Big Buddies

    Big Buddies from the Middle School came to spend some time with their Little Buddies in the class. The older students helped with literacy stations, giving encouragement and setting a good example for the younger students. The kindergartners enjoyed the extra attention, and the Middle School girls were happy to serve as role models.

This group of fifth grade girls was especially excited because this is their first opportunity to be Big Buddies. When they were in the Elementary Division, they were the Little Buddies. Discipleship is God's design for the body of Christ; God intends for Christians to develop relationships with younger (or newer) believers, who will in turn grow in their faith and disciple other believers.

In Second Timothy 2:2, Paul instructs Timothy: "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witness entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others."

Working Together

"So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work." Nehemiah 4:6

What are we learning this week? We're learning to work together....

learning that each one of us makes an important contribution to class projects...

learning to participate appropriately for lessons, stories, games, and songs....

learning to participate in reading group....

learning to take turns and to listen....

learning to share ideas...

learning to work independently and to wait for a turn....

 learning to use soft, indoor voices...

 learning to stay on task while the teacher works with other children....

 learning to get along other children...

 learning to help each other out!

In kindergarten, one of the most important things a child will learn is how to learn in a group setting. Learning in a group setting is different from one-on-one instruction. In a classroom setting, children have to learn to receive instruction that is directed to the whole group and to engage appropriately in group activities----not sitting mindlessly as if they were watching TV and not disrupting the group.
Things like taking turns, sharing  materials, and staying in your own space (feet and hands to yourself!) can be difficult for some kindergarten children. But there are great benefits to learning in a group. Children can help one another and learn from each other.  They learn to navigate social situations and adjust to different personalities.
Each child has a unique contribution to offer to the group. And when all the students work together fulfill their responsibility, the result can be stunning.

Worms--Unpleasant but Important

The kindergartners have been studying living and non-living things, and last week in Science lab we compared living things (earthworms) to non-living things (gummy worms.)

Earthworms are slimy, squishy, squiggly. Some of the children found them unpleasant and refused to touch them. I don't enjoy touching them either, but I know they're vital to the environment. They fertilize and aerate the soil so that plants can take root and thrive.
 
Some things in life are terribly unpleasant but nonetheless essential. Disciplining children is one of those things. I don't enjoy meting out consequences for misbehavior, but I know discipline is very important to a child's well being.

The Bible says, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives.
 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.  Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short tie as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.  For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:7-11


"Discipline" in Hebrews comes from the Greek word "paideia," and it refers to "the whole training and education of children (which relates to the cultivation of mind and morals, and employs for this purpose...commands and admonitions,...reproof and punishment." 

Disciplining children is hard work! It involves so much more than punishment of misbehavior. It involves teaching children right from wrong, teaching them how to behave, teaching them what God expects of them. It's often unpleasant, but if we stick with it, we'll see start to see results in the lives of the children.

What We've Been Doing

Building Animal Habitats in the STEAM lab...

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Cheering for our Football players...

Playing on the playground....

Reading and writing....

Using geometry in our art projects....

Worshiping with elementary friends in Chapel...

Academics, athletics, arts, abundant life....we've been doing it all!

At Parkview we are training children in academics, athletics, and the arts, but, most important of all, we are teaching them to fear God and to obey Him.  We are channeling their conduct in the way of wisdom, directing them on the path that God wants them to take.

When children learn at an early age to make good choices, they reap a lifetime of benefits.

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."  Proverbs 22:6