Beads with Moms

 

 

A large part of our school program here at Mission of Love Preschool is to incorporate the parents and community as much as possible by creating ways for them to get involved.  There are several opportunities for the parents to do this; one way is for them to come to school with their children for special art projects and just last week the moms were invited to come.  Medis and I thought it would be a lot of fun for the moms to come and made clay beads with their children, in which the children could paint the beads and make a necklace to give their moms. 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like everyone in the school, we want the moms to feel appreciated and loved by their children and the class.  Each child was given the chance to draw a picture of their mom and then tell the teachers one thing they really enjoy doing with their mom.  After all the children had finished with their art work, we were able to display it on the walls for all the moms and children to look at and admire. 

The moms came to school not knowing what to expect, but had a very joyful attitude about spending time with their children and their friends.  We had to split each class into two groups to fit them around the art table where their creativity would take them away.  While one group of moms and children were busy working together in the art studio, the rest of the moms and children were busy working in other areas of the classroom exploring magnets, puzzles, dolls, cooking, writing, reading, construction, and anything else they could get their hands on. 

           

Over in Art Studio, the table was filled with everything needed for the activity: In the middle of the table was the recipe cards, ingredients, and measuring tools needed to make the clay.  The moms had to work together with each other and their children in order to complete the task at hand…they did an excellent job helping their children along in measuring the flour and salt, then mixing it all together with water.  Once the clay was the exact texture and consistency it needed to be, we split it between all the children allowing them to make up to 5 beads to save and paint later.  The moms and children really enjoyed creating different shaped and sized beads, as well as ones that were all the same. 

     

Next week the children will get to paint their beads any color they want to and give them to their moms as a thank you for coming to school to learn with them.  I can’t wait to see the look on the faces of the moms and grandmothers who receive these unique gifts with all the hard work the children (and moms) put into them. 

 

A Third Language??

 

For some reason it seems the weeks are flying by much faster than they did in the first term.  I do not know how I managed to write about the children’s progress each week last time, but this term it seems like Friday comes and before I have a chance to breathe I am back at the school again Monday morning.  Well of all the things the children are learning, I must say the one that is the most exciting to teach is sign language.  As most of you know, TONGA is the children’s native language and with them coming to school, being taught in English, the hope is that they pick up enough English to jump start them into primary school.  Well children are capable of learning way more than we give them credit for, so I decided not to stop at just teaching English, but I thought teaching sign language would be an excellent way to assist in teaching English and for the children to have another means of expressing themselves.  The children absolutely LOVE sign language and they are picking up words left and right.  The older children probably have a vocabulary of at least thirty words and often use them to communicate when Tonga and English are not an option.  I can give them commands in sign language like “sit down”, “stand up”, or “jump” and without saying any words the children know exactly what to do.  Last week we learned some emotions and without any prompting this week, the children were working together to remember the signs I taught them last week!  Sign Language is also a great tool in teaching the children the alphabet…each week we learn a new letter and we sign all the letters from “A” to the one we are learning so the children get used to hearing the letters in order and understand what letters are! 

 

 

In addition to learning their third language, the children have been very busy measuring maize in the discovery table.  A few weeks ago, some of the parents donated maize to the school so that we could open the discovery table with maize inside to support the children’s learning.  As soon as the table was full, the children dived right in and began working with measuring cups, bowls, funnels, and trays measuring out various amounts of maize often pretending they were going to town to sell whatever they measured out for the day. 

Along with everything else the children naturally explore, investigate, and discover in the school, one other things sticks out from these past few weeks about the children’s learning.  The children have been preparing to have their moms come to school with them this term.  They have been busy drawing pictures of their mothers and telling the teachers all about the things they enjoy doing with their moms.  The vision is to put up the pictures of the moms with the children's words written underneath for the moms to enjoy when they come and visit the school to do a special art project with their children.  The children can’t wait to bring their moms to school to see their art work, show them around the classroom, and make beads with them.  The teachers are thrilled about the moms coming and being a part of their children's learning…what a wonderful experience for everyone!! 

As for bible lessons this term the children are moving into the third part of the Trinity.  We have spent time in learning about God the Father and God the Son and now we are learning about the third part of God…His Spirit.  As we learn about God’s Spirit, we will be encouraging the children to recognize where God’s Spirit is already working in their lives, as well as, in the community.  I am most excited about this since we will soon be moving into the fruit of the Spirit and teaching the children that if they claim to be a Christian, than their lives will be marked by God’s Spirit of joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control, gentleness, faith, and love.  Out here it is so easy for a person to claim Christ, but to truly be saved by Christ is a rarity among these people.  Please pray that the Spirit moves in the hearts of all the children who are hearing these truths in the coming weeks and that those who truly believe in Jesus Christ will begin bearing fruit in His name, acting and looking different than those who do not believe in Jesus. 

Never Ending Blessings…

 

God is sooooo incredibly good to know what we need and when we need it.  One of the things I have struggled with the most since I have been in Zambia is loneliness and not having anyone to share struggles with, joys with, and things like that!  God sustained me through my first year with visitors here and there, but mainly through quiet times with Him and moments spent in His word.  This year it seems God has decided to bless me with several friends visiting to help me feel not so alone.  May has started the influx of people around here and it won’t be until next year that all the volunteers will be going home…Praise God, he is blessing me fellowship and companionship through the end of this year!!

At the end of May, God sent three wonderful people to us to spend some time in our ministry here.  Two of them are brother and sister hoping to start their own mission organization supporting missionaries they meet out on the field.  Amber and Stephen started their journey in Kenya, then came by us, and Stephen even went on to Cambodia making connections with missionaries that are already on the field looking for ways their organization can help out by sending teams, supplies, and whatever else God opens the doors for.  Amber and Stephen were only here for a short week, but enjoyed helping out around the house, cooking, working with Amber and Jako, and even coming up to the school and playing games with the children or supporting them in their learning for the day!  They both enjoyed being out here and we loved having them and being encouraged by them…any time God sends people out here it is a huge blessing to us.  We pray and hope that we will see them out here again, but until then we wish them well and for God’s will to be accomplished through their calling to start up this organization!!

 

Our other visitor is a friend of mine from GBC in Maryland…Rachel!  This is her first time to Africa and her first time being out on a mission trip without a team of peers coming with her.  She came the same week as Amber and Stephen, but is staying until the beginning of August.  Rachel knew that God was calling her to give up her summer to serve Him oversees and He opened the doors perfectly for her to come here and support the many things that God is doing here.  Her first week was a bit of an adjustment being two hours from any sort of town and still trying to get her mind around the fact that she is going to be here for over two months, not any easy thing to swallow in just a few days…and her first week happened to be the week I had to send Medis to town to get her passport and injection for yellow fever, so I was short staffed at the school unable to take time off to properly welcome Rachel and introduce her into the bush!!  Thankfully, God sustained her through her first week and we had plenty of time on the weekend to get settled in and acquainted with the ministry out here, the school, and the orphanage.  Since there is so much to do around here, Rachel has decided to split her time between working at the school and helping out Amber with orphanage duties and MOL administrative tasks.  I think now that Rachel has a loose schedule and purpose for each day, she is much more comfortable around here and now looking forward to her two months she has with us.  I surely enjoy having her around as a friend and roommate. 

As the summer goes on, we have a couple teams coming out to serve here and some other individuals, some who have been before and some who have not, so please keep them all in your prayers and the impact they are making for God’s kingdom by coming out to serve here!!

 

Rain, Rain Go Away…Come Back Another Day!

 

Wednesday: May 30, 2012

Science Experiment: Making Rain

Question: What will happen when we cover a jar of warm water with a plate and then place ice cubes on top of the plate?

Hypothesis:

Essay: The stones (ice cubes) will melt.

Trista: It’s going to rain.

Isaiah: Nothing.

Fedness: The stones (ice cubes) will turn to water.

Buumba: It’s warm inside.

Isaiah: The cold stones will be warm.

Procedure:

1. Pour warm water into a glass jar.

2. Cover the jar with a ceramic plate.

3. Let stand for a minute, then place ice cubes on the plate.

4. Observe as rain forms and falls down the sides of the glass.

Observations:

Teacher: What do you see happening inside the jar?

Trinida: The water is flowing from the top.

Trista: (Pointing to the drops of water on the side of the jar)There is water.

Trista: It looks like rain.

Chilala: The stones are melting.

Isaiah: There is light shining inside the jar.

Buumba: Water is flowing from the top.

Ovius: The water is shining.

Isaiah: Water is flowing from the top.

Fedness: Water is dropping down the side.

Teacher: What does this remind you of that we often see outside?

Trinida: Rain.

Ovius: Clouds.

Buumba: Rain.

Teacher: Yes…nice thinking everyone, we did make rain inside this jar!

Conclusion:

Teacher: Boys and girls, what happened when we covered the warm water with the plate and then placed the cold stones on top of it?

All: It rained.

Teacher: What did we need to make it rain?

Trinida: Hot water.

Fedness: Hot inside.

Isaiah: Cold on top.

Kids Day Off

 

 

The school year is flying by for me, I can’t believe we are almost a third of the way done with our second term, where is the time going?  This past week ended on a different note than the previous weeks, the children had a school holiday, so Medis and I decided it would be a great time to hold Parent/Teacher conferences.  We have over 85 children, giving us about 45-50 parents for all the children, we knew it wouldn’t be possible to meet with each parent individually, although we offered for them to make appointments if they wish to, so we had two group parent conferences.  During these times the parents got to come to school and experience what their children do everyday. 

 

Before we could have the conferences, we needed the children’s help to get everything ready for their parents.  We reminded the children to teach them about our routine, the songs that we sing, and some of the letters we have been learning.  The children were worried that their parents wouldn’t be able to do all these things, so they wanted to help them out and get them prepared.  Also the children worked very hard at making clay beads for the parents art project…they had to gather the clay, mold it into various shapes of beads, and then paint them many different colors.  The children loved making these beads and they turned out very well.

 

Friday came and the children stayed home, but sent their parents to school.  When the parents first arrived, we talked about the importance of outside time for the children before we go in for the remainder of the school day.  Once inside, the parents enjoyed sitting in a circle and singing our good morning song, then hearing a bit about how the morning routine goes for the children, and what they learn while they are participating in the morning meeting activities.  Later, the parents had free time to walk around the classroom, read the documentation on the walls, check out their children’s art work, look through their writing journals, and even participate in a special art project.  Using the beads the children made for them, one group of parents strung them on soft wire and bent them into different shapes, which all will be displayed on a wooden board, and hung somewhere around the classroom. Then the other group of parents made wire flowers with other beads we had in the classroom, which will be displayed on the wall for the children to admire.  We wrapped up the conference discussing the various things the children do after they have free time in the class: music, sign language, Bible story, writing in journals, quiet reading at book nook, movement activities, and so on.  The parents loved spending time at the school and are very happy at all their children are learning.

Medis showed great pride in displaying the children’s progress so far…she interacted nicely with the parents and helped them out in all the areas they were exploring, showing them how the children use the items around the classroom and their art work.  We both had so much with with the two groups of parents and were very encouraged by all their kind words.

 

The parents have decided that they love the change in their children and what they are already learning at such a young age, so they want to build a Grade 1- Grade 6 school, for Medis and I to set up for the children to continue education here with Mission of Love.  I am very humbled by this compliment knowing that God has made this all possible and He is working in the hearts of the parents in the community.  This is a big project and one I am not able to commit to yet, but praying about how God wants to use me in all this.  We are going to be meeting with the headmen and Senior Hedman to finalize the program to begin making bricks and gathering the materials to get a school building completed.  It seems like they want Grade 1 in January, so the children can go right from preschool to primary school with us…so please be praying about this amazing blessing, but huge undertaking, as it will cost a lot of money to get the buildings made, time to train teachers and set up the classroom, and commitment from EVERYONE in the community to make it all happen, but most of all, it needs God’s approval and timing!!!  Please also pray that God grants me wisdom and discernment on what this all means for me and my future here in Mpapila…

Thank you so much for your continued support and encouragement, I am enjoying the children more and more everyday, I find weekends are too long for me to not see them!! 

 

Round Two…Ding!

 

Well after a nice long school holiday, the school is back open and lively with children inside.  I was thinking the transition this week would be much like the first couple weeks of school with some children being nervous or scared, but to my surprise this week was just as easy as the last week of school last term.  None of the children seemed to have any struggle coming into the the classroom or exploring the new playground out in front of the building. 

  The biggest change for the children is the new jungle gym they get to play on.  For the whole first term the children did an excellent job playing with balls and jump ropes everyday.  They were creative and had fun with each other, now they have one goal, to get down the slide before the person behind them can catch up!  Jako worked very hard to get it completed by the time we opened school Monday morning, so the monkey bars and jungle gym were functional!  The swings will hopefully be opening on Monday, maybe with the see saw as well.  What joy it is to see the children running and playing like they are…

This week the children were introduced to soooo many new things inside the classroom as well.  In the new term, Medis and I decided to add some new things to the centers and take away some things to be brought back later in the year.  One of the things that fascinated the children the most this week was the magnets in the science center.  The younger children that have never seen them before said they were “magic balls” since they stuck together without the children's help.  Some of the older children recognized them as magnets and incorporated them into the regular play.  The best part was seeing the children’s reaction when the magnets repelled each other, they had no explanation for why this is happening, but they recognized that when they put the magnets one way they “stuck together” and when they flipped one around it “moved away from” the other one. 

Another exciting moment with the children this week was watching them in the Discovery Table with water and objects that float and sink.  After assessing which ones float and which was sunk to the bottom, some of the children began to play with the whale and other fish and move the water from one container to another one.  When we asked the children why they thought some objects floated and some sunk they told us, “the ones that sank to the bottom weigh more than the ones that are floating on top.”  I am so proud of the children and the connection they make with all the items in the classroom. 

In Art Studio, the children worked very hard gluing popcorn and noodles to a piece of paper.  Since the parent conference is coming up at the end of this month, I decided to splurge and print a picture of each child working on their art work, so that the parents will be able to see what their children work on in school.  Already some parents have come in the classroom and noticed the children’s work all over the walls and have begun to ask questions about it.  The best thing in the conference will be to explain to the parents how much their children are learning at the school in their daily routines and when they play and interact with one another during the day. 

However, the highlight of my week was sharing the gospel with each child, telling them that the only way they can get into Heaven to be with God is through His Son Jesus!  We talked about the things that we some times do that God doesn’t like and why we need Jesus to help us to do the things God wants us to do.  The older children were even able to retell the story drawing the picture I drew for them and telling me how we can get to God!  What a beautiful thing to see young children understanding the truths God laid before time!  Please pray that the story will resonate with them and as we continue to tell stories about Jesus and God to them it will show them more and more who their Creator is and why they need their Savior. 

 

 

“Blessed are the feet that bring good news.”  Romans 10:13

Playing Around?!?!?!?

 

 

Since the end of March this playground has been under development…like most things out here, I easily put on my western thinking cap and make an educated guess as to how long things will take.  Well with the playground, I KNEW no longer than two weeks for sure!  HAHA  well here it is a month later and the playground is still under construction, although I can see light at the end of the tunnel. 

 

After a month of “playing around”, Jako (with some assistance from me) has finished welding the monkey bars, the jungle gym, and the swings.  We have begun painting all of those and hope to get those three items, along with a see saw, in the ground at the preschool by Monday for the start of the new term.  We still have to make and hang the 4 swings (2 tire swings and 2 plank wings), make the bridge to connect the two towers in the jungle gym, build the see saw, and cement all the things in the ground :o)  This will complete stage one and allow the children to develop their gross motor skills better than just playing with balls and jump ropes, although they will still have the opportunity to do so if they choose to. 

 

 

Now Stage Two…since we quickly ran out of time, we decided to make this playground a two stage process.  As the second term goes on, we will hopefully get a 10 foot climbing dome built, a shaded sand box in, a tree balance beam, a tether ball poll, a concrete slab for net ball and four square, and a shaded outdoor teaching area with enough bench space for a class.  This should complete the whole outdoor area for the children and Lord willing a fence will be put around the play area by the end of July to ensure the safety of the children.

 

 

This playground not only benefits the children at the preschool, but also at the orphanage.  After school and on the weekends, the children will be more than welcomed to come and play on the playground.  All of these children have been in the bush with nothing like this, so they will ALL jump at the chance to swing, cross the monkey bars, go down the slide, and walk across the balance beam,  What a blessing for the WHOLE community…

With this playground, my hope is to have an end of the year school party with all the families and children: B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Buns) and I will provide the Tea!! 

 

Please pray that God will use this blessing over and over again to bring joy to those who encounter it and as a tool to bring people together in the community…who knows what ALL He has in store?!?!?!?!

 

So we have not been playing around this month, but hopefully the children will be playing around for years to come…