James calls the readers of his letter to perfection--but not in the way we commonly use the term. He does not call us to check off boxes on a list of “to-dos” that will make us the best student, son, daughter, or friend. Perfection does not mean getting 100% on a spelling test or never missing a basket at practice. Perfection does not even always serving others and putting their needs before your own. Perfection simply means “wholeness”. It means the healing of our broken hearts, shattered by sin and the death that it brings. It means knowing Jesus and allowing him to put our hearts back together, piece by piece, through our belief in the truth of his promise to redeem every part of us, through his loving sacrifice.
Just like the Japanese technique of fixing back together broken pottery with precious gold, Jesus puts our hearts back together--not to what it was in the beginning but allowing even our scars to be made precious by his glory. Our hearts shine forth his glory. Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8) Praise be to him who makes us perfect--whole.
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We are entering into our pre-American Revolution unit full tilt! Exploring the wilds of the Ohio River Valley, we've witnessed the tension between the growing English colonies and the French and Native American occupants of the "wilderness" out west. To explore the perspectives of different members of the fray, the kids wrote up and acted out some skits, filled with both laughter and many shouts of "ARG!!" during our battles. We're looking forward to delving into the consequences of that war, pushing into the next skirmishes that would lead to open revolution and democracy to the world.
This week was the culmination of many splinters, rolls of duct tape, paper towel tubes, and spray paint lost to the cause of popping a few balloons in the name of science! The kids did a great job explaining and demonstrating their contraptions, and I am so proud of their grace under pressure and humility when the trials did not all work the first time. This was an impressive accomplishment, one that the younger students thoroughly enjoyed witnessing. Thank you all for your patience and support of your students as they learned! If you haven't investigated it already, please take a look at Miss Eekhoff's photos of the day.
For a week preceding Christmas, Covenant's fifth graders took part in a Dollar-a-Day Challenge to highlight what we have been learning about Africa. Through our lessons and discussions about eastern Africa, we have discovered that there are incredible beauties there but also the incredible hardships that the many people face daily. In Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, and Rwanda, whole families of 10+ people try to survive on $1 a day. This means each person may eat one meal a day of questionable nutrition, struggling to have energy to work or go to school.
The kids were challenged to live on $1 during each school day. Every item they used had a coin value placed on it, and they faced tough decisions while trying to spend their money wisely. Should they purchase shoes or Christmas lights? Should they invest in a mechanical pencil or a regular one, with the risk that they may have to pay for the use of the pencil sharpener? Alongside this, they discussed their thoughts in a journal and also as a class. They learned hard truths about sacrificing "wants" for "needs". If they needed a jacket to go outside for recess, but they also wanted a chair, they had to decide what was the priority. What could they live without? Throughout their week, the kids grew in their empathy for those countless people who live below the poverty line in countries around the world, particularly in Africa. It was wearisome to do without the cookies in their lunches and chairs, socks, and shoes. The allure of sitting on a chilly floor loses its luster after a few hours. They now recognize more clearly how difficult it is to manage money, as well as how difficult it is to do without what we would consider necessities in our society. Personally, I loved hearing, "I can't wait until I can use my chair again!" and "I never thought 20 cents was that much. Now, it feels like a million dollars!" and "I never knew I had so much stuff I don't really need." At the end of the week, the kids had the opportunity to donate the money they used throughout the experiment to World Vision, a Christian organization serving impoverished peoples around the world. Our kids specifically used the $65 raised to donate items that would be of use in Uganda: mosquito nets, chickens, medicine, clothing, and foodstuffs. Jesus calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves. However, this is difficult if we do not know what our neighbors experience, what they enjoy and love and what causes their heads and hearts to ache. Though there is certainly more to learn about the lives of our brothers and sisters in Africa, the fifth graders at Covenant have discovered a lot about the sacrifices that must be made to live in other parts of the world and what we can do to support others through their struggles. As we approach Christmas during this Advent season, we have been taking moments to pause...to reflect...to consider how God is calling to each heart in this classroom. Through our study of Hebrews 11, our students have been contemplating what it is to be faithful, seeing examples of faith throughout biblical history. We have seen men and women, such as Abraham, Moses, Jacob, and Joseph so far. These men remembered Yaweh's covenants with them, promises for children and a Promised Land, as well as provision when things became truly difficult and suffering was deep. However, in these examples of great faith we also see that they were greatly flawed. They lied, cheated, fought, and manipulated. Time and again, we saw their great faith was listening to God's voice, hearing his call to them to repent, turning their eyes back to their God, allowing him to heal their fickle, human, fallen hearts. In this season, we have been taking time to confess to the Lord our iniquities, our inability to save ourselves, and thus, we see how God's plan is the most beautiful. The God of the universe, come down as a vulnerable little baby to live life with us, then die for us, redeeming us through his resurrection. If you have not had an opportunity to check out Biola's Advent devotional calendar, we welcome you to join with us as we use it to orient ourselves toward Christ in these Advent weeks.
The fun with simple machines has begun! This week, we've explored everything from inclined planes to wedges to pully systems and how these can help us gain mechanical advantage when trying to complete work. From catapults to deluges of pulley water gallons, we have been following in the footsteps of our pal, Archimedes, investigating how simple machines can, well, make our lives simpler!
One surprising benefit of spring's odd schooling structure was that it brought me to reevaluate how I, well, evaluate the kids. When assessing my students' knowledge, there is certainly a valid (and incredibly important) place for the standard essay, as well as fill-in-the blank and some multiple choice. However, this was a difficult task to accomplish via e-learning. This pushed my fellow teachers and me to consider how to better gauge our kids' progress, even in another format. One option that stood out among the types of assessments we tried was oral exams. The kids prepared via a study guide, reading, and/or a written essay with the use of companion resources. Then, the student and teacher met for 5-10 minutes to discuss meaty questions pertaining to the topic. I saw kids for whom essays were a struggle simply flourish. They blew that first oral exam out of the water. I was stunned--how did it take a pandemic for me to think more broadly about how to assess all learning styles? I am grateful for God's graciousness in this, and I'm glad to say that we will be engaging in oral exams for our chapter 15 in history next week. The kids have had opportunity to prepare and will continue to prepare for his or her assigned exam day (see your child's assignment notebook for the date) beginning Tuesday. I look forward to the fruit God will bring, both in success for the kids' use of innate abilities, as well as growing rhetoric skills in discussion.
This week, we traveled to England, discovering more of the atmosphere around King Charles's losing his head, as well as how plague and fire affected Londoners. The kids did a great job re-enacting those moments. We've certainly got some actors around here! If you'd like to take a look, feel free to enjoy our videos here ...with some fresh popcorn, of course.
Recently, the fifth grade tried their hands (and shoulders...and comfort of dry clothes) at practicing centripetal force. We've been exploring the laws of physics pertaining to gravity and how our solar system is such a finely tuned piece of God's artistry. It has been a lot of fun to see the kids step out of their comfort zones and take on the risk of a deluge--all in the name of science!
For your viewing pleasure, take a look at the videos of our experiments! In our reading of Amos Fortune recently, we explored At-mun's transition from being known as "At-mun" among his family's tribe in Africa to being known as "Amos" among his new owners in Boston. During our discussion, we built on the ideas from our first day: Can someone or something take away our true identities? With much struggling over the injustice of what happened to Amos, we came to the conclusion that while a name is significant, our true names cannot be taken away. Amos will always truly be At-mun, even if he was called by a new name. This weekend to further their understanding of Amos's circumstances, the kids will be considering the significance of their own names and what those mean to them.
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