Diabetes Awareness Day

This month is Diabetes Awareness Month and today 

we wore blue to show our support for diabetes awareness. 

Our students brought in a small donation to dress out of uniform and  

together we raised over $360!

A portion of this will be given to the Juvenille Diabetes Research Foundation and the other portion will be given to the Lion's Foundation of Canada Guide Dogs. The foundation provides guide dogs to people with many kinds disabilities free of charge.

Today, our guest, Hannah Reid, shared her story with us. After being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes as an adult, she struggled to manage her health as she was not aware of her highs and lows. This put her in critical danger often. 

A little while ago, Hannah was given a guide dog named Bradley. Bradley is able to alert her when she needs to check her sugars. 

Bradley can also fetch her testing kit, get her juice and go fetch help. 

It was so interesting to hear about all the things that Bradley can do!

Learning about diabetes is important to us as we care for and support

 all of our friends in our learning community. 

Peace

This month we are focusing on the fruit of the spirit PEACE

Some of our students read what God tells us in His word about peace. 

Then our Grade 5 class led us in worship with their recorders:

We were then challenged to think about what peace really means and 

what does it look like in our lives. 

We got in our GIFT groups (Growing In Faith Together) and thought of two ideas that show we are living with the fruit of the spirit peace in our lives. 

The students then made a visual representation of that idea on their posters. 

We are thankful for God's gift of peace!

Joy

This month, we are focusing on JOY.

1 Peter 1:8-9 says that " You love him even though you have never seen him.

Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with

a glorious, inexpressible joy.

The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls"

What is JOY?

Today we heard that we sometimes confuse happiness with joy. But joy is living each day knowing that we have been given a precious gift by a God who loves and cares for us.

According to Rick Warren, "Joy is knowing that God is in control
of all the details of my life, the confidence that ultimately everything is
going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation."

Grade 2 orffestra

Give Thanks

This week we are spending some time to pause and be thankful. 

While we strive to always remember to give thanks and be grateful, this week our country
sets apart a day to spend reflecting and giving thanks. 

In our chapel this week, we also set apart time to reflect. 

Our grade 1 students led us in Praise and Thanksgiving

The Grade 6 students recited Psalm 100 - A Psalm of Thanksgiving:

Our Grade 2 students wrote some ideas of what they were thankful for and shared them in the form of an acrostic poem that spelled Praise & Thanksgiving.

We pray that you will have a blessed Thanksgiving as you reflect on God's good and perfect gifts.

Love Your Neighbour

Today our chapel focused on the fruit of the spirit that is LOVE.

 We welcomed Pastor Kevin, who re-told Robert Munsch's story Love You Forever. 

LOVE lasts forever and Jesus asks us to share our love with everyone!

Pastor Kevin helped us think of all the people we should love, 

not just our families or best friends. 

Our Grade 7 students shared a skit with us that helped us see that 

we are better when we are a part of a community. 

And we love to sing during chapel! We are still learning our Fruits of the Spirit song

but also love to sing some of our favourites. Cornerstone is one of those favourites!

Fruits of the Spirit

Our theme for this school year is Galatians 5:22,23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this."

Through our chapels, devotions and in our classroom routines this year, we hope to instill and develop in our students these fruits of the spirit.  

Today we gathered for our first chapel of the year. It was great to see everyone together again!

We are learning a new song:

We looked at what it means to love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says, " Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

Some of our Grade 2 and 3 students reflected on what love means and shared their thoughts and visuals with us.

Two of our students shared what love really means. 

(Do you really love that banana?)

How will you show love today?

Music Morning

God created us with the ability to sing and make music. Music is an important part of life at Beacon Christian school. We love music for worship, to praise God and to enjoy!

This morning, we had our annual Music Morning where we could celebrate this great gift God has given us. Every student from Grades 1-8 performed something musical. 

As well, we had a Beacon's Got Talent portion where students could audition to share 

further musical pieces. What a wonderful morning of celebration it was!

Below are some video clips of some of the pieces. As well, you will find some photos on our Facebook page.  

Sing to him, sing praise to him. 

Tell of all his wonderful acts. Pslam 105:2

 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Psalm 150: 3-5

Grade 1 Orffestra

Grade 2 Orffestra

Grade 3 Recorders

Grade 4

Grade 5

Grade 6

Grade 7

Grade 8 Rock Around the Clock

Grade 8 Viva la Vida

 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Psalm 150: 3-5

Creation Enjoying

This month we are looking at the throughline Creation Enjoying.

God gave us his gift of creation and he wants us to enjoy it!

When we give a birthday gift to someone, we eagerly watch them open and get excited about what's inside. We want our loved one to enjoy the gift we give!

God also wants us to enjoy the gift of creation that he has given us!

He wants us to marvel, notice, discover and be excited about it!

God gave us the tools to enjoy his creation: sight, touch, smell, hearing, taste

Today we were challenged to use all of our senses to find things to enjoy about creation.

And then, once we notice something, we need to tell someone what we noticed!

What will you notice and enjoy about his creation today?

Beauty Creating

This month we have been looking at the throughline Beauty Creating. 

It was very fitting, then, that we started by recognizing Sarah's artwork that 

was selected for the Rankin Run T shirts. 

The Rankin Run is one more way we can let our lights shine in our community. 

We were glad to play a small part in raising over one million dollars for cancer care in Niagara. 

We watched a powerful video on the greatest artist of all time:

While we watched the video, we also watched Claire help Mrs. Boks with a piece of art.

... and this was the finished product:

Some of our students worked in a praise team to create beauty with their 

voices as we continued to learn a new song Louder.

God has made so many amazing and beautiful things! But do we spend enough time marveling at his beautiful things or creating our own beautiful things? 

We can get distracted!

We want to remind ourselves to turn off the screens, put away the distractions and take some time every day to see beauty and create beauty!

What can we do when we want to be out enjoying creation and creating beauty? 

Our afternoon kindergartners shared their ideas with us!

Ascension Day

Today we remembered ascension day, 

the day that Jesus ascended into heaven after his resurrection and time on earth. 

We read the story of Jesus ascension from Acts 1:9-11

9 After Jesus had said this and while they were watching, he was taken up into a cloud. They could not see him, 10 but as he went up, they kept looking up into the sky.

Suddenly two men dressed in white clothes were standing there beside them. 11 They said, “Why are you men from Galilee standing here and looking up into the sky? Jesus has been taken to heaven. But he will come back in the same way that you have seen him go.”

Our SK students sang, "Vivant, Vivant" (Alive, Alive).

Our Jesus is alive forevermore!

We're also learning a new song "Louder" by Matt Redman.

We love to sing and learn new songs!