Baby Chicks and Birthdays

And now unveiling....

 Princess Leia, Luke, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, and Rey....

 baby chicks that were incubated in our elementary hall,

 and began hatching around May the Fourth.

 Notice the look of amazement on the faces of our kindergartners---

 ---our little city kids who are getting a chance to see new life begin.

 They'd been waiting and watching for the day when the eggs started cracking.

 A week and a half ago they observed the first little cracks and heard the little cheeps of the emerging chickens.

 The kids have been checking on the little chicks when they walk through the elementary building on their way to art, music, and library. Our class has been super excited to witness this miracle of new life.

 The little chickens are not the only things getting bigger as each day goes by.

 We've celebrated quite a few birthdays this week, and now almost all of our students are six!

 We sang "Happy Birthday" ...

 we ate cupcakes...

 with lots of gooey icing...

 and even had a couple of grandparents come to join us.

My prayer is that each and every one of these precious children would be born again into God's kingdom, and that they would continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We Love Books Day and Happy Mother's Day

We read about Eloise...

Paw Patrol.....

Star Wars and Cars.....

Princesses, castles, and rockets to Mars....

Tales of a whale and a dog and a bunny...

Comic books, Disney books, books that are funny.

Now that we're reading, we're having a ball.

And we think that the Bible's the best book of all.

To all you moms who help us learn to read, we love you! (Dads, we love you, too!)

May the Fourth Be With You

"The seeds of great discoveries are constantly floating around us, but they only take root in minds well prepared to receive them." Joseph Henry, first head of the Smithsonian Institute

When I read this quote, I thought about my kindergartners. What great discoveries might they make when they grow up?

On May the 4th, we had fun with Star Wars day. It was a chance to capitalize on the children's interest in Star Wars, but I hope it went beyond that and peaked their interest in science and technology.

I hope it planted in their little minds a desire to learn more about God's creation: the solar system, the stars, the universe. I hope they've tucked away in their hearts the notion that one day they might invent something, build something, discover something.

We had a visit from our Mr. Liner and two members of our PBS Robotics Team.  They brought a robot that our high school kids designed, built, and brought to an international competition. The kindergartners were fascinated by the robot and by the motorized scooter that the team built.

Our children asked some good questions.

"What is it made of?" (Mostly aluminum)

"How much does it cost to build?" (about $2000)

"How high can it lift the box?" (about 7 feet)

"What is the cord for?" "What does the gray piece do?" "Why do you have that clear piece there?"

"Why did you put rainbow lights on it?" (Because we liked them. Because we could.)

Some of the children still don't distinguish between a question and a statement. They wanted to tell about their remote control car or their BB8 toy. But those statements revealed that they were making connections to experiences they had.

The kids were excited to go back to class and make their own models of paper cup robots. I didn't give them much direction---just Styrofoam cups, craft sticks, and wiggly eyes. They were proud of their creations.

Some of the students were more intrigued with the Star Wars story than with the Science. Even at a young age, they are captivated by the perennial battle of good versus evil.

 I hope they will come to understand that, although the Force in Star Wars is fictional, we as Christians have a "force" within us that gives us the power to overcome evil.

"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the world." Acts 1:8

"Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." Romans 5:5

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21

May the Real Force, the power of the Holy Spirit, be with you!