Running Out of Letters in JK

The happy noises of learning and living in community are always around me, especially so at my desk in my office since both the JK and SK classrooms are immediately across the hall. While I am busy with my work I frequently hear the pulse of play, social trials and successes, joyful songs, and sometimes loud complaints and frustration. Once I overheard two students waiting to go outside for recess just outside my door. One commented to the other “So many letters. Why couldn’t they just make five of them?” immediately answered by “Then we would run out of things to learn too quick.”

In the middle of it all, the positive, encouraging voices of our teachers steering the group on their
safari of learning keeps things going where they need to go. I’m amazed at their ability to create the
order and atmosphere they do. I had the opportunity to become another voice in the room when I
read a book to JK two weeks ago. The book was on creation, telling the story of God’s handiwork
with beautiful artwork. We had fun reading through the story and trying to imagine all these things
happening for the first time. “I am one of God’s creations!” shared a jubilant child with me. That was
a highlight of the week for me – both in its truth and its spontaneous offering.

Watching and listening to our youngest learners at the start of the year is exciting to me. With fresh
eyes and in circumstances and surroundings very new to them, they are experiencing the gift and
challenge of living in a community of learning. They are learning to look with their eyes in a more
focused way at God’s world and recognize with their heart God’s claim and purpose for them. I really don’t mind the noise that process creates and it is a sound I won’t grow tired of soon.

SJ

Strong Roots, Clear Vision

A Christian school is wise to pay attention to both of these parts of the “tree” that the organization represents. Deep roots become a solid foundation for daily life where purpose and practice have been honed well, sometimes easily, sometimes at great price. A clear vision orients future growth toward continued health and strength as it faces new opportunities and challenges.

The Bright Futures Campaign represents what the LCES Board of Directors believes to be our best foot forward as we tend to the needs of our school. The pathway to this campaign started with a desire to ensure the health and fiscal viability of our school in terms of daily operations, enrollment of new families, and the excellent facilities and learning environment we currently benefit from daily. Working with a consulting company who specializes in fundraising in Christian school communities, a feasibility study was completed with a test group in our community early in 2015. Last Thursday night at the Back-to-School barbecue, Pete Hamstra, chair of this campaign, announced its launch and shared some specific details about this 1.65 million dollar fundraising campaign.

There are three main goals for this campaign:

Capital funds for learning tools, building maintenance and upgrades, and other immediate needs. While the LCES staff always are our greatest asset in offering excellent education, we believe we need to maintain our facilities well and ensure we have great tools for learning.

Bursary funds that will be added to a managed fund whose annual dividends can be used to provide greater financial assistance to area families desiring access to Christian education.

Debt Reduction in order to bring greater financial health and stability in the future.

Please join many others already committed to praying for the campaign, its leadership, and the specific goals that have been outlined. We are very excited about the prospect of what this combined effort will mean for our present and our future LCES families as we consider our very bright future!

For our school, SJ

Playing with puzzle pieces

“Why did God makes wasps anyway?” was the question of the day as a few students helped me bundle up apples falling and attracting them in large numbers at the edge of our property. The question seemed to be asked believing that there was no possible answer that could place these stinging pests as part of something good for us. As we carefully boxed up the fruit to make them go away we talked about God’s design in creation, pollination, controlling other insect populations, and other details. One of the students came back to me this morning and shared with me that she learned on the weekend that a wasp nest can catch five tons of insects in one year. I don’t know if she is correct, but I am excited she chose to look in to it and share her findings with me.

Those in education call this inquiry learning – following the questions and learning opportunities life presents. Children are keen to figure out their world and makes sense of it. In the normal rhythm of our daily activities we have so many opportunities to guide our students to understanding, rather than simply “dumping” information their way. In addition to gathering facts, figures and processes, students are busy building their way to an overall means to put all the puzzle pieces of knowledge together in a meaningful way. This includes answers to questions like: What is good? What is valuable? What is important? What is true? For what purpose did God make ____? Giving our children a means to “put it all together” is one of the best tools we can give them to navigate the wide ocean of information they have available to them.

I am thankful for the ability Christian education affords us to make our students master puzzlers. With the help of adults around them committed to the truth of  God’s promises, students are able to not only absorb content, but to connect and arrange what they learn in a way that shows biblical wisdom.

Perhaps I’ll have to change my yard duty instruction. “Watch out for the wasps. They may teach us something about God.”

SJ

Shoes That Light Up

“I’m so happy to see my friends again.”
“I missed math.”
“I have a special snack for today.”
“I get to sit at a desk – like all the time!”
“I have a male teacher.”
“I’m excited to learn more about God this year.”
“My shoes light up when I jump.” 

These were some of the answers I got this morning outside when I asked students what they were excited about during the first recess break. The range of answers tells us what we perhaps already know; the school year launch means many things to many students – none exactly the same. For many of our newer students, today is a first tentative step into a new world. For others, coming back to LCES feels like returning to the comfort of your favorite pair of shoes. Either way, it
the prayer of the LCES staff that the everyday experience of school – all 183 of them - will be a source of continual delight of learning and fellowship.

The fact we ran out of chairs this morning in the gym confirms for me that many of our parents were just as excited to start a new school year as the students were. We are thankful to have your children back with us in the hallways and classrooms which were abuzz with the newness brand new school year this morning. How exciting for us all to be back together to share missing teeth, summertime stories, and new beginnings.

We look forward to working with our new school theme for 2015-16, SRL or “Serve, Respect, Love” which comes from 1 Peter 2:16-17. Students were challenged this morning that how we conduct ourselves can be a sign of what God is building among us - a strong community of faith whose conduct helps others know how to live life God’s way.

Remember to pray for our board of directors, teachers, and staff throughout this year as we work in faith with your children. To God be the glory.

SJ

P.S. Be sure that you reserve time next Thursday evening, September 17, for our Back-to-School BBQ. There will be something new and different this year – stay tuned for more details!