Today I gave a child an extra lap for inappropriate behavior while running. Greg came to me and said, “Uh, I kinda did that too.” And before I could really say anything he voluntarily ran an extra lap.

Ms. Marietta spilled a friend’s cup of milk. They all seemed surprised that a teacher would do that. I said, “Sometimes adults have accidents, and we can learn from them.” Adam said, “Yep, we learn from the best.”

Teach good students
Excellent
A+ and adventurous
Character leaders and check homework
Hopeful and helping
Energetic, entertaining, and enjoyment
Readers and read books to their students

Things my students said were important at HCS:  building each other up, courtesy (raising hand), cheerful when you don’t want to do your work, believing in God, follow directions so we’re safe, being good sports, being respectful/caring (don’t wake the babies), following virtues, friendship, honesty, reading (after some prompting).

Kimmy, Zara, and Bella were having “dinner” at the table. Kimmy was sad about not getting the plate she wanted and started crying. Bella quickly scooped some food onto Kimmy’s plate and said, “Eat your chicken. It will help you feel better.” Zara chimed in and said, “Dry your tears and you will feel happy again.” A couple minutes later they were all happily eating chicken together with smiles on their faces.

Nic and Callie were playing house. Nic asked Callie to leave and go to her house. She said, “No, Nic. I just want to be here for you.”

In Aftercare, we were playing Apples to Apples. One friend picked up the card “midwife”. Not understanding, he asked what it meant. Before I could answer, another student said that it is a lady that is getting ready to get married. Another response was that it is a wife that isn’t good or bad, just somewhere in between. Needless to say, the teachers had a really good laugh about that.

Yesterday in Bible class we studied 1 Peter 5:1-6, which talks about humbly serving others. This morning I was in the hall listening to a student say Bible memory. When I came back into the classroom I found a bottle of coke sitting by my computer. I was thrilled and very curious about where it came from.

Eventually, it came to the light that Will had given it to me. He admitted that he had been inspired to do it after Bible class yesterday.

A fourth grader wrote, “My school is unique because this school is blessed by God because we choose him, and because we are one of the only Christian schools in Baltimore.”

Today, a student who has struggled with accepting homework was feeling overwhelmed with all the papers he would have to complete before going home. I showed him that he can start with the ones that are almost done, and he quickly would have less. He managed to get several out of the way in the few minutes he had left until lunch. It was with great delight that I saw another student high-fiving him and telling him “Good job!” 

The 3s class were playing on the front playground. Jacki noticed that Isla looked sad. She approached her and said, “Do you want to come sit beside me and look at the sky?” Isla came and sat beside Jacki and they talked for awhile. 

Isaac was sitting at the table and in his whiny voice complained “I just keep getting boogers” 👃🏼😂

Ms. Charis was discussing with one boy about another two-year-old friend who wasn’t getting his coat on when he should be. Another friend piped up and suggested “two seconds.” Where had he heard that before? 🤔

One of the teachers was having a tough day: Owen sensed something and proceeded to ask “Do you love all our friends?” 😮

One day, while sitting at the table with his friends, Adam turns to Sienna and asks, “Are you my best friend?” She does not respond, so Adam asks again, “Are you my best friend?” This time Sienna responds with a drawn-out, “Yeeeesss.” Adam is most pleased with this response and continues to do his activity.

Miss Rosene took her classroom down to the train tracks to hopefully see the train go by. While waiting, they were playing I-Spy. Each of Miss Rosene’s friends took turns spying things, houses, grass, clouds, and train gates. When Jackson’s turn to spy something came, he looked at Miss Rosene and said, “I spy YOU!”

Amelia was restless at quiet time. She asked me, “Is Jesus with me?” I said, “Yes.” I asked her how that makes her feel. She replied by saying, “Maybe a little sad because I can’t see Him.” She then was quietly talking and thinking, and then she said, “When there is a hole, He can rescue us.”

Layla’s lunchtime prayer included these key words: “Thank you for the school we have and help the teachers be good.”

Sydney was concerned when Ms. Kendra served lunch instead of Ms. Bethany. I was explaining to them that Ms. Bethany is doing training. Soon I heard Sydney tell her friends that Ms. Bethany is doing “train tracks” and that’s why she didn’t serve lunch.

I was pretending to cry while playing with the friends. Leah looked at me with very concerned eyes, then said, “Don’t be sad, teachers are happy.”

One day, I got transported to the time of Ancient Rome. As soon as I got there, I saw many of Jesus’ disciples. I was dressed like them. I saw many Roman people lining up to a big building. Then I remembered my teacher talking about the Colosseum. It was the Colosseum! I got in line, but a Roman soldier stopped me. He asked me, “Are you one of Jesus’ apostles?”

“No.” I said.

“Do you believe in Jesus?”

“Yes!”

“Then, I will take you to Emperor Nero!”

I was shocked and terrified. I remember that Ms. Melanie said that Paul and Peter were killed by Nero.

I was on the way home from church one dark, rainy evening. I heard a bunch of voices on the other side of the street and heard a man call to me. I turned and saw the Semgrove family. Sam and Joseph were yelling “Ms. Melanie, Ms. Melanie,” and waving enthusiastically from their places in the van. Somehow they had spotted me all the way across the street in the darkness. Dad opened the van door, and I went over to talk to the family.

Dad said, “You just made their night.”
 Grandma said, “I don’t know what you’re doing to these kids, but every time they see you, they get so excited.”
 Sam said, “I’ll see you on Monday!”
 
The family was on their way home from church and had stopped to drop off the grandmother when I walked past. They certainly made my night too.

• Riley, as to a reason why he didn’t want to eat all the food in front of him: “I don’t want to be fat so my stomach goes all the way to heaven!
• Misha burped (very unlike her). Riley: “This is how you do it. ‘Excuse you, bro!'”

Claudia: “There are 4 things and 4 people. Everyone can do 1.”
Vesper came to me and said, “We voted for 2 things, and everyone wanted 1 thing, and no one wanted the others.” I asked what the problem was. “It’s not a problem; it’s a good thing.”
 Claudia:  Should we do it like this?
 Vesper:  Or we could. . .
Spencer:  Let’s see what Vesper wants.
 Vesper:  Draws on the white board.
 Everyone:  Yeah!
 Spencer:  We all agreed!

We had read the book about filling our buckets several days ago. Isaiah asked if we were going to go to the back field when we went outside. When asked why he wanted to go to the back field, he said, “So I can pick flowers for my mom and dad to fill their buckets.”

One day as I asked Joanne what she wanted for seconds, I noticed that somehow her vegetables were doused with applesauce. I asked her what happened and why it happened. She looked me in the eye and said, “No reason, Ms. Beckamy, nothing happened, it’s just there.” While mildly concerning in the truth-telling department, this moment demonstrates her keen grasp of cause and effect and her ability to clearly articulate her perspective.

This morning, K – 3 sang together as they frequently do Friday mornings. We started out with our theme song “Show a Little Bit of Love and Kindness.” A student raised her hand and said she saw something this morning and she thinks Jesus would like us to do something about it. She hopped up and grabbed a marker, ready to draw or write it out. I suggested she just tell us with her words. She said on the way to school they saw a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk by a nearby church. She wondered if we could go and take him home and give him some food so he wouldn’t die. I told her maybe we could do something and that we could talk to Mr. H later. After classes were dismissed from singing, I took Grade 1 down to the office to talk with Mr. H. She explained to him what the problem was and wondered if we could take him some food. Another child wondered about some clothes. Mr. H wondered about taking him a Subway gift card so he could get food if he was hungry and perhaps he could find out if he needs food. The children were ready to go with him to help the man, but I told them Mr. H would take care of it but that we could pray for the man. We went up to the classroom and 3 of the kids had heartfelt prayers for the man (and also for another student’s bite on his neck). Her prayer included “Help our class to be flourishing and the whole school to be flourishing and not to be toxic.” Mr. H later came and told us that he had gone over to the man and he was still sleeping, so he decided not to wake him up. He put the Subway card beside the man so he could see it when he woke up.

David is often asking about Mollie and wondering where she is. David was the first friend to arrive and was eating breakfast without any of his friends. I was praying with him and he kept saying “Mollie, Mollie” basically the whole time we were praying. He was concerned about where she was.

The HCS garden spot in our back walks has been flourishing this summer! Recently a teacher put some free vegetables from the garden out for parents to take home. A parent was super happy to find a cucumber from the HCS garden. She said her child loves cucumbers; they were out of cucumbers; and this would hold them over until tomorrow. We find that many of our parents are very keen on getting their children to love vegetables. One 3 year old always has a snack when his parents come pick him up, and sometimes it’s Peanut Butter Broccoli – raw broccoli with peanut butter.