The Beginning
I used to eat lunch very day with our Kindergarten through fourth grades. It was a blast and everyday is hug day. This is about my adventure at that age! It's from August 9, 2011.
It
was the first day of school and a good one. Our enrollment is solid,
not a given in tough economic times for Christian schools. I believe we
are close to six hundred students for K-12 which translates to a small
but not tiny school. We have wonderful students academically,
extracurricularly, socially, and most important, spiritually. I'm
teaching five classes (two eighth grade and three sophomore) as well as
coaching basketball. There were the normal glitches; my ceiling
projector, which I have come to rely on, has a burned out bulb so I had
to post assignments on the board. Can you get any more archaic than
that? We had our first chapel, first lunch, first everything. It was a
good first day.
One
of the wonderful things about our school is that it contains such a
wide variety of ages so I get to interact with both eighteen year olds
and three year olds. This morning, I walked by Mrs. Semanek's
kindergarten class while they were having their first water
fountain/bathroom break. They were neatly and quietly lined up on the
wall outside the nurse's office. As I passed by, Mrs. Semanek said,
"Coach Hawley, can you believe these children are in kindergarten? You would think they are first graders!"
Well-placed
praise is always effective, even with five year olds. I readily agreed
to her evaluation of the class she will mentor for the next
one-hundred-eighty school days. They are blessed to have her.
As
I thought about this first day of school, I was reminded of how much
more exciting school was in kindergarten. I have so many vivid memories
of that year at Willard School in York, Nebraska. Two years ago, Don
Knipfel, one of my childhood friends and high school basketball
teammates, sent me the two pictures above of Mrs. Petersen's class of
which I was a proud member. In the top photo, I'm in the second row
between Don (red shirt) and Rex Ellis. In the second picture, I'm in the
top row, second from left, between Brad Gloystein and Scott Grosse. At
five years of age, I thought Mrs. Petersen was ancient. Obviously,
ancient is a term relative to the observer's age! But it was a terrific
introduction to school in small town, USA. Times have changed and
culture has changed but kids are still needing love and guidance from
their teachers. I got that from Mrs. Petersen; our kids will receive it
from Mrs. Semanek. In church and chapel, we sing, "Jesus loves the little children." If the children are blessed, their teachers love them, too.
"I learned that you should feel when writing, not like Lord Byron on a mountain top, but like child stringing beads in kindergarten, - happy, absorbed and quietly putting one bead on after another."
Brenda Ueland
God bless,
Steve
Steve
Luke 18:1
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