One year during my time teaching first grade in a Christian classroom, I had a little boy lose his mom in the middle of the school year. While this would be a tragedy for any student, first graders don’t have a lot of experience with death so it was especially
October is a strange month to go shopping. You can be heading down an aisle filled with witches, goblins, enormous skeletons and werewolves that are frightening even in the daylight. But when you turn the corner, you are accosted with santas, red-nosed reindeer, wrapping paper and bows. It feels rather
Martin Luther is certainly a compelling historical figure. He quite literally changed the world through his writings, teachings and outspoken criticism of the problems he saw in the church. My children love hearing his story, especially the part with the thunderstorm! They find Luther very relatable when he is cowering
October, for many people, is the highlight of the year! Although I am more of a summer person myself, I can see the appeal. The weather is crisp and cool, the sky is a special shade of blue. Gorgeous colors adorn the trees and there is a promise of excitement
Do you have a favorite bulletin board that you’ve created? One year, in my first grade classroom, I drew and cut out a red barn for the back wall. It sat on a green hill, and throughout the year my students and I would decorate it for the different seasons:
If you grew up going to a Lutheran school, there is a pretty good chance you learned the Ten Commandments at an early age. By second or third grade I could spout off God’s commands at the drop of a hat, but it wasn’t until I had to teach them
When I was earning my teaching degrees, classroom management was a big part of the discussion in the education courses I took. How do you manage an unruly student? How do you set expectations for your students? What rules do you enforce and why? For a non-Christian those may be
The Sermon on the Mount is my youngest son’s favorite story to read from his before bedtime Bible story book mostly because it features a picture of a bird pushing a grocery cart and a flower sewing itself a shirt. The picture makes him giggle every time. It makes me
My husband and I enjoy taking our family to the beach every year. I love anywhere with sun and sand, and I’m raising four sons who share my views on the matter! One of my favorite things to do while we’re there is just sit back and watch. The sea
There are a few things a bit unusual about the story of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead. First of all, Jesus instead of going to see him as soon as he hears Lazarus is sick, Jesus waits to go until Lazarus has died! Second is the awkward
