Worship and Work

This week in Bible class, I was teaching the students about the importance of work and rules and how they relate to worship. While they are only 6, it is an important concept to learn at a young age and to start practicing doing their best in everything, while the consequences are still small for not doing their best. Every time one of them would hand me their paper, I would ask them, "Is this the best you can do? Is there something you can do to make this paper better?" At the beginning of the week, almost every paper set on my desk was taken back to a student's desk grudgingly to redo something or to finish the activity. As the initial questions started not getting work redone, I started asking, "Do you think this is good enough for God? Would you give this paper to God and tell Him it was your best work?" Papers started returning to desks, but it happened less and less often. They have begun to turn in their best the first time, 

All of this got me to thinking, do we as adults and people claiming to be Christians always do all our work as if we are going to give it to God? Do I write my lesson plans to have God review? Do I love my students as if God is sitting right there watching everything I do? I think for most of us, the answer is a resounding no. Did I do my dishes to the glory of God? It sounds silly sometimes, but that is what the Bible says to do. To do all of our work to the glory of God. This is how work becomes worship. Otherwise, it is just day-to-day boring old hum-drum. Yes, it may still be boring and tedious, and it may take some extra time to do things our best the first time, but then it is also a joy when it is finished and you see the work that is completed and you know, for sure, that it is the best you could possibly have done. 

One of my students brought me their handwriting page at the end of this week and waiting at my desk for me to mark the letters and parts of the sentence that needed changed. I asked them the usual questions, and he answered, "yes" to all of them, so I checked the work. When I told him, "Good job! It looks great!" and set the paper in my pile of work to put in their take-home folders, his face lit up. He had never had me accept his work the first time. He said, "I'm going to do my best every time the first time! It is so much easier!" My little six-year-old learned a valuable life lesson this week, and, as his teacher, it was a joy to watch. 

Testing and Falling Trees

Since this week was a short school week, enough exciting events had to occur in order to make it feel like five days. 

The grades that would have done their standardized testing in May last school year had to take their tests this last week. No big deal for me, because my students were Kindergarten last year and would not have been tested. On the other hand, all of the other grades were testing, so my kids had to be basically silent for the first half of the school day. Nine six-year-olds, sitting still, all day. We turned on "ninja mode" and they had to be quiet and quick about everything they did. It worked quite well, honestly. 

There was a very large storm here during the week. I came home from school with no power, and recess was canceled due to the dangerous winds outside. The next day, there were fallen trees on both of the school playgrounds, so people were working hard to clear our playgrounds for recess. It was quite the event for my little first graders to have trees falling down and winds so strong they couldn't stand up when the gusts kicked up. 

Hopefully, soon we will be moving our classroom into the permanent classroom, but as of right now, I am still setting it up and making it as organized as possible before the students come in. One of the walls has been painted bright green and the walls are decorated with different posters and Dr. Seuss pictures. 

The students are extremely excited for the upcoming week because they get to go to their first class store to use their points that they have been earning so far in the year. Some of their prizes will be pencil sharpeners, scented hand sanitizer, mechanical pencils, markers, notebooks, shaped erasers, and coupons for things like bringing a stuffed animal to school, not having to wear shoes in class, and a homework pass for a night. Hopefully, it lives up to their expectations! 

20 Fun Facts About Me

 It has been a while since I have posted anything regarding random things about me, so here are twenty random fun facts about me!

1. My favourite colours are purple and teal.

2. I love books. Adore books. Cannot get enough books.

3. My ideal day includes lots of music, coffee, mac and cheese, and a few close friends.

4. I prefer mountains over beaches. (I really don't like sand very much.)

5. I do not like wearing jewelry because it is constantly getting in the way.

6. I am a pretty equal mix of girly and tom-boy. 

7. Les Miserables is my favourite book and musical.

8. I color code EVERYTHING. (Even my students have caught onto this!)

9. I spend very little time on social media, but will go on when I have used all my energy.

10. My favourite season is fall because I don't like cold weather, but I don't like hot weather either. Fall is a nice in-between. It also comes with maple leaf cookies and the world becomes much more colourful. I can also wear sweatshirts without everyone asking if I'm too hot. 

11. My favourite kinds of food are Cajun and Chinese.

12. I do not have a favourite genre of music, because there is a little bit in every genre that I like (typically...there are some exceptions.)

13. My favourite genre of books is fantasy.

14. I prefer hot coffee over iced coffee, but frozen coffee over hot coffee.

15. I write everything down, but then forget where I wrote it down, so it doesn't do me a lot of good.

16. In the past 4 months I have had 4 addresses. 

17. My favourite animals are tigers, llamas, and owls (Oh, my!) 

18. I do not like watching movies, except on certain occasions.

19. The first book I remember reading on my own was Junie B. Jones.

20. It takes me forever to trust someone, but once I do, it is 100%. 

Hard Topics and Young Minds

 

Some people think teaching first grade would be hard because you have to sugar-coat the big topics, but honestly this is not true. They do indeed ask hard questions, typically ones adults don't have the answers for, but that does not mean the answers have to be simplified in a way that makes it not true. 

Since I work at a Christian school, one of the main subjects taught is Bible. All of my students have a foundation in Christianity and are thinking long and hard about what their parents have said and what is being taught in the classroom. One of the hardest parts is when they ask what a deep theological term is without having any idea what they are asking. 

Albert Einstein said, "If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself." 

As a teacher of six year olds, I am learning I don't understand very much. There are questions I don't know how to simplify the truth of the answer for them. We are going over huge questions that are relevant to the world they live in, and it is my goal and job to help them understand these concepts. We are talking about racism, police officers, and government. My little six year olds understand more than people would think. They have been soaking in all of the information around them, and are struggling to find ways to ask questions and understand what is happening. Their classroom is now a place that is becoming safe to ask questions and discuss hard topics that "grown ups" won't discuss with them. 

Do I bring up these topics with them? No. My lesson plans are first grade. We talk about Rosa Parks not being allowed to sit where she wanted because she looked different, then her changing that. I don't plan on covering police brutality or people being killed because of their skin color. And yet, we have discussed these things in our class because that is what is happening in their world. One of my dear little ones said, "That must make God very sad." in the most sincere and saddened tone a six year old girl can use. My response, "Yes, sweet girl, it does." 

Adults don't often realize that these things are affecting the little minds and that they are still shaping their view of the world. We cannot protect them from everything, but someone has to realize that they are processing all of this too and has to be willing to let them talk it through and give them a good framework. We don't study "history" in first grade. It is called "social studies." First graders don't need "social studies", they need a framework for what they are observing in the world around them; their own studies of their societies. 

This is the goal. This is the aim. To help little minds grow into minds that can process the world and understand that everything has consequences and those consequences shape the world they live in.