The Big Things of Learning at Our Christian School

I’m delighted to have students come to my office who want me to come back with them to their classrooms to share what they’ve been doing. I’ve been invited to sample green eggs and ham, see bridge models, watch butterflies emerging, taste homemade bread, or been asked to be an object to measure with a metre stick. Exciting moment of learning happen every day!

How do we shape learning at LCES? Consider the following four pillars:

Connectedness We aim for our students to see God’s creation as an intricate, complex, and amazing example of how purposeful God is. God’s world is something to be studied as a whole, as well as in parts. 

Discernment We want our students to develop tools and have opportunities to practice, under the watchful idea of a passionate educator, figuring out what is God’s truth and what is means for them. God’s world is designed around God’s truth.

Service We strive to have our students live out the truth of biblically knowing as the study the Lord’s handiwork directs them to love their neighbor in every way, in everything they do and say. Community is God’s good gift to us.

Wonder God’s world is a thing of beauty and we wish for our students to meet God in new ways as they learn. God’s world speaks of his greatness.

Big things guide our learning!

SJ

Cold Armour At Our Christian School

As I greeted our students this frosty winter morning, I couldn’t help but smile at their layers. The smaller they are, the more bundled up as their parents attempt to keep winter’s chill out. Some are so bundled up that we don’t know who we have at school until they start to peel off their “cold armour.” Coats, snow pants, gloves, mitts, scarves, balaclava, boots, and more protect their skin and keep them warm against the frosty chill. 

Some of our students, perhaps out of a desire to get outside quicker or frustration at the effort it takes to put it all on, decide not to wear key pieces of this “cold armour.” After some minutes outside they realize they made a mistake in their haste and it has consequences.

Perhaps this is a helpful metaphor for growing in faith and wisdom through the elementary school years. Armed with truth, faith, peace, righteousness, salvation, and the Spirit, our students are being prepared to take on the challenges of learning and living by faith. Much like the tedious process of putting on winter gear, it takes time and discipline to be prepared. It is also true, however, that time and discipline invested equip them to be ready for whatever the Lord calls our students to do today, and in their future.  

In between zipping up stubborn zippers and locating stray mittens, LCES staff are at work as a faithful presence for our students. They shine the light on truth, nourish faith, value peace, demonstrate righteousness, and listen for the Spirit’s prompting. We pray that our children’s amour of God will be an intricate part of their way to love and serve the Lord forever, whatever the temperature. 

SJ