It's all about the kids ...
March 24, 2006 at 2:29 PM
by Ashleigh
Artwork frame made by Sebastian and picture taken by 8th graders.
This week it's all about the kids!
Seb's school had the completion of their 'Nederland' project yesterday and the whole school was bedecked with flags and patriotically themed decorations. It was pretty cool.
Each class did a different one of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands.
Sebastian's class, Group 1/2a did Flevoland, notable because it is the newest province of the Netherlands and almost completely made up of reclaimed land.
1/2 b did Overijssel and together the two classes made their parts of the scale model of the Netherlands with lots of windmills and farms.
Group 3a did Gelderland, and their project was to follow an imaginary family on holiday in the Gelderse Veluwe and visit places of interest, like Paleis Het Loo. Take a look at the Paleis Het Loo website - its awesome! You can read about it in English here.
3b did Zeeland and its bridges. Group 4 did Noord Holland (where we live) and wrote a lot about tulips, dykes (the water-retaining kind) and windmills. Group 5 did Utrecht province with its castles, Vinkeveen lake, and Utrecht FC. The latter was very popular with the boys!
Group 6 did Zuid-Holland and Group 7 did Friesland while Group 8 did Limburg. There are 3 other provinces by then they ran out of classes.
So I bet you want to know the other 3 provinces of Holland? They're Groningen, Noord-Brabant and Drenthe.
The best part of the Netherlands project for me?
Getting to watch the kids eat Limburgse vlaai* in the Group 8 class, and pannekoeken in the Group 7 class. No-one could tell I'm fixated on food at the moment could they?
Sebastian's class had ontbijtkoek for the visitors to munch, and also a 'grabbeldoos' lucky dip bin where you could 'grabbel' for a gift for 20c. Seb got a plastic cow and Joe got a sheep, which he is determined is really a goat.
The kids put so much effort into their project. It was really good to see them get so throughly involved in it.
It was also fun to see the headmistress and Group 8 teacher dressed up, wigs and all, as the Queen and Prince Willem-Alexander!
* A Limburg vlaai is a sort of tart which is made in Limburg province and also across the border in Belgium. It has a base made of dough, not unlike a shortcrust pastry dough, but a little more grainy, and it is then filled with fruit, like cherries, apricots, apples or rice. The whole tart is baked, which is what differentiates a Limburgse vlaai from other sorts of tarts, for example bavaroises, which have the pastry case baked first and then the filling added afterward. Limburg vlaai is served with whipped cream.
Comments
I dream about rijstvlaai, myself. Mmmmmm.
The kids' projects sound so fun. What a great idea!
I don't know much about Dutch cuisine, except for one yummy - banket (I think that's how it's spelled). We belong to a Dutch Reformed church and the girls group used to have a banket baking day each December as a fund raiser for the group. I still have the recipe somewhere in my box. :D
It sounds great! have you noticed the environment of Apeldoorn? That's where I'm living...
Our children are working a 'country project'. My son is working about Austria, my daughter about Mexico. It's great too, they learn so much each day!
March 24, 2006 9:56 PM