The Banquet

This month we are focusing on Community Building. 

Our Grade Two class played the orff instruments to lead us in worship

We always love it when our local pastors can come join us and lead us in our worship time together. 

Last week we welcomed Pastor Bob Loerts. 

He shared the parable of the wedding banquet with us. The wedding banquet was one of the most joyous occasions. Jesus compared heaven to the wedding banquet the that king has prepared. Many people have been invited, but when the time came, those invited couldn't come. The king, angry and disappointed, sent out invitations for any and all who would come and the banquet hall was filled. And what a party it was! 

This week will be our final chapel on Community Building. 

A Peek Inside - Grade 4

The grade 4 students had an opportunity to use their numeration skills and build a robot from base 10 blocks. Once the robots were built, the grade four's had them compete against their classmates robots. Without even knowing they were doing math, students were categorizing their opponents blocks into their correct place value categories (ones, tens, hundreds and thousands) and writing the total number of blocks in expanded form. 

The grade 4s really seemed to enjoy this hands on math period!

A Peek Inside - Junior Kindergarten

Each week we'll have a look at some of the things happening at Beacon. Have a look at what our Junior Kindergarten students have been up to since they started school last week. We are so happy to have so many new students and families in our JK class!

The junior kindergarten class is ready to roll into a new school year! We are learning to be community builders and are getting used to the routines of school. During the past week we have been learning about shapes.

Here we are during gym class doing the Hokey Pokey!

We are having fun creating structures with the blocks in our class.

We made a train and are ready to have a fun year together!

Pot's Ponderings   Our program at Beacon Christian School is woven together by ten threads called Throughlines. Throughlines are qualities that we desire our students to develop as God is revealed to them "in all things." They answer the question, "How now shall I live? Each month, we will be highlighting one of these throughlines in our chapels and in our classrooms.   Tomorrow, at 8:45 AM, we will introduce our first throughline - Community Building during our Wednesday morning chapel. Parents are always welcome to attend.    What follows is a brief description of what we mean by "Community Building" that has been adopted by our staff and school. It was originally written by the Prairie Centre for Christian Education based in Alberta. I will be including future throughline descriptions each month in this space.   Community – Building Definition: Students will be active pursuers and builders of communal shalom.  Our classrooms will be communities of grace where students will walk and work together in a spirit of shalom. Description: In our hectic, fast-paced, consumer-driven society, it's common to feel overwhelmed, isolated and alone. Many are re-discovering the healing and empowering role that community can bring to our lives. The sense of belonging we feel when we make the time to take an active role in our communities can give us a deeper sense of meaning and purpose. -- Robert Alan  (American artist, writer and social activist) Our students can be active pursuers and builders of community in their classrooms, their neighbourhoods and in the global village.  In fact, they need to be.  Community is how God made us, since doing life without other people is not an option.  Shalom (from Hebrew) – is more than just ‘not fighting’. The word we most often use instead of shalom is peace, but that does not quite describe the whole concept—it is more like fullness or completeness – how God intended things to be.   One of clearest and most well-known Biblical metaphors compares Christian community to a body which is made up of many parts.  We need all the parts to work together in order to experience health and wholeness. We all know that maintaining a healthy body is not something that just happens by itself.  Attention must be paid to what we put into our body, how active we are and how we manage stress.   Students need to learn and experience that community does not just happen either.  We need to pursue shalom.  We can’t just wait for community and peace to come to us – we must go out and make it happen. We need to build shalom– to be active and eager examples of peaceful/shalom-filled communities. Biblical References I Cor. 12:12 “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.” Ephesians 4:4  “There is one body and one Spirit . . . .” John 17: 22-23   Jesus’ prayer for believers:   “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:  I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” Other Passages to Ponder: Psalm 133:1; Ecclesiastics 4:10; Philippians 2:1-11; I Peter 4:10-11