Learning Through Play in JK/SK

Ocean Exploration

Ocean scenes...

Great teamwork....

Research....

Deep sea fishing...

A basketball and a lot of tape shows us how much of the earth's surface is actually covered in water....Thanks Bill Nye.

Background shows the world with its 4 major oceans labeled.

Sorting animals into two groups....ocean animals or other....

Going underwater for a dive...happy exploring!

An octopus...count the legs...there are 8!

Shells and sea horses....

Seahorse...spectacular!

Sea turtle eggs are the size and colour of ping pong balls....did you know that?

The snow turned into a swordfish....very creative!

"Ocean, ocean what do you see?  I see a ..........looking at me."

Our ocean in the hallway....fantastic work boys and girls. We had a great two weeks of underwater exploration!

Justice Seeking

He has shown you, O people, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

What is justice seeking? We have been digging into this question during the month of February.

Justice Seeking starts with us noticing injustice. We need to see things around us that aren't fair. 

Mr. Kok and Mrs. Dykstra began our month by having us think of times we've been in situations that weren't fair and how we and others reacted. 

This may be unfamiliar to parents but is very familiar on our playground:

(and we can change out snow for leaves or sticks depending on the season)

 They then used words that escalate the situation

• You always.....!
• You never.....!
• Don't do that!
• That's mine!

They also reminded us that our body language can escalate too. With each action that escalates, they put a brick up. Pretty soon there was a brick wall between them!

Then we were reminded of words that de-escalate:

•  I feel.... when you....
• I think that.....
• I don't understand....
• I understand......

Our Grade 8 students shared a play with us to get us thinking.... 

We then were reminded of our restorative justice questions that we have learned over the years. 

What happened?

What were you thinking at the time?

What have you been thinking about since?

Who has been affected by what has happened?

What can be done to help make the situation right?

In our GIFT groups, students practiced scenarios and resolutions. 

This past week, we again thought about things in the world that aren't fair:

People without enough food

Religious persecution

War

People without water

Prejudice

Lack of health care in some countries

Babies dying because of lack of care. 

Each GIFT group posted on of their ideas on the wall. Then in GIFT groups, students looked for articles in the newspapers that showed injustice. A few students also chose to draw pictures showing injustice as well. We displayed these on a poster board and covered them with scripture. 

We pray for God's nearness in all the situations of injustice in our schools, homes, playgrounds and in the world around us. 

Image Reflecting

Last week, we had our last chapel on Image Reflecting. 

We began with a wonderful play by Grade 7 and JK/SK students. How cute!

We also were led by Grade 2 on the orffs in Let Me Be Your Servant.

The JK/SK's also led us in a new song I Want to be Like Jesus.

We then met with our GIFT groups. We talked about how we see Jesus reflected in the people in our group. What a special time this was to hear students' comments:
I see Jesus reflected in you when you help me with my math. 
I see Jesus reflected in you because you are always smiling. 
I see Jesus reflected in you when you play sports at recess. 
I see Jesus in you because you are kind. 
I see Jesus' in you when you ask everyone to play with you. 

Sweet, sweet comments because they were from the heart and got to the heart of image reflecting.
We show who Jesus is when we live our lives for Him. Every action and reaction!


Our GIFT group members then took a picture of someone else in the GIFT group and wrote a word on top of the picture of how they see Jesus' reflection.

What a wonderful display!

May we, as students, teachers, and parents, always continue to shine for Him!

Options 2015

Every other year we offer our students an opportunity to learn a new craft, skill or game. We call this Winter Options. We are very fortunate to have many members come from the community to volunteer their time to teach and lead our students in small groups. This year, these volunteers, along with our upper grade staff, were able to offer scrap booking, cake decorating, crafts, card making, knitting, sewing, quilting, geocaching, RISK, corking, vegetarian cooking, floor hockey and crocheting. On Tuesday afternoons, over a three week period, our Grades 4-8 students participated in one of these outside our regular curriculum. 

THANK YOU to our volunteers that allowed this fun program to happen!

Open House!

We are looking forward to opening our doors to share what happens here at Beacon. 

Please share with your friends and neighbours and invite them to check us out!

Image Reflecting

Being an image bearer isn't something we DO. It is deeper than that.  Image bearer is what we ARE.  We reflect God’s image! We are all image bearers of Christ! Think about it like a mirror – the image of the ‘real person’ is reflected in the mirror. You don’t see the actual real person, but you see what they are like. All the characteristics we admire in God are also within us – we are His reflection.

And not only us!  All humans were created in that image. Sin can often fog the mirror and make the reflection more difficult to see.  Challenging our students in their learning activities to see themselves and each other as reflecting God’s image is only part of our task.  We need to also challenge them to see the image bearer in the hungry child, the hardened criminal, the school bully and the careless teacher! 

People around us often form impressions of who God is by looking at God’s followers.  Students need to learn that while they are image bearers, they can distort the image by what they do.  The more Christ-like our actions are, the more clearly Christ’s light shines in a dark world

.- Doug Monsoma - Teaching For Transformation.

What's in the box? The best, most valuable, irreplaceable thing in the world! 

A few students were able to have a peak during chapel, as long as they promised not to tell. 

What could it be? 

A very valuable Pokemon card? A diamond? Love?

 All good answers from our students. 

Finally, we all got to see! It was our reflection in the mirror!

This month, our throughline focus is Image Reflecting.

Image reflecting is what happens when we look at ourselves and others and see God.
When we look in the mirror, we see our face but also the reflection of God. God is fixing our reflection more and more every day to look more like Him.

The Grade 5 students led us on the recorders.

We also learned a new song Christ Be All Around Me

Being an image reflector means letting our light shine! Notes have been posted on the bathroom mirrors for the last week, reminding students and staff, when they look in the mirror, to reflect God`s image and shine! 

Epiphany

Today in chapel we recognized that today is Epiphany in our Christian calendar. 

Our Grade 6 students did an excellent job explaining just what "e-piffany" is!

Epiphany is celebrated on January 6 and it commemorates the Magi or Three Wise men arriving in Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus. It is sometimes called the 12th Day. It recognizes their response to Christ's revelation.

Our kindergarten students held their stars up high while we sang "We Three Kings". We want to remember to shine our lights till Jesus comes!

We also heard this lovely song called One King by Point of Grace