Loving, Thoughtful Responses that Make My Heart Melt

     Today as I was grading, I found several papers that just made my heart melt. I thought I'd share them so that you can enjoy them and I can remember them. The first paper is a persuasive letter that is suppose to persuade the person to give you something specific for Christmas. I did an example as a letter to my class asking for chocolate for Christmas. Here is what one sweet boy asked for (after responding to my letter by bringing me some chocolate along with another Christmas present):

Dear Lord,
     For Christmas I would like you to make this the best Christmas ever, but not only for me but for everyone. I think everyone should know the real meaning of Christmas and have a happy Christmas this year. If this were to happen, people would maybe understand you and your love for us. Your love fills us up and you have the power to fill more lives up with your love. Lord your love lets me live, that's what I most desire for your beautiful Christmas creation.

Love,
Student's Name


     Isn't that awesome? The teacher asks for chocolate, and a student asks for everyone to know God's love. I was so amazed. Another thing I loved reading were their thanksgiving/praise journals. Back in November, I had students keep a journal as part of Bible class, saying one thing they were thankful for every day that we were in school. Some students had a hard time with this. Others couldn't stop writing! I just skimmed their responses, and here were some of my favorites:

-Thank you Lord for giving me self control when my friends hurt my feelings.
-I'm thankful that I got to paint my nails.
-Thank you for helping me come to school.
-Thank you for keeping my fish alive.
-Thank you Lord for giving me one true friend.
-Thank you for being with me when I was afraid.
-Thank you for healing me during the weekend.
-Thank you for makeing me move my clip up.

I love working at a Christian school!

Creation Projects

     Since I teach at a Christian school, I have the privilege of teaching Bible. We use the ACSI curriculum for Bible, which I quickly realized was outdated when I found the workbooks, which are the exact same ones that I used and hated in fifth grade. Needless to say, I haven't used the workbooks for much other than a general guide of what I should cover. Since I am teaching fourth and fifth grade, I chose to teach Bible altogether, teaching everyone the fifth grade curriculum. Difficulty wise, it's fine for both to do the same thing as the only difference is what is taught. My fourth graders will go through the fourth grade curriculum next year.


     The fifth grade curriculum walks through the Old Testament, which some people might think is really boring. I'm excited for it though and hope that my students will see how many times the Israelites messed up and God still gave them grace and forgiveness. My class is an unique mixture of kids from different backgrounds. At my school, it is not required for kids or their families to be Christians, so some of my students have never heard of the Bible until they began at our school. Several other students in my class are pastor's kids or missionary kids. Some know great details of the Bible, and others have never even heard the story of creation or Noah.

     During the first week of school, we began with creation. Knowing that this may be something many of them know, I made it a project where they would teach the class about their day in creation. I was amazed as the students took off with this project! They put more effort into their posters than I had imagined. I quickly learned that they love projects, and it engages them more than other learning activities. Knowing this, I have planned in more projects than I anticipated.

Enjoy seeing their final posters!