Week 3 (September 2-6)

This week was short due to the Labor Day holiday.  I always get off track during 4-day weeks.  I actually did pretty well this week, though, and didn't get too confused with my schedule. 

This week, we were able to add the Daily Depositor component to our Every Day Counts Calendar Math bulletin board.  We began with a million dollars on September 1st, and each day we will subtract $1,000 times the calendar date.  Therefore, on September 4th, we subtracted $4,000.  The students predicted how long it will take for us to spend our $1,000,000.  We shall see who gets the closest. 

In 5th grade, the students take part in prayer groups and we began that this week.  I set them up in groups of three, and they will remain in the same group for the entire school year.  Every day, they meet to share prayer requests and how God is working in their lives.  Each group keeps a Prayer Journal to record their prayer requests and praises.  They spend about 10 minutes with their group praying together.  This creates unity and a stronger sense of community in our classroom.  It's a great way for students to pray for one another. 

In addition to Prayer Groups, we also sing a worship song and visit Operation World's Prayer Calendar to pray for a country in the world. 

We plot on a map the countries we have prayed for.  I can't wait to see this map at the end of the year!

I love that we get to start our day with prayer and worship.

On Thursday night, I held my Parent Tea.  This is an event where parents are invited to school in order to spend a casual evening with their child's teacher.  Refreshments are served, and I was able to share my observations of the class so far, my goals/vision for this year, and some tips for 5th grade.  We closed with a Q&A time.  This evening just allows the parents and teachers to get to know one another better.  It's always a fun night for me.  :)

Week 3 was a short, but enjoyable one! 

National Day of Prayer

Each year, my students participate in the National Day of Prayer event at the capitol.  This year, we attended the prayer rally and even sang for the governor!  We also took part in the Bible reading marathon, which we do every year.  On the Sunday before the National Day of Prayer, the "Word Proclamation" begins--this is where people sign up to stand on the steps of the capitol and read aloud from the Bible continuously, from Genesis to Revelation.  People read day and night, around the clock.

I signed our 5th graders up to read for an hour and 15 minutes yesterday.  Each child took a turn at reading Scripture and we actually finished the book of Revelation.  Usually, a microphone is provided.  Due to inclement weather, it was taken down and the students had a tough time hearing the readers.  The kids were still on their best behavior and did a great job waiting for everyone to finish.

Once the reading was over, we had snack and headed inside the capitol.  We had to go through security before making our way to the 22nd floor where the prayer rally was held.  We all had our Bibles with us and one security guard said, "Oh, don't worry about scanning those Bibles.  You can bring them on through."  I passed through the metal detector and asked, "Sir, have you ever seen the movie, The Shawshank Redemption?  He replied, "That's my favorite movie!"  I said, "Well, then, you should know that you need to be checking those Bibles!"  ;)  I flashed a smile and he just chuckled.

We had a great field trip downtown and the students recognized the privilege they had of being able to read aloud from God's Word and pray in public. 

Here are a few more pics from our trip:

From the 22nd floor

View of FSU's campus



Two of my students being interviewed

 

 

Governor Scott and his wife

 

One reason I love Christian Education...

Something special happened in my classroom today and I have to share:

This afternoon, after lunch, I started to feel quite sick.  I contemplated calling a sub for the rest of the day, but since it was 1:00 p.m., I decided to try to stick it out.  I took some medicine and tried to put on a good face for the students.  Even though I was planning to stay the rest of the school day, I knew I wouldn't be able to stay after school (like I had planned) to help a student get caught up on make-up work from last week. 

I was conferencing with students on a writing assignment and called this child over to let him know we would reschedule our afternoon appointment.  Another student (I'll call him Sam) overheard me tell the child that I wasn't feeling well and we would need to set another date. 

All of a sudden, Sam called out, "Okay, everybody!  Mrs. Bowman is not feeling well, so we need to stop and pray.  Who's our prayer leader?"  (The prayer leader sat across from Sam, looking kind of stunned).  Sam continued, "Nevermind, let's just do Popcorn Prayers...if you feel like praying, just pop up and pray."  So, he led the class by saying the first prayer and then almost all the students "popped" up and prayed for me aloud. 

It was so precious and encouraging to hear their prayers.  One student really touched my heart when he said, "Dear Lord, please help Mrs. Bowman to feel better.  I pray that she would be here tomorrow and we wouldn't have to have a substitute because no one can substitute Mrs. Bowman."  Aww!  (My husband joked that the boy was just trying to earn points with me!)  ;)

Then, another child called out, "Lord, I agree with that prayer--no one can take Mrs. Bowman's place.  Help her to feel strong and get better soon." 

The prayers continued popping up and then Sam ended with, "Lord, as we close our prayer time for Mrs. Bowman, I just want to say again that I hope you heal her and that she will not have any more pain.  In Jesus' Name, Amen."

Talk about a tear-jerking moment!  I thanked them for their prayers and praised God silently.  The care and concern they showed for me was overwhelming.  I was really surprised by Sam's boldness and initiative to get the prayers started.  That was my favorite moment of the day.  I'm so thankful I work in a place where I am free to pray with my students. 

Operation World: Pray for the Nations

Operation World by Jason Mandryk is a wonderful reference book and prayer guide that I use in conjunction with my geography/Bible curricula.  I began using it last year when my students learned about Latin American countries.  This book lists every nation in the world--it shares statistics and maps, outlines how we can pray for each specific country, and explains how God has answered prayers for that country.

If you don't have this book in your classroom, you can still join the prayer movement by going to www.operationworld.org.  There is a prayer guide posted that lists a new country each day, so my students and I visit the website every morning after our worship time.  They enjoy learning about new countries (where they are located, what languages are spoken, what percentage is Christian, how many missionaries are currently serving there, what God is doing in the country, and how we can pray) and praying as a group.  After our prayer time, I post the name of the nation we're praying for on the wall next to the students' cubbies, so anytime they read the name, they can remember to pray throughout the day. 

My hope is that they will recognize the needs in other countries and also that they will focus their prayers on others, not just themselves.  So far, we've only centered our prayers on The Maldives and Mali; however, I'm keeping up with all the countries we pray for and at the end of the semester, I'll teach the students how to create a Wordle (www.wordle.net) of all the country names. 

Even though we've only been doing this a couple of days, I had a student come in to class and say, "Last night at the dinner table, I told my family about The Maldives and what we learned about them yesterday and we stopped and prayed."  Awesome!  What if this extends to the students' homes, churches, etc.?  I know that not every teacher has the freedom to pray with his/her students, but consider doing this on your own.  Join the prayer movement for the nations!