Going through my 50-year-old suitcase full of memories, I found an envelope marked "Kids." When I opened it I found dozens and dozens of photos of students I have taught over they years--kids I have loved and still do. Some of them are even reading this blog post and now have their own kids!
The middle photos were reenactments of books the classes were reading for our year long curriculum. My 2nd graders were reading the Little House Books, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and here the boys were acting out Farmer Boy. The other crew, 3rd graders, were reading the Narnia Series, by C.S Lewis, and it looks like they were acting out Prince Caspian or was it The Silver Chair? We had some amazing discussions! We used these books to learn all subject areas, including reading, writing, spelling, math, science, social studies, art, even PE and music and cooking!
The bottom left picture is very special. A doctor's wife had given birth to quadruplets. However, two of them were greatly at risk of not living. They had asked people to pray. Our classesat NCA decided to pray and ask Jesus to spare the life of all four kids. They prayed daily and rigorously before the Lord, and all four survived. When the doctor and his family heard about this class, they brought the quads in for the class to see the kids they prayed for. Later, this doctor, Dr. Blevins, was the doctor who did reconstructive surgery on Jenny's nose. It was a gift he gave back. Isn't God good?
The bottom right photos is of our Christmas celebration, also very special. Every year we made a birthday cake for Jesus and sang Happy Birthday to him with great joy. Then we shared a piece of the cake. We saved one piece of cake for Jesus and we all took one small bite of His, since we were His body. We also brought gifts of food to give to those poorer than us.
Books were very important in my class. We read aloud every day from many different genres. And then I supervised all the students up through grade 8 authoring their own books. The last year we entered them in several contests, both local and national. Amazingly, they won numerous awards. Locally they took almost all the awards in the city, and several in the state. Two of them won top ten award books in Landmark's annual "Written and Illustrated by" book awards for students--Jonathan DeHaan in fourth grade and Daniel Hazelton in third grade. They did so well. I hope they are still writing today! I know one is, because she has written me lengthy letters every year. Emily Sallee (Owen) now has 9 kids of her own and is raising her own group of readers and writers.
Then there was the amazing Vicki Mitchell who helped out in my classroom and was a huge support in any way I needed.She is the one who organized the surprise party for me after my last year of teaching these kids. She is also in the photo with Sarah, and husband David, doing her research presentation on cats.....and little brothers who came along to help! I still miss her.
Then, remarkably before Facebook, we had some class reunions where we got together just to be together and catch up. You can see how they have grown. And now they each have their own destinies and families and loved ones. I love hearing from them and hope many of them get to see these memories.
I have been so blessed with amazing students over the years, from kindergarten through university. God's goodness is evident in each one and in my heart and life.
First Photos--Oklahoma
Starting out in Oklahoma, the top left is the K-1 class I taught for Covenant Life School in Oklahoma City. The rest were all taken with kids I have taught at New Covenant Academy in Norman, Oklahoma. I love them all and smile to realize how many I still know and love. Grace and Joseph Wu, Daniel and David Hazelton--you were really buddies then and now friends for life.
The next photos involved things we studied in all the classes I have taught. You may remember Father Alphabet and all his 26 kids. Studing the character qualities that were those of Jesus was a daily part of our classes, in stories, verses and song. I can still sing them, can you?
Second Photos--Lexington, Kentucky
These next photos below are wonderful memories of much loved students and things we did together. The top left is me teaching kids the difference between voiced and unvoiced sounds so they could learn how the sounds of plurals differ in cats and dogs (s and z sounds). The second photo is just the class being silly!The middle photos were reenactments of books the classes were reading for our year long curriculum. My 2nd graders were reading the Little House Books, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and here the boys were acting out Farmer Boy. The other crew, 3rd graders, were reading the Narnia Series, by C.S Lewis, and it looks like they were acting out Prince Caspian or was it The Silver Chair? We had some amazing discussions! We used these books to learn all subject areas, including reading, writing, spelling, math, science, social studies, art, even PE and music and cooking!
The bottom left picture is very special. A doctor's wife had given birth to quadruplets. However, two of them were greatly at risk of not living. They had asked people to pray. Our classesat NCA decided to pray and ask Jesus to spare the life of all four kids. They prayed daily and rigorously before the Lord, and all four survived. When the doctor and his family heard about this class, they brought the quads in for the class to see the kids they prayed for. Later, this doctor, Dr. Blevins, was the doctor who did reconstructive surgery on Jenny's nose. It was a gift he gave back. Isn't God good?
The bottom right photos is of our Christmas celebration, also very special. Every year we made a birthday cake for Jesus and sang Happy Birthday to him with great joy. Then we shared a piece of the cake. We saved one piece of cake for Jesus and we all took one small bite of His, since we were His body. We also brought gifts of food to give to those poorer than us.
The last class I taught, a second-third combination of 25 students, became very special. We did so many fun things together, in class and out. At the end of the year I presented each child with a framed award recognizing the different character traits I saw growing in their lives (I included that photo twice--must be important!). Connie Jirak, Jack's mom and one of my amazing teaching assistants was there to see that help. I see Bettie Ann Monroe, Benjamin's mom, in the photo next to Connie too.
Then, remarkably before Facebook, we had some class reunions where we got together just to be together and catch up. You can see how they have grown. And now they each have their own destinies and families and loved ones. I love hearing from them and hope many of them get to see these memories.
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