Merry Christmas!

Hello! Hello!

Kristi and I are both officially on our Christmas break. We are actually getting together for lunch tomorrow, along with another one of our favorite teacher friends. It is sure to be a good time. We haven't seen each other in what seems like forever!

Before we unplug for the break (which means a little bloggy break as well so we can focus on spending time with our families and friends), we wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas!

Pinned from here.

A friend recommended a podcast to me and I just listened to a WONDERFUL episode about the true meaning of Christmas. You can check it out here. If something goes wrong, you can find the podcast by searching for Huikala Baptist Church, Pastor Anthony King. The message is entitled "Hope in The Name of Jesus - Savior, Christ, and Lord."

We can all use a little HOPE in our lives, can't we? :-)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Program and Cocoa on the Curb!

We had our Christmas Program and the kids did a great job!  Our music teacher is outstanding and always puts on the greatest programs!  

On Friday, we had family groups.  We meet with family groups about once a month.  Each teacher has a student from all grades K-6 in their group and we do activities together.  This time, our music teacher led us in Christmas Carols.  I recorded the kids singing during one of the songs.  It is amazing how well they can sing together as a whole school when they haven't practiced all together.  

It was a fun time!

We also did hot cocoa on the curb.  Our principal came up with the idea of having all the teachers help serve hot cocoa to the parents as they dropped their kids off at school.  This was a Merry Christmas to them from us all.  It was a great way to start the morning out by serving and giving to others during the Holiday season.  What a fun week!

Hope you have a great week!  We have 2 more days until we start our Christmas Break?  How much longer for you?

Wisdom for Wednesday-God Whispers

What an amazing thought.  God whispers because he is close to us.  He is always by us all the time, in the good times, in the valley and in the storms.  There is no need for him to shout because he is right by us where we can hear him speak in his little whisper.  The only thing I need to do is remember this and listen to what he has to say!  What a comforting thought!

Thanks for joining for another week of:

Body Venture

Our school just had Body Venture come this year and it was really neat!  The kids were so excited about it and couldn't stop talking about what they had learned during the time they were there.  Body Venture gave each student a book about what they had learned and all of the kids opened it up right away and were looking at it.  I could hardly get them to put it down.  LOL!  

If your school ever gets the opportunity to have Body Venture, I would definitely recommend it!

Have a great week!

Wisdom for Wednesday - Be Strong and Courageous

Happy Wednesday! The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas always seems to fly by--even as the Title I teacher. I love seeing the Christmas things popping up around my building! 

I find I'm feeling some of the same feelings I had as a classroom teacher. I'm starting to worry that some of my kiddos are not progressing as much as I'd hoped. Others are making great strides, but there is always that sense of...fear. 

Am I doing enough? 

What more could I try?

That sense of fear is something that can creep up into all sorts of life's situations (as I'll share shortly), and it inspired this week's Wisdom post.

These last few weeks, the Lord has been prompting me to begin writing another Bible study. I have to admit to you that I have been putting it off. There is just something completely overwhelming about staring at that empty page in my word processing document.

As I sat down the other day and actually started typing what ended up being a letter to my "readers," the Lord began to show me what was at the root of my hesitation.

Fear.

Doubts.

Even as I typed them--in essence admitting my fear and doubts about my ability to write a Bible study*--He began to reassure me.

*You may be thinking, "But you already wrote one!" Can I just tell you that it still scares me to death?

First with His Word. He reminded me of Joshua. He too was afraid of failing, but the Lord continued to reassure him over and over again. Multiple times, God commanded Joshua to be strong and courageous. 

Then with His people. In one week, I received so many reassuring messages from people who had no idea the struggle I was having! Random people! People I didn't even know were doing my first study just happened to message me and let me know how the Lord was using it in their lives. I have no doubt that it was God at work, prompting them to contact me to give me the encouragement I needed. Prompting me to be strong and courageous!

And now, I want to prompt you. Whatever the Lord has called you to do (teaching kiddos to read? :-)), be strong and courageous! :-)

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Joshua 1:9

Oh, and about that first study, I'm having a Christmas special when you order directly from me. Check it out here (and enter the giveaway)!

Nonstandard Measurement and Santa Letters

Last week, we worked on nonstandard measurement and the kids were really excited because when they were done measuring, they got to eat what they measured with. 

1.  We started out by using marshmallows to do some measurement.

2.  We moved on to measuring with cubes and goldfish crackers.

For our extra fun thing last week, the kids wrote Santa letters.  They were so excited about writing their letters and many of them asked that we made sure that Santa got their letters.  :-)

Have a great weekend!