Pumpkin Patch

The Bus Ride

Anticipation

Mrs. Heather explains how pumpkins grow.

Listening and Learning

Which pumpkin should I choose?

The round one?

The tall one?

The big one?

The small one?

Face Painting

Friends

Fun Photo ops

A farmer's life

Feeling right at home with the Disney characters

Donald

Minnie and Mickey 

Tow Mater

Climbing to new heights

Goal accomplished!

Fairy tales

Corny fun

Slip sliding away

Into the wild blue yonder

Tents and teepees

Thanksgiving's coming soon

Picnic lunch

More time with friends

We love the Pumpkin Patch!

Children.  They’re energetic….

                                                               Excited…….

                                                                                            Exhausting.

They’re inquisitive……

                                              Insistent….

                                                                         Impatient.

They want to see everything, touch everything, do everything at once.

And yet, Jesus said if we want to enter the kingdom of heaven, we must become like little children.

Matthew 18:1-5 “And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

You see, little children BELIEVE.  They TRUST.  They haven’t become so preoccupied with the busy-ness of life that they fail to find wonder in the minute but magnificent everyday miracles—such as a tiny seed growing into a fat pumpkin. They haven’t become so jaded by the disappointments of life that they miss the daily evidence of God’s goodness---the sun is out and there is a world filled with treasures to find. They’re still humble.  They realize that they don’t know everything there is to know, so they’re still teachable.

Since the class has been learning all about seeds and how they grow, I am reminded of the parable that Jesus told about the sower and the seed, as recorded in Matthew chapter 13.

“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means; When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.  The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.  But since they have no root, they last only a short time.  When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.  The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it.  This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Matthew 13:18-23

The children are hearing God’s word every day and seeing evidence of Him in creation.  For the most part, they haven’t experienced troubles that would keep that word from taking root. Worries of life or deceitfulness of wealth haven’t choked out God's word.  We want to nurture those seeds that have been sown in their hearts.  And we want to learn from the children.  We want to come to God with childlike faith and teachable hearts so that we might understand God’s word and live rich and fruitful lives. 

Homecoming Week

Here are our kids this week.....dressed in their wackiest...

dressed in pajamas...

off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.....

over the rainbow..

at the pep rally.....

at the parade.

Yes, every day was a dress-up day for Homecoming Week.  And next week?  Maybe we could clothe ourselves with "compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience." (Colossians 3:12) Now those would be some good-looking clothes.

A New Creation

And now presenting....the moment we've all been waiting for.....butterflies!

It happened at the end of a long and busy Friday. For days we had been watching our chrysalises wiggle, waiting, wondering...would it be today? We didn't know the details of the transformation process that was going on inside those chrysalises, but we knew it was something wonderful.  And suddenly, in the middle of a lesson, someone spotted it. A butterfly had emerged. Then another.

"I will meditate on the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on Your wondrous works."  Psalm
145:5

Maybe the reason the butterfly's transformation seems so miraculous is because the whole process takes place in a matter of weeks.  We can almost see colorful butterfly wings developing inside that little brown enclosure.  Other changes are taking place daily in our classroom, although these are more subtle.  The children are changing and growing.

Last night I was expressing concern about the difficulty I was having in getting some of the kids to focus.

"You say that every September," my husband reminded me.  "Then in April you say, 'They're all reading.'"

So I continue to provide the students with instruction, discipline, and experiences to help them mature.


As the students learned about Life Cycles this week,  there were sights to behold and sounds to hear, tastes and smells to experience, things to touch and hold.

Mrs. Bonaventure brought her dog, Lilly, to Science lab.

The children felt Lilly's soft fur and posed for pictures.

They learned do's and don'ts for approaching animals.

They learned about the stages of a dog's life: puppy, adolescent, adult.

We're studying plant life cycles, too, and had an apple tasting investigation.

The majority of the class liked yellow apples best. ( We two abstaining: one child liked red, green, and yellow equally. Another child didn't like any of the apples.)

We gather information in a variety of ways, including listening station and IPads. 

Kindergarten children like things they can touch, so lessons include manipulatives.

Little by little, God is working in all of us, transforming us into something wonderful, for His glory.

 "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10