I've been told, never let yourself become so used to working with kids that you no longer see how precious they are. By the grace of God, I hope that I never get to the point of taking the specialness of God's children for granted. I do know that at about this time of the year, I can almost feel the bond between the kids and I grow. They are becoming more used to me and I am becoming more used to them and I do marvel at how precious they are.
It's about this time, when they start to wink back at me, when they start to realize when I'm serious and when I'm joking, and when they start to come up to me out of the blue and just give a quick hug as they pass by. It's about this time too, when I know a little more of what they are capable of and when I can see that they are really working hard at a particular task. ...and when I can see that they're really not trying so hard at all.
We had chapel this morning and Mr. Greg Holstege talked about how school is kind of like a bootcamp for little Christian warriors learning to fight against Satan's power. I was once again struck by the awesome task that we, as teachers, and you, as parents, have: preparing children to do God's work. It's not just about the ABC's, the 123's, the cutting and gluing, and all the academic stuff. Our job is to mold and shape them so that they are ready, willing, and able to take up the command to work for Him and at this time, they are so impressionable. One of my kindergarteners told me this week that they had family visitation and that the elders talked about seeking the things above. So often we think they aren't listening or paying attention, but they are. Pray that we never take them for granted.
On a lighter note...
Fire Drills are often a little scary, so we had a fire drill drill this afternoon. We had a story about fire drills, and we practiced for the fire drill. One of the things we talked about was if there is a fire drill, we just leave everything and hurry outside. We don't need to get our stuff, we just go. "Of course," said one little girl, "If there was a real fire, then we would have to stop and pack up all of our stuff, 'cause we wouldn't want to let the fire get it."
We had some other firsts this week too and I was reminded that I really do have to clarify everything. For example, when I say let's go put our art shirts on, I should also remember to say "over top of our other shirts". ...and when I say we're going to go to the gym for chapel, I should say, "but we don't need to take off our glasses, because we aren't going to play in the gym."
...and just a cute story (hope it's ok that I shared):
"We had to go and bring gas to my dad this morning, 'cause he ran out of gas on the way to work."
"Oh," I said, "Did mom laugh about that?" (yeah, I can't just let it go, I have to goad them on a bit sometimes.)
"No, but Dad laughed. But if that had happened to Mom, Dad wouldn't think it was funny."
It's about this time, when they start to wink back at me, when they start to realize when I'm serious and when I'm joking, and when they start to come up to me out of the blue and just give a quick hug as they pass by. It's about this time too, when I know a little more of what they are capable of and when I can see that they are really working hard at a particular task. ...and when I can see that they're really not trying so hard at all.
We had chapel this morning and Mr. Greg Holstege talked about how school is kind of like a bootcamp for little Christian warriors learning to fight against Satan's power. I was once again struck by the awesome task that we, as teachers, and you, as parents, have: preparing children to do God's work. It's not just about the ABC's, the 123's, the cutting and gluing, and all the academic stuff. Our job is to mold and shape them so that they are ready, willing, and able to take up the command to work for Him and at this time, they are so impressionable. One of my kindergarteners told me this week that they had family visitation and that the elders talked about seeking the things above. So often we think they aren't listening or paying attention, but they are. Pray that we never take them for granted.
On a lighter note...
Fire Drills are often a little scary, so we had a fire drill drill this afternoon. We had a story about fire drills, and we practiced for the fire drill. One of the things we talked about was if there is a fire drill, we just leave everything and hurry outside. We don't need to get our stuff, we just go. "Of course," said one little girl, "If there was a real fire, then we would have to stop and pack up all of our stuff, 'cause we wouldn't want to let the fire get it."
We had some other firsts this week too and I was reminded that I really do have to clarify everything. For example, when I say let's go put our art shirts on, I should also remember to say "over top of our other shirts". ...and when I say we're going to go to the gym for chapel, I should say, "but we don't need to take off our glasses, because we aren't going to play in the gym."
...and just a cute story (hope it's ok that I shared):
"We had to go and bring gas to my dad this morning, 'cause he ran out of gas on the way to work."
"Oh," I said, "Did mom laugh about that?" (yeah, I can't just let it go, I have to goad them on a bit sometimes.)
"No, but Dad laughed. But if that had happened to Mom, Dad wouldn't think it was funny."