Serve the Lord with all your heart!

One of the biggest joys of working at ECA is the focus on serving others starting from a young age. Once again, my PK class was able to go to the nursing home and serve the grandparents. This is one of my favorite events of the year because my students get to practice what they are learning.

We start the day by chopping lots and lots of fruit for a giant fruit salad.

Then we changed into traditional dress for the dance presentation. This year we decided to have students do the dance presentation from celebrate Colombia presentation, and students were excited to perform again.

We piled into vans and headed off to the neighboring town for our time of service.

We started off dancing, then sang a few songs in both English and Spanish.

Then students walked around, greeted the grandparents, colored pictures with them, and some did puzzles. We also handed out the snack of the fruit salad.

Every visit, God speaks to my heart through the loving service of my students.

While chopping fruit my students were saying "oh, make it small in case the grandparents don't have teeth" Or "Wow, mango, that's my favorite, I hope the grandparents like it too!"

On the ride there my students were excited and eager to arrive.

And the most amazing, the moment we walked into the nursing home my students were so loving! They greeted the grandparents without fear. While dancing and singing they were focused and joyful to share God's love through performance. And when it was time to serve the snack and talk with the grandparents, most were excited and eager to reach out.

I can't think of a more beautiful picture than seeing my students willing, able and joyfully serving others.

PK Service 2014

Christmas is such wonderful time of year. Homes are decorated, special treats are being made, and in spite of the craziness of extra activities, most people are in pretty good moods!

This week I had the JOY of taking my little pre-kinders to serve at the nursing home. Students at our school go twice a year in Pre-kinder, kinder and first grade, so I have the wonderful privilege of introducing my students to this ministry.

This year my students blew me away with their loving hearts! Usually the first experience is a little overwhelming and most of my students are timid around the "grandparents". This year, however, my little angels loved the grandparents with all their hearts!

For example, one student took seriously the task of finding a grandparent to color with. The person she chose was clearly in the depths of dementia and was singing to herself most of the time. In fact a nurse gave her a lollipop to keep her quiet and not to scare the kids. My little student didnt mind at all! She walked right up to her, gave her a hug and got to work coloring a special picture for her.

Part of our time together is singing some songs. We are learning "Do you hear what I hear" for the Christmas program, so I decided to have my students sing it for the grandparents. While they were singing, one of the grandmas got up and started to dance with one of my little students. I was watching carefully to make sure not to scare my students, but the little boy she grabbed joined in. I could tell he was uncomfortable, but was willing to dance with the lady. She made her way down the line and ended up dancing with four of my students before the nurse re-directed her. I was to blessed to see my students show God's love in an uncomfortable situation and I am sure it made that lady's day a little bit brighter!

Towards the end of our time, we pass out fruit salad that the students cut themselves. The teachers dish up the cups and children deliver. My little servants were so careful to make sure every grandparent got a snack and even brought seconds for those who wanted more. I was almost in tears seeing their loving smiles, grateful hearts and responsible attitudes to love and care for the grandparents.

Before we left, another grandmother grabbed me to dance and we formed a bridge for the students to dance under and around us. We left big smiles of the faces of the grandparents and my students got to see what a joy it can be to serve others. I cannot wait for our second trip this spring to bring more joy and love to the wonderful grandparents!

Greeting all the grandparents when we arrive

Singing for the Grandparents some Christmas carols

Coloring special Christmas pictures for the grandparents to hang in their rooms

Serving fruit salad to the grandparents

Friendship week

Back a few weeks, we focused on friendship in Pre-kinder as we learned about Jesus friends the disciples. We learned that friends shared, friends show love and friends serve each other. Here are some of the fun activities we did to celebrate!

Each student had an envelope that others could put cards and little gifts in. They spend a lot of free time making special cards for each other.

We learned that friends work together and make special friendship chains to put up in the classroom to remind us to work together.

 

Part of being a good friend is using nice words. Each student got a crown, but before they decorated their classmates shared things they liked about a student and wrote it on the crown. The kids were so happy to think of nice things to say and to get their special friendship crowns.

We learned that Jesus served his friends by washing their feet. We decided to practice by first toe painting (like finger painting) then washing each other’s feet.

Service trip 2013

One of the joys of a theme of service is not just using our words, but leading our students in action. As a pre-kinder class we visit a nursing home 2 times a year to share a time of singing, coloring and sharing a snack.

I was so excited to see my students embrace this time whole-heartedly. One student’s mother told me she woke up at 4am so excited to visit the grandparents. Another student who has difficulty focusing worked hard to color a picture for his “abuelito”. Plus all the students spent 45 minutes cutting fruit for fruit salad without being crazy or wanting to stop. Their prayers for the grandparents (in English!) were genuine and sweet- asking God to care for them and for them to show God’s love! What a blessing to share this special day with my students.

Cutting fruit for the fruit salad (they all wore masks to catch the sneezes)

Greeting the ‘grandparents’

Singing songs to the ‘grandparents’

Coloring pictures with the grandparents

Professional development workshops

This weekend I had the honor of traveling to the neighboring city of Villavicencio to teach professional development workshops to around 15 preschool teachers from Christian schools. “Preschool” is considered pre-jardin (4 years old or preschool), jardin (5 years old or kindergarten) and transicion (6 years old or first grade.)

I traveled with my teacher aide and the kinder teacher. We had a great time sharing ideas, discussing the importance of discipline and routines as well as making materials to take back to the classroom.

Our first session was on using common materials as learning tools. We gave the participants eggs cartons, paperclips and brads to make spinners and straws. Here are some of their creative ideas!

A boat with numbers to put counters into.

Matching shapes

Straws to make numbers for simple equations.

A crocodile with a mouth for more than and less than… or inside and outside.

Making pictures with different sized straws.

Part of this adventure was teaching a workshop for around 120 parents where we focused on working with the heart of the student, not just their behavior. We used the book “Shepherding a Child’s Heart” as the basis of our talk. During the parent workshop we shared strategies for understanding small children and helping them make good choices. We emphasized the consistency and discipline is very important.

Parent workshop- I’m speaking and my aide is translating (She’s a rock star!)

Saturday morning we went to look around at a Christian school in the area. It was fun to see the classrooms and environments the teachers in our workshops work in.

The Kinder room at one school.

 

The first grade room.

We ate some delicious food! Talk about a plate of meat!

Here’s the school that hosted our classes.

The second session we spent time discussion classroom routines and gave tips to help their days go smoother. We also taught a few songs in English. The last activity was making big books to use in the classroom.  They made books about creation, animals, the alphabet, time, friendship and several other creative ideas.

The kinder teacher and I kicking back.

My teacher aide and I loving some sandwich!

Over all this was a great experience. I was able to grow in my Spanish, as well as gained many ideas from other teachers for activities in the classroom. I was reminded how blessed I am to work in a Christian school where our values are the same. I hope the teachers involved were blessed through this time of learning and sharing!