Tubes, Tunnels, and Christ's Love

Our preschool learners explore many fascinating topics. Among them is a unit called “Tubes and Tunnels.” In order to deepen learning, preschool students used various tubes and balls to create art. They experimented with paper towel rolls, straws, and marbles. Our young learners thrive in these hands-on learning experiences. For them, the act of play is serious learning. 

However, instead of sending the work home, teachers invited the students to create bookmarks to be shared at a widow and widowers banquet. The artistic bookmarks were a gift to the attenders, and they served as a reminder to “Always remember that Jesus loves you.” The bookmarks were warmly received and deeply appreciated.

This creative project was real work that touched real people and allowed our students to share God’s real love. We hope our preschool children acquire foundational skills in preschool and also discover how to share the love of Jesus with others.

The Daily Grind: Episode 1

Learning By Listening

Check out the update below shared from one of our middle school staff members

In eighth grade middle school science, an essential unit of study is the nervous system and brain. As a teacher, my deep hope for my students is that they recognize the fallenness in creation and work to bring restoration in creation. During this unit, the students conduct a personal interview that explores creation, fall, and restoration and this intersection with the nervous system.  

After studying how the brain functions and the effects of trauma on the brain, my students need to find someone who has dealt with a significant nervous system issue who is willing to be interviewed. The person may have experienced trauma, an addiction, a disease, or a disorder.  Once they connect with a community member, my students conduct research on the issue their person is facing. They do this research not only to educate themselves, but also to (later) educate their peers. Next, we work on interviews. Important learning targets include students knowing how to conduct an interview and how to word questions effectively. My students then interview their person about the issue they have faced. The essential learning target for my students is that they can gain empathy by walking alongside someone who has dealt with a significant nervous system issue. In doing this, they learn what helps the person, what hurts the person, and how the person's walk with God has been affected by the issue. Our goal is to create disciples who learn to help in these fallen situations.  

The end product for each student is a presentation to their peers in which they share with the class about the issue their interviewee faced, and they tell us their story. What helped? What hurt? What can we do to make a difference? How can we work for restoration here?  

The students then wrap up with some reflection of their own. These reflections show the transformational learning that occurred because of this project. A student wrote, “I saw God in how the person's faith was tested and how they had to learn why it was happening, and that they needed to trust God. God used me by allowing me to let them be able to talk about what happened and just try to comfort them after they were able to talk about it.” Another student shared, “I think that I saw God in the connection between the person and me. We had both been through similar situations, so everything she said resonated with me. I found a new relationship with someone who I never would have guessed I would have a relationship with. I think God used me so that the person I interviewed could see another way God used their struggles in the life of someone else (myself).”

These interviews, presentations, and reflections were meaningful work with real people.  Our students grew in understanding and empathy, and sometimes showed a person how God was using an otherwise tough event in their lives for restoration.

Clay

Congratulations Class of 2022

Congratulations to our eighth grade class of 2022! On the evening of June 2, we celebrated this group of students and the work God is doing in their lives. Parents, grandparents, and friends enjoyed a graduation program which included musical performances, student speakers, and teachers sharing about each individual graduate. We are so grateful for the time each student has had at BCCS and for the ways each one has enriched our lives. We have also been blessed to partner with each of their families as together we help students succeed. 

Each year, eighth grade students prepare and present two final projects summarizing their time at BCCS. Each individual tells a different story, but it is clear that in their time at BCCS, God is working in their hearts. 

Along with academic preparation, our hope, together with parents, is that our students have a foundation that will last a lifetime. We pray that what was started at BCCS will continue in high school and prepare them for a life of serving Christ. May God bless each graduate as they head to high school this fall!

Rooted in Prayer

This spring, one of our full-day preschool classes spent time specifically learning about prayer. Katelyn Peterson, preschool teacher, shares the following:

As Lent was approaching, I wondered how we could incorporate fasting into our preschool routine. Since the concept of fasting is rather abstract for preschool minds, I decided to have the students sacrifice five minutes of playtime and replace it with five minutes of prayer time. We discussed a prayer topic and how to pray about that topic as a large group, then dispersed to pray privately to God for five minutes. We’ve talked about the throughline Image Reflecting and phrased it “being like Jesus.” Our main learning target for the Lent prayer unit was “I can be like Jesus by praying to God every day.” 

After students felt comfortable in this routine, I thought it would be great for the 4th graders to come in and teach us a little bit about the fasting that they did earlier this school year. We decided to partner up as “prayer buddies.” In the first session, the preschoolers showed the 4th graders how we pray. During the next session, the 4th graders taught us how they pray. This experience has enriched the students’ prayer lives in both grade levels, and gave them an opportunity to build new relationships.

We also have a paper prayer chain hanging in our room. Each day after we pray, we add another piece to our chain. I write the prayer topic on each piece of paper so we can see what we’ve prayed about. The preschoolers have enjoyed counting how many pieces are in our chain, which represent the amount of days we have prayed together for Lent. To conclude the unit, we transformed the paper chain into the shape of a cross, so students can visually see the redemption aspect of God’s story. We plan to continue our partnership with fourth grade. It has been significant for my students and has provided the older kids a great learning opportunity as well!

Here at BCCS, faith journeys begin in preschool. Discovering the power of prayer is an important part of that experience!

Justice Seeking

In 4th grade social studies, students learn about Human-Environment Interaction. Within this unit, they look at how people interact with each other and the world, specifically focusing on the United States.

In one activity, students explored stories of immigrants, push and pull factors, and challenges that they may face. One challenge teachers talked about is leaving home, packing belongings, and moving to a new place....so they provided students the opportunity to put themselves in someone else's shoes by packing their own suitcases for a day (and taking them everywhere they went).

In further lessons, students learn how America has all different types of people and study how our country has significant cultural diversity. Digging deeper, our students talk about the throughline of justice-seeking and determine that justice is more than just equality or just equity, but it is also offering access to both tools and opportunities.

In social studies, learning about Human-Environment Interaction is important, but it is essential to understand God's call for us to seek justice and seek restoration in all things. We want students to be able to put themselves in someone’s shoes, recognize diversity, and responded as a Christian to the beauty of God’s diversity!

Building Math Skills

5th grade math can be a lot of fun! In one learning activity this year, students were tasked with designing a playhouse for someone's grandchildren. They walked through various stages of researching, planning , drawing, designing, and building to develop a final model.

Once constructed, students established a scale and made a list of materials (including prices and quantities) necessary for construction. Students had to research lumber and other material prices and formulate a budget and total cost for the project to determine if it could be implemented!

In this type of work, students are engaging in very applicable learning and teachers are able to be both support and challenge (depending on the student) in the same environment!

God is Working

In previous posts, we have shared the story of the second grade prayer walk that deepens the learning of our social studies unit on Communities. Students learn about community in the classroom and then engage in the work of being community builders by walking through Byron Center, meeting business owners and employees, and praying for businesses. Teachers have found this learning experience to be very powerful for students as they not only expand their knowledge of the subject, but also actively engage with their community. 

However, this year we were reminded that God is constantly working through people and plans. A few weeks after their prayer walk, the class learned that one of the businesses they prayed for suffered some damage. Upon hearing this, students wanted to go back to pray again and to send cards showing support and offering to help. 

This is what transformational learning is all about. Students were able to see a need, or in this case a problem, and find a way to be the hands and feet of Jesus. While a seven year old may not be able to repair a building, we still want our students to let God work through them. Our second graders brought powerful words of peace, support, and care. In all that we do, we must glorify God by caring for others. Our deep hope is that God continues to transform the hearts of our students so He can be exalted through their learning and their work. 

Image Reflecting

The following is a powerful excerpt taken from a teacher’s reflection for a professional development class. Want to know why BCCS teachers do what they do? Read below as fifth grade teacher Jennifer Hackbarth unpacks teaching by saying:

Without first recognizing that they (students) were created in the image of God and that their purpose is to die to the flesh and give God all the glory, they have no reason to live in a way that models the character of Jesus. There are many secular liturgies that are competing with our identity in Christ. As a teacher, I have to intentionally be working against those lies and misunderstandings. I can do this by aligning my teaching in truth and actively inviting students to enter into the life that God intended for them.

As teachers, we are working on our own to discover and unpack our identity in Christ through constant reading of scripture and reminding ourselves of the truths of the gospel. My understanding of who I am in Christ works to shape the deep hope that I have for my students in my classroom. My deep hope is that my students discover their gifts, embrace their weaknesses, and understand that God’s love doesn’t depend on either.

A false liturgy that is detrimental to students and their growth both in the classroom and in their relationship with Jesus, has been the liturgy that their performance is their identity. In my own life, I know how easy it is to believe the lie that the better I perform, the more I will be loved by God and others. One verse that has been monumental to me is 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. It says, “but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” I have memorized this verse and recited it to myself over and over, especially when I am feeling defeated, shameful, or inadequate because of my performance. I need reminders of God’s unconditional love. Because of my personal experience, I know that my students need to hear the same message.

This is why it’s helpful to intentionally create not only daily learning targets, but also 60-year learning targets. Sixty-year learning targets are intended to root students in truth and remind them of their purpose. It’s easy to get caught up as a teacher in simply going by the books and teaching the curriculum, but when I take a step back and reflect on the bigger picture, I am able to discover more meaningful ways to invite students to live out their greater calling.

My storyline, “Risk Big,” is an invitation to my students. When my students understand the truth of their identity in Christ, and when they are able to recognize the deep, wide, and vast love of Christ, then they will be able to step outside of themselves and risk big for the sake of the gospel. When they understand that God’s love is not dependent, then they can let go of the fear of letting themselves, others, and God down. They know that their identity is not strapped to how well they do on their math test or the number of friends they have at school. Their identity is solely in the fact that Christ died for them and took their place. It is the most rewarding thing as a teacher to see my students living out this truth and accepting this invitation.

In my first year of teaching I have learned a lot about myself and what I understand to be my purpose and calling as a teacher….I am recalibrating and reorienting my heart. I am shifting my focus away from this world and onto the one thing that matters–Christ.

Amen.

Important Learning

Cathy Clousing, one of four kindergarten teachers at BCCS, shares the following reflection about some of the most important learning her students experience. 

I always introduce the word "unique" at the beginning of kindergarten. We start our year in the Bible curriculum with the story of Jesus, and how much He loves and values children. After sharing the story of the children coming to Him (Matthew 19:14), I ask my students to draw self portraits. We look in a mirror and notice things about the way God made us. We draw our self portraits with different eyes, noses, mouths, hair and skin colors. We all look different. We can see the ways God made us different. 

Following their classroom portrait work, I ask parents to help describe the ways their children are unique. Having parents write about the qualities that set their children apart and make them unique is powerful. 

After hearing from parents, the students and I talk about the way God made us unique. Each child gets a turn to be in the front of the class as I read what their parents wrote about them. 

We can't "see" all the special ways He wired us, but our parents are really great at describing us. I want the children to see that being part of God's story and using your unique gifts doesn't start when you grow to be bigger or more independent. He created you to live in His story in our classroom and in our homes. 

I want them to know God made them unique so they can be busy doing God's work every day, no matter where they are. God created them to be artistic, hardworking, musical, great with numbers, creative, funny, silly, empathetic, or sensitive so HE can use them for His kingdom every day. 

As a teacher, I have the privilege of watching as these little people discover that they can shine for Jesus in ways that are so natural and automatic, because God made them unique: being a kind friend, treating others (adults and people we don't even know) with kindness and respect, encouraging a friend with artwork, picking up the spilled crayons of a classmate, or helping when they see someone's snow pants are inside out. I think that is one of the most important things they will learn all year!