My students believe (almost) everything I tell them. Why? Because I'm their teacher! They trust me! They trust that what I say is right and true. When we study God's Word together they simply believe. Why? Because they trust that whatever God says is right and just and true and holy. Their simple faith in their prayers is so uplifting and at the same time challenging to me. Why do I feel the need to make my conversation with my Heavenly Father complex? It shouldn't be! I am His child and He is my Father.
And then there is there sweet, simple joy in the little things in our day. Some examples:
--> I hand out two folders to each student each time they take a test or quiz. They are supposed to set them up so that they have some privacy and so that wandering eyes don't "accidentally" see their papers. Anyways, I have 17 students, and so I need 34 folders. Just because I'm rather OCD, I like all the folders to look the same. So I use the same red folders each day. The problem is that I only have 28 red folders. I do have 6 green folders though... just enough for one row of three students to get the green folders each time. I hand out folders randomly, but the students get so excited when their row gets the green folders. There is absolutely nothing special about these green privacy folders except that they are different!
It's the simple things.
--> At the beginning of the year I discovered that this group of kids loves to play the quiet game... you know, the game where no one can make a sound? They love to play boys against girls. It is really convenient. At the beginning of the year we played it for fun, but now it is a rather handy trick for when I need to leave the room for minute, or need a minute to get the next activity set up, or a teacher comes in to talk to me, or if they have just gotten too rowdy and need to settle down. I don't explain that we're going to play the quiet game or anything like that. I simply say, "Ready, set, go" really fast and they all basically freeze and hold their breaths. It's marvelous! It's wonderful! It's so simple! Simple. Simple for me as a fall-back. Simple for them because they know what it is and how it goes... and they love it!!!
It's the simple things.
--> In history and geography we are learning some songs to help us with our timeline in history and to help us with the geography of Africa. They're just short little songs with the catchy little tunes. But when I announce that we are going to sing our history or geography songs their reaction is priceless. They react as if I have just announced that we are going to the moon! They love singing these little songs!
It's the simple things.
--> Today our Bible lesson was over how the LORD gave Jericho to the Israelites. At the end of the lesson I thought maybe we could reenact the battle of Jericho. I divided the students up into priests blowing trumpets, priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant, soldiers before and soldiers behind, and then a couple students to act like the people in the city of Jericho. The plan was for the citizens of Jericho to hang out inside the boundaries of the playground. The rest of us would line up in the procession described in Joshua. We then marched around the playground. Once for day one. Stopped and rested. Once for day two. Stopped and rested. Once for day three. Stopped and rested. And so on through day six. My little students acting the part of the Jericho citizens acted afraid at the beginning and then each day progressively got bolder until they were taunting the Israelite procession.
For Day Seven we marched around the playground seven times, and I just have to brag on my students a little, not one of them complained about the amount of time we had just spent marching around the playground! No complaints at all! What troopers! It was not short distance! Not only that, they did it with almost no talking since the Bible says that the Israelites said not a word until the seventh day. The only noise was marching feet and trumpets blowing. Little feet were marching and paper trumpets were blowing the entire time. At the end of the seventh time on day seven my little Israelites gave a mighty shout (and what a terrific noise they made!) and went to conquer the playground, er, City of Jericho.
They loved it. I thought they would tire of it quickly and want to call it quits but nary a word of complaint did I hear! One of my moms wrote me tonight to tell me that her son was so excited and was explaining to her in detail all about how they conquered Jericho. I love that little things like this excite my little darlings. I love that these simple things still have the power to engage them and impress them.
It's the simple things.
It's nine o-clock in the evening now, which means that it is my bedtime. It's amazing how much our bodies like schedules, isn't it? I can pretty much tell what time in the evening it is based on how tired I am. 9:00pm on the nose and I start yawning like crazy and wilting like a flower out of water. I am going to enjoy one of the simple pleasures that God has given to us... sleep!
I absolutely love your stories and your words. I love you, pfy. ��Evie
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