First post of the year!!!

Woooohooooooo!!! Sorry it took me so long I needed the extra time to come up with a catchy and sassy title. As you can see I was unsuccessful, oh well. We've been having some fun in First grade!!!!

Lauryn

This year our class "motto" is “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." John 13:34. We have been talking a lot about being "Bucket Fillers" after reading "How Full is Your Bucket" we have also been talking about Random Acts of Kindness. The other day I challenged my friends to commit and act of kindness at home and they LOVED IT!!! They couldn't wait to tell us about the kind things they had done for family and friends, and they thought it was hilarious that I sat in their seats while they shared. Let's take a look at some of the new faces in Miss Bailey's room.

Luciana

Ben

Simon

Tyler

 

I am so happy to have such great "bucket fillers" and I really want to keep this up through the year including some doing some big Random Acts as a class (handing out bottles of water to our school staff, "adopting" a soldier, planting trees, etc...) If you have any ideas for us please share them with me. Also if your family does any random acting on your own please be sure to take some pictures and have your student share this with the class.

This week we studied the Creation Bible truth and we wanted a fun way to help us remember the days of Creation, so we made Creation mobiles to hang up at home.

We did LOTS of Cutting...

On the first day God separated the LIGHT and DARK!

On the second day He made the SKY

 

On the third day He GATHERED THE WATERS and CREATED THE PLANTS!!!

 On the fourth day He created the SUN, the MOON, and the STARS.

On the fifth day He created the FISH in the sea and the BIRDS in the air.

On the sixth day He created the LAND ANIMALS and PEOPLE.

On the seventh day He RESTED so that we would have a day to rest and worship Him.

 Of course we had some free choice time and these first graders sure do know how to have fun!!!

We've also been singing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" with silly animals and vowel sounds. Today during Phonics I turned the kids into a human beat box machine using our blends. I'll try to get a decent video of it tomorrow, it's pretty adorable. 

Parents if you asked for your student to be included but don't see them in this post please let me know during these first few days it's very easy for papers to get sent to the wrong place I want to make sure to include everyone who wants to be!

I am looking forward to a great year with this group of smarties!! Please keep us in your prayers throughout the year that we will be shining examples of God's AMAZING LOVE.

Lead Me To The Cross

This week we are reviewing the Easter story, we discussed it last week but I really wanted to find a way to make these lessons tangible for the students.

One element that I have always marveled at in the Easter story is how only a few days can change so much. This morning we discussed Palm Sunday and Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem and how happy the people were, how they praised Him and welcomed Him. Then only a few days later He was arrested beaten and scorned by those same people as He carried the Cross (the instrument of His death) to Calvary. That's a pretty big change from shouting "Hosanna!" and laying down their cloaks before him.

To make this Bible Truth even more real and relate able for them we then partnered up with the other Kindergarten class to walk through the school sharing the story of Jesus' journeys in Jerusalem.

Leading the way!

Sharing with Pre-school!

Even though our cross wasn't heavy it was still a burden trying to maneuver it.

Back to the room for some Praise and Worship!!

We had so much fun we decided to keep carrying the cross every time we leave our room. After all we want to take Jesus everywhere we go!

 It warms my heart to see these kids loving the Lord.

During our Bible discussion Andrew got very excited about something he JUST HAD TO SHARE!!!! I'm so glad he did too because what he shared with his friends was the story of the two criminals crucified with Jesus and how one had teased and mocked Him but the other man asked Jesus for forgiveness. This is one of the stories that melts my heart more than anything that this man knew who Jesus was and was so unafraid and unashamed to reach out to Him and Jesus gave him comfort, assurance, and forgiveness even as He was suffering and dying on His cross.

Today we're on the Friday side of the Cross, that means sorrow and sadness knowing He suffered for me; but Sunday is coming bringing Resurrection, Rejoicing, and Eternal Life.


"Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come [again] unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I." John 14:28

Valentine's Day!! Also known as the day I almost cried three times.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!! I hope your day was blessed with love and kindness, I know mine was.
So let's begin at the beginning, actually let's go back a little further. Yesterday I gave my kids playdoh to keep at their desk for some extra "quiet play time" activities. These were some of the creations (sorry for the terrible quality pictures my camera was dead so I had to use my phone to capture the moment):
                                                Kira's messages to some of her friends.

Chas's moon rock!

Emily's penguin, this girl knows the way to her teacher's heart (penguins are the greatest!) you can't really tell here but she made eyes, a beak, and little feet. 

Andrew's Angry Birds. 

Now back to today's festivities. First thing through the door I was greeted by this little guy:

First round of almost tears, I think it was the combination of the Angry Birds tie he was wearing and the fact that I had been hugged roughly 37 times by his friends already that did it.  

After our Bible lesson we read this book:

Did you guess this was the second time I almost cried? Wrong, it was the second and third. I have a lot of feelings and this book hits them all. If you haven't read it the main character is a wooden puppet who lives in a village where people give each other gold stars for good things (having nice paint, doing tricks, singing well) and gray dots for bad things (falling, not being able to sing, having chipped paint). Punchinello has A TON of gray dots, he's just not good at ANYTHING, but then he meets Lucia, a girl who has no stickers or dots, and she tells him that Eli (the puppet maker) will help him get rid of them. 

This book is just amazing and we had a really great discussion about how God gives each of us special talents and He watches over us all the time. All of my students are so caring and selfless but unfortunately that doesn't mean that they don't sometimes feel like they aren't good enough when they see what others can do. That's why I love being a Christian educator, because I can share God's word with them to show them that He has a plan just for them.

Then when all the work was done it was PLAYDOH TIME!!!

Here are just a few of the creations:

Simon's Crabby Patty (in Mommy's favorite color)

A burger Chas made for me, unfortunately I was still full from my snack.

Jasa's ice cream cone.

A Valentine Message from Andrew. 

After lunch it was PARTY TIME and we had a blast thanks to some hard working parents!

I was too busy having fun to take pictures (I'll get the hang of this blogging thing soon I hope) but we played a game where we had to pick up and move marshmallow from one bowl to another with only a straw (shout out to the 5 kids who just stabbed theirs, creativity I love it), then we had to eat  Twizzlers without using our hands, and we finished off the fun with a Pinata.

Now I sit here reflecting on the day's events, the handmade cards and sweet little notes, cuddled up in maybe the softest blanket ever, eating way too much delicious candy, and I feel so blessed to have these children in my life. These smart, hilarious, and most of all caring boys and girls come to me looking for knowledge but at the end of the day they teach me as much as I teach them. They remind me why Jesus called us to make ourselves "like the little children" I listen to them talk to each other and ask questions and I know that it is the pure hearts full of love and the eagerness to learn that helps us walk closer to God.

Oops I need a title change.

Make that three times I almost cried and one time it rained on my face.

"So let my life be the proofThe proof of Your loveLet my love look like YouAnd what You're made ofHow you lived, how You diedLove is sacrificeSo let my life be the proofThe proof of Your love" 
~ "Proof of Your Love"
for KING & COUNTRY