovery. Through our first aid training, we learned the primary priorities for assessing emergency situations, for potentially saving lives, and for being effective first responders.
We learned a great deal during this first course and will continue our team training in order to fulfil the First Aid Level 2 training in the coming months. We are happy to bring an even higher level of safety to our shared Green campus by having more multi-lingual individuals on staff that are trained as first responders.
Oyster Mushroom farm right next door to Green School
Pak Dedik and Kashius Ford of Grade 5 at our neighboring Oyster mushroom Farm
Right next door to Green School there is a hidden gem! You’ll never believe it but gourmet Oyster mushrooms are being grown and sold right beside Green Schools main parking lot, by a man named I Made Suparta and his family. Pak Made started growing mushrooms in 2006. He chose to be a mushroom farmer because ‘it is one of the healthiest foods you can grow’. He never uses pesticide on his mushrooms, instead they are grown organically, on wood chips, sprayed with water three times a day and harvested every afternoon at 5 o’clock. Pak Made lives with his wife, 2 sons, 2 daughter-in-law, and 4 grandchildren and says he spent his career with the Indonesian army before he retired in 2010.
Oyster mushrooms, Pleurotus Ostreatus, or Hiratake (“Flat Mushroom” in Japanese) is a delicious and common edible mushroom, frequently served on its own, in soups, stuffed, or in stir-fry recipes. Oyster mushrooms are sometimes made into a sauce, used in Asian cooking, which is similar to oyster sauce. The Oyster mushroom is also considered a medicinal mushroom, with one of it’s benefits being that it contains lovastatin which helps reduce cholesterol. In the International Journal of Oncology, researchers also identified two molecular mechanisms from alcohol extracts of oyster mushrooms that “specifically inhibits growth of colon and breast cancer cells without significant effect on normal cells, and has a potential therapeutic/preventive effect on breast and colon cancer. They are also rich in protein (up to 30 percent by dry weight), and plentiful in B vitamins.
Go check out these nutritious, delicious, and (VERY) locally grown mushrooms right in Green School’s own backyard . . . Literally!
(Article written with help from the friendly roving reporter, I Made Dedik Mustiawan)
Holiday Fair at Bali International School
Date: Friday Nov. 29th
Time: 3pm-6pm
Place: Bali International School, Big Field
Submit future Newsletter items here
To submit your own news updates for inclusion, please send it to communications@greenschool.org by 12 noon each Wednesday.We cannot always guarantee inclusion and we may have to delay for a week at times.
Visit the Green School Website: http://www.greenschool.org
Visit the Green School Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/greenschool
Sometimes your hands get dirty reaching for the stars!
Green School gardens (& staff mustaches) are growing with vigor as Bali rains begin to fall. The High Schoolers did a great job raising awareness about men’s health with their very funny mustache fundraiser, which they unveiled the “winners” of at Friday’s assembly. Beautiful art class mandalas made of rice & flowers adorn the campus as students continue their diverse adventures in learning.