The Fabulous Friday Five

Five moments to cherish

1. Lina coming into school first thing Monday morning, saying, “Pa t gen lekòl yè.  Mwen te sonje ou Madame Erin!” (There wasn’t school yesterday.  I missed you Madame Erin!)

 

2. Holding Amos on my lap as he sobbed because he had broken a rule.  Telling him about forgiveness and unconditional love.  “Amos, I love you no matter what.  Even if you break a rule or disobey, I still love you.  Did you know God is like that too?  Nothing can separate us from God's love and forgiveness.  God loves you and forgives you and so do I.”

3. Emmie’s long embrace so tender and sweet that I could feel the beat of her heart in my own chest.

 

4. Exhausted after the last day of school.  Lying on the classroom carpet.  Letting Louis braid (more like tangle) my hair and play with my necklace and laugh hysterically as he pretended to eat me.  All the while thinking, this is my life.  It’s ridiculous.  I kind of love it.

5. This moment at recess, when a preschooler was crying and his kindergarten friend picked him up to comfort him.

 

Five things to get excited about

1. Seeing these two for Christmas

 

2. Collecting baby clothes for the soon-to-be new addition to my goddaughter’s family.  I can’t wait to bless this incredible family and, of course, to hold New Baby as soon as he or she is born!!

 

3. Two weeks of NO SKIRTS!!

Confession: I may have actually counted down to this moment.

4. ‘nough said.

 

5. Being back in Haiti in time for the HUGE Kids Alive Christmas party that is always a blast!

Five glimpses into my world

1. This sweet and sassy girl brings light and laughter to my life.

2. Recess hair-braiding party.

3.  How we really survived testing week.

4. Those days when no one picks up my student after school, so she gets to come home with me.  Lucky Anna got to meet Maggie, eat pizza, and play school with my stuffed animals.

5. No caption necessary.

Words of Thanks

Even though we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Haiti, these kiddos have SO MUCH they are thankful for.  Here are just a few of those things.

"Thank you, God, for..."

And the one I am constantly thanking God for...

Happy Thanksgiving!May God make you rich in the things that matter...joy and laughter and love.

What They Teach Me In Kindergarten

As a kindergarten teacher, I do a lot of…well…teaching.  Numbers and letters, shapes and colors, Bible stories and history lessons.  I teach students how to sit still, how to use kind words, and how to be good friends.  All day long, I teach.  But I also learn.

Even at four and five years old, my students have valuable lessons to teach me.

Lina teaches me to always have a tender heart.

Lina is truly one in a million.  Her gentle kindness makes our classroom a better place.  Her sweet smile lights up the room.  Her grace and patience for others inspires me to be the patient and gracious teacher she deserves.  Lina cares for others and beautifully reflects the heart of Christ, silently teaching me to do the same.

Amos teaches me to always lend a helping hand.

Even when it isn’t convenient.  Even when it isn’t easy.  Even when there are other things he could be doing, Amos is always ready and willing to help.  Amos loves to carry my bags, clean up toys, and run any errand I need.  He reminds me that we are called to serve others with happy hearts.

Duke teaches me to laugh.  To laugh at the world, to laugh with others, and to laugh at myself.

Duke is always ready to laugh.  When Anna’s shoe comes flying off in the middle of a math lesson and everyone is still glancing around to figure out what happened, Duke is already in fits of laughter.  When I read Goldilocks and the Three Bears aloud and use a silly little voice for Baby Bear, Duke catches my eye, then burst out laughing.  Sometimes, he literally rolls on the floor laughing.

The best part about Duke’s laughter?  It’s contagious.  When Duke starts laughing, it’s never long before everyone else is laughing too.  Including me.

Nikka teaches me to be true to myself.

Every time Nikka has a chance to choose a book, she ALWAYS chooses The Little Engine That Could.  Taking it from the bookshelf, she holds it up, looks at me with big, round eyes, and says, “sivouple li l pou mwen.”  Please read it to me.

 “We just read it together this morning,” I say…but I can’t resist.  Putting down what I’m doing, I sit on the carpet beside her and begin.  “Ti tren ki te kapab la,” I say, opening the book to page one.  I never get tired of reading that book to her because I LOVE that she loves it.  And I love that she would rather read it five times in one day than read five books she doesn’t love.  And I love that she’s always true to herself, even when I say, “again?”

I could go on forever.  The lessons my students teach me about love, loyalty, trust, and hope are innumerable.  Every day, they teach me something new.

As I learn from them and teach them, I pray that I am teaching them more than just numbers and letters, shapes and colors, Bible stories and history lessons.  I pray that I am teaching them to be strong, to have faith, and to live with joy.  Wouldn’t we all do well to learn more about these things?

Two Days in Kindergarten

The first few days of kindergarten are always a crazy wonderful combination of the honeymoon-we-all-love-each-other stage mixed with the deer-in-the-headlights-because-everything-is-new-and-terrifying stage.  Not to mention the four-year-olds-still-don't-know-how-to-do-school-yet-so-we-spend-all-our-time-learning-to-raise-our-hands stage.  Then there's the fact that I have to stop my lesson every five seconds because sweet Nicka has these long legs that she doesn't have control over yet and can't quite figure out how to bend them in order to sit crisscross applesauce.

Here are a few highlights from the last two days.

Centers.


Independent play


Recess


Crafts




Working hard - learning numbers, letters, colors, and shapes


Flag raising ceremony (mine are on the far left)


Lunch


And an after school visit from my former students.


 (miss this girl!!)

 (checking out the new tattoo)

Well, there you have it.  A quick glimpse into my crazy, wonderful world!

CLASSROOM REVEAL

I’ve been back in Haiti for two weeks now and I am pleased to say that life has settled back to normal…well, as normal as life gets around here.

As I’m settling back in, the number one task on my to-do list is…that’s right…back to school prep!  Preparing for the new school year is a daunting enough task as it is, but this year, on top of the normal cleaning, organizing, and planning, I also had the GIGANTIC task of moving classrooms.

It was with the weight of this task on my shoulders that I walked into my old classroom Monday morning and was greeted with 6 weeks worth of dust, bugs, and rat droppings.

…great…

But I was also greeted with something else.  Ten smiling faces and twenty hands willing to help.

My new classroom used to be the computer lab, so while my high school helpers moved out the computers and furniture, my younger helpers got started on moving book baskets and wiping down anything and everything they could get their hands on.

Here was my new classroom first thing Monday morning.

Those high school boys made quick work of it and before I knew it, Jhaskiline was sweeping the floor and Melissa was washing away the cobwebs from the walls.  Pretty soon, it looked like this.

 But that was the easy part.  We still had all of this in my old classroom to deal with.

My helpers were more than happy to take care of that.  Here they are wiping down literally everything.  (I had to stop Kayla from turning every page of The Beginner's Bible to wipe them all down.)

After all that hard work, they deserved a play-break.

3 days, 10 helpers, 2 large buckets of water, 4 dirty rags, 2 spilled bags of stickers, and a million pieces of scattered glitter later... here is the final product...

Colors wall, school supplies bookshelf, craft shelves, toy tubs, and classroom library.

Student table, number signs, letter signs, and WELCOME sign.

Carpet (to be) area, focus board, morning meeting board.

Teacher chair, morning meeting board, Whole Brain Learning rules.

Behavior management.

Daily schedule.

The whole enchilada.