Post by Lori Halbison, Primary Teacher
We’ve had some interesting conversations going on in our class lately. We’ve written papers about MLK, talked about what a New Year means and posing one of my favorite questions to ask mid school year ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ Do you remember being asked that question? I can recall the first time but it always makes me wonder how many others dream have come true.
The students who attended the MLK banquet were delighted with the experience and attention they received for their essays. One student's writing spoke about her grandmother who traveled and was part of Operation Smile. The other student’s paper was about her mother who had the idea that their family go to help at a facility for those less fortunate in the community.
When the girls came back to school to share about their banquet experience with the class these were some of their delightful comments: “We got to eat lots of food, we got our essays put on easels so everyone could read them (pointing out the ribbon attached that would never come off) and they are making two more just like these to display around the valley, I had to stand up in front of everyone and read my essay but it was fun, and we got to hug a 91 year old man!” (my favorite comment). After the banquet had ended the 91 year old man, Dr. J. Eugene Grigsby, Jr., an honored guest speaker was delighted to take photos with the girls and enjoyed visiting with them briefly. His list of experiences, achievements, and contributions are to be admired. This was a wonderful growing experience for the two second grade girls.
My first and second graders were posed the question of their dream, what they wanted to be if they could grow up to become anything in the whole wide world and the answers always intrigue me knowing their personalities. Typical answers I get are fireman, teacher, doctor, veterinarian, garbage man, and cowboy. But I especially like this one answer “I want to be a clown”. Discussions trail around the room about why but it is always the clown that interests the class.
What a wonderful justification to hear that the student wants to always make people smile and happy. What a great goal! Obviously he/she sees the need around them at a young age and what a great selfless job they will have, a job all of us should be an example of each day.
Deliberately trying to teach the students to keep dreaming, changing, learning, and growing beyond the risk to get what you want is an honor. As most teachers, I have a captive audience and I get to watch it every day in my class. The pleasures of watching a student understand a concept or get an idea that is new to them is satisfyingly intriguing to me. They have that ah ha’ moment which most call it the light bulb going on when they’ve got it, and I get to be the one to acknowledge it. We give and take from one another throughout the day. I am blessed daily knowing that I can satisfy my own dream of talking about God with a captive audience, helping others, and working with children in a school where they are seen as individuals who are bettering themselves to the glory of an awesome God.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Two meals. Three awards. One Amen.
I enjoyed the honor of attending two different meals this past week which recognized three of our students from Bios Christian. Christin for her essay written to honor American veterans, Savannah and Isabella recognized people in their lives who exemplified the servant-leadership of Martin Luther King Jr.
Attending her third banquet in recognition of a paper that won first place at a local VFW, then moving on to another first place at the district level, Christin’s paper ended up with a third place and $250 at the state level. Excited parents, brother, and sister in attendance, Christin’s writing skills were acknowledged.
The same for Savannah and Isabella who earned first and third out of over 1200 entries in the MLK writing contest sponsored by ASU. They also enjoyed the presence of their teacher, parents, and a grandparent at the breakfast.
The different writing contests we have our students participate in serve many purposes. First, they provide a structure and purpose to their writing. One to three different contests are entered each month keying on a variety of topics and writing modalities – essays, research papers, and poetry; with history, science, culture, and the arts represented.
I know of no other writing program as rich in purpose, recognition, variety, and topics as ours.
Judging and recognition by people other than the student’s own teach is important. In many instances I have heard from teachers that a student’s paper which won in a contest would not have been their choice. When I taught our own children, I favored and enjoyed my oldest son’s style of writing while usually just accepting my youngest son’s compositions. Yet, both earned recognition of their writing efforts in contests we submitted to. Our requirement that all student’s writings are sent in for every contest works around our personal biases.
Finally, even though both contests were essentially different secular cultures, they shared similarities. Both had great tasting bacon included in their meals. Both were focused on honoring heroes – veterans and Martin Luther King Jr. And both ended with honoring the God of the Bible – the veterans with prayer in Jesus’ name and the university with a public school choir singing “Praising His Name.” Amen.
Attending her third banquet in recognition of a paper that won first place at a local VFW, then moving on to another first place at the district level, Christin’s paper ended up with a third place and $250 at the state level. Excited parents, brother, and sister in attendance, Christin’s writing skills were acknowledged.
The same for Savannah and Isabella who earned first and third out of over 1200 entries in the MLK writing contest sponsored by ASU. They also enjoyed the presence of their teacher, parents, and a grandparent at the breakfast.
The different writing contests we have our students participate in serve many purposes. First, they provide a structure and purpose to their writing. One to three different contests are entered each month keying on a variety of topics and writing modalities – essays, research papers, and poetry; with history, science, culture, and the arts represented.
I know of no other writing program as rich in purpose, recognition, variety, and topics as ours.
Judging and recognition by people other than the student’s own teach is important. In many instances I have heard from teachers that a student’s paper which won in a contest would not have been their choice. When I taught our own children, I favored and enjoyed my oldest son’s style of writing while usually just accepting my youngest son’s compositions. Yet, both earned recognition of their writing efforts in contests we submitted to. Our requirement that all student’s writings are sent in for every contest works around our personal biases.
Finally, even though both contests were essentially different secular cultures, they shared similarities. Both had great tasting bacon included in their meals. Both were focused on honoring heroes – veterans and Martin Luther King Jr. And both ended with honoring the God of the Bible – the veterans with prayer in Jesus’ name and the university with a public school choir singing “Praising His Name.” Amen.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Registration for Next Year
Registration for our current families begins on Wednesday, February 3rd. New families will start to register on February 17th for any open spots. Forms may be picked up on the first day of registration.
There will be ten openings for kindergarten, six for primary (1st-3rd) and twelve for elementary (4th-6th). (We have a group of fourteen sixth graders heading up to seventh and only two third graders coming up from primary to elementary.)
We are expecting 70 to 75 students will be in our junior high/high school next year with room for 84.
We continue our college prep emphasis school with four years of math, science, English and Bible required. Three years of history, two years of Spanish (and four encouraged), a year of art, performing music, and computers round out the requirements.
Additional class offering for high school include art, government, economics, AP Biology, Advanced Physics, Word and Excel certification, and computer programming.
Additional instructors are being hired or interviewed for math, Spanish, art, and drama. An additional math teacher who is a graduate from Duke University in mechanical engineering will be added. We are interviewing candidates for a Spanish instructor to teach four periods of Spanish for JH/HS and one period a day for primary, elementary, and home school. An art teacher is needed for one high school period a day and one period a day teaching primary, elementary, or home school classes for a total of two periods a day. And we continue to look for someone to direct two plays a year after school.
The tentative plan for sports next year is the following: for junior high and high school we will continue to participate fully in the Christian schools league (CSL) and for junior high teams and for sports not offered in the CSL we will participate in the charter schools league with the goals of honoring God in our sportsmanship, developing skilled players and winning teams.
| Fall | Winter | Spring |
| Boys JH/HS soccer (CSL) | Boys HS basketball (CSL) | Boys HS golf (charter) |
| Boys/girls JH/HS XC (charter) | Boys JH basketball (charter) | Girls JH/HS soccer (CSL) |
| Girls HS volleyball (CSL) | Girls HS basketball (CSL) | |
| Girls JH volleyball (charter) | Girls JH basketball (CSL) | |
| | Boys/girls bowling (charter) | |
Homeschool remains the same with two days of primary (Monday and Wednesday) and two days of elementary (Tuesday and Thursday).
We will have a graduating class of six next year with (12) eleventh graders, (9) tenth graders, (11) ninth graders, (13) eighth graders, and (14) seventh graders following them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)