Growing and Changing

The tiny egg hatches. A caterpillar emerges and begins to engage in its singular purpose---its only objective---to eat and grow. The young insect moves and munches.  It eats so much that it outgrows its skin, and in the span of a few days it sheds its skin four or five times. At last it crawls up, up,up, until it finds a high place to attach itself.  Then hanging upside down, its body stiffens in a shape of a J as it builds a protective covering around itself.  It's in its adolescence now, sometimes still, sometimes viciously quivering, changing, transforming.

We're waiting for that wonderful moment when, with a struggle and a flutter, our insects will wriggle free and spread their wings,

Our kids are learning about life cycles. They're learning that living things grow and change. As interesting as it is to watch the butterfly's metamorphosis, it's even more amazing to see little glimmers of growth and sparks of change in the children.  This week I listened as one child explained place value to another. I was impressed when someone suggested that we could exchange two dimes and a nickel for a quarter. I hear the excitement in the children's voices when they find the punctuation mark at the end of the sentence. (Yes, it doesn't take much to create excitement in a kindergarten class.) 

It's sweet to watch the students grow and change. Sometimes they come back to visit as Middle School Big Buddies and High School Big Friends who patiently help the kindergarten children with their projects.

Our mission is to help students grow, as Jesus did, in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.It's a joy to observe this process and to see my former kindergartners and first graders become role models for the younger children as they display godly character, discipline, and scholarship. (One of my former kindergarten students is now a PBS high school teacher!)

The ultimate transformation comes when they encounter Jesus and allow Him to produce in their lives the fruit of His Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." II Corinthians 5:17

Here are a few more pictures of our little friends growing in knowledge as they learn about 2D and 3D shapes.