Some reflections from Kim

Kim Turbin comments on her time spent teaching the kindergardeners in the Music and Motion room:

I just wanted to pass along that the time with the 16 kindergardeners
was really awesome. Asking them about experiences and stories in the
other rooms, with a prompt or 2 they were telling me the stories of
this month, last month and even the previous month....making the
connections. The kids really got into determining the emotions Peter
was feeling, even though their vocab was limited. I would act out
and use voice fluctuation to see if it drew out some variety but
scary was still scary or became very scary and sad was very sad and
happy became really, really happy. Cute. I could see on their faces
they were getting it and even the quiet/shy kids were saying the
feelings, especially when the music played. Some thought they were
supposed to guess the emotion of the music so it was cool that they
did pick up on emotions/feeling from the music. Showing them how it
tied together with the story and how they picked the music, they
acted out the stories with the music and they were so into it. Then
talking about the ups and downs...we throughout the story and praying
for the guidance and forgiveness at the end, it was just a really
neat time. I felt out of sorts last week I guess and this week
almost felt like I was going to have to leave before the service
started, so it was really cool. And people wonder why I do it.
Seeing those faces, seeing them enjoy it, seeing them think about it
and seeing them get that glimmer even for a second...I love it!

Just thought I'd pass that along.

Draw Me Into Your Friendship

Lord Jesus, from the start
You invite ordinary people to come to where you live.
When they come, you welcome them
and call them to labor and rejoice with you.
You are the most beautiful among all men,
and I hardly believe you want me for your friend.
You are powerful, Lord.
Draw me more and more into your friendship
and lead me along the way you took with friends.

~Joseph Tetlow, SJ

Uh oh! I'm in the Draft!

I opened my copy of the Draft this morning to find a link to my blog, and quickly came to the realization that people will read this! Of course, that is the whole point, but now I know for sure that people will read it. While that does put me on the lookout for grammar and spelling errors, it is great to know that parents and friends at Westwinds will be checking this out to see what's going on with our kids. So welcome everyone! :)

Today in the art room we talked about the ups and downs in Peter's life. How great he must have felt when he "gave the right answer" to Jesus, when Jesus asked him who he thought he (Jesus) was and Peter confidently answered, "You are the Christ". What a high point! But then, not very long after, Peter denies even knowing Jesus (not once, not twice, but THREE times)! And that's when his stomach must have dropped, shame and guilt washed over him when he'd realized what he had done. The lowest point in his life: denying Jesus.

The lesson we take from Peter is this: Our lives, like Peter's our filled with highs and lows. Just because we follow Jesus doesn't mean that we won't have hard times or that life will be easy. In fact, Paul assures us that as believers, we can expect hard times to come. But God is with us, he really cares about our situations and feelings, about our relationships and hurts. So when hard times come, as they inevitably will, our Creator has promised to be on our side.

The kids made woven paper mats, using the motion "over, under", tying into the "ups and downs" that we talked about with Peter. Afterwards, I played Chutes and Ladders with 3 girls, which was very fun. Two of these girls are regulars and I have known them for awhile, but I loved interacting with them in a game setting because I got to see more of their personalities. Turns out they were both pretty competitive, and funny too as we were teasing each other when one of us had to go down the chute for breaking the cookie jar or pulling the cat's tail. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the board for Chutes and Ladders).

I decided that starting now, and for all future posts as well I'm going to try very hard to remember the greatest quote of the morning. I'm sure some will be funny or awkward (like today's!), but I also think that there will emerge some very moving and thought-provoking words from our kids. Let's just start out with a funny one!

Quote of the morning: "I like going to the circus to see all the hot girls!" ~Second grade boy

...to which I responded with a dropped jaw and an "oh wow...are you serious....???"

Music and Motion

This month's lesson is on Peter. Ah, Peter. He's such an interesting character because his life with Jesus is filled with some really high highs and some very low lows. He's a do-first and think-later sort of a person. Here's the three events we'll be teaching on this month.

1. The disciples go on ahead of Jesus in the boat, while Jesus goes off alone to pray. The disciples are straining at the oars in the Sea of Galilee because a storm has come. And then, through the waves, they see a figure walking on the water. The disciples are terrified and think it to be a ghost. When Jesus tells them to not be scared, it's only him, Peter says "Jesus! If it's really you, tell me to come out of the boat and walk on water with you!" Jesus does, and Peter obeys. When he notices the waves around him he begins to sink and cries out to Jesus to save him. Jesus reaches down and pulls Peter up out of the water.

2. Scene: The Last Supper. Jesus is telling his disciples that one of them will betray him. Peter declares that even if he has to die with Jesus, he would never deny him. Jesus says that before the rooster crows in the morning, Peter will have denied him three times. Peter is shocked, and hurt. Later that evening, after Jesus is arrested, Peter follows the guards to see what will happen to his friend Jesus. One of the servant girls sees him and accuses Peter of being one of his followers. Peter denies it. Next, a woman recognizes Peter's accent as being Galilean, and assumes he was with Jesus. Peter denies it. Then, some others near Peter say that he was with Jesus, to which he replies "I don't even know this man you are talking about!"

3. Jesus has died, and has risen, but the disciples do not know it yet. They are out fishing, when Jesus calls out to them from the shore. They don't recognize him at first, but when Peter realizes that it is Jesus, he leaps from the boat and swims frantically to shore. After a breakfast of miraculously caught fish, Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him. Peter, exasperated at being asked three times, declares that he does love Jesus. Jesus tells him, "feed my lambs".

This morning, after briefly going through these three stories, we had the kids choose music from a pre-made sound track. Their task was to match the mood of the music to the feelings of Peter and the tone of the story. They did awesome! After we chose our soundtrack, we had the kids act out the story and I played the songs they had chosen. They did so well! They fought over who got to be Jesus and Peter, and enthusiastically played the parts well. The rest of the kids who didn't get a speaking part for the scene were the rest of the disciples. It worked out well and they seemed to really enjoy it.

This lesson was really a double-whammy in the fact that the kids were using music and a storytelling method (acting) to help reinforce the lesson. Music is tremendously powerful and I loved watching their faces as they listened to the sounds while they were picking them for the soundtrack. They were very concentrated on how Peter would feel in each scene, and I really think that the experience will be memorable because of the music. GREAT!

Welcome!

Hello there world! I started this blog because Lori had asked me to journal on some of my experiences with the kids at Westwinds. So I thought that this would be my best bet at keeping it up-to-date, since I blog anyway. I work with the first and second graders, so all my writings will be about them. There's my premise, here's my story.