If you think the title "Out Like a Lamb" is in reference to a calm week, you would be mistaken as these last couple weeks were filled with activities and events just like all the other weeks, but I will explain the title again at the end of the post for those of you who continue to read.
These last couple weeks, the students have been practicing how to add "not" to a sentence to make the meaning opposite; ie: "I can ride a bike." vs. "I cannot ride a bike." We also worked on looking for "not" in contractions (can't, don't, won't, etc.). Many of the kids have already learned this in school, but it is my understanding that they sometimes learn the contractions first and then are unable to break apart the contraction into the base words or occasionally completely miss the word "not" in the reading as they are not used to looking for the word. Of course, Elephant and Piggie are helping us study "not" sentences and contractions, and the kids have been having extra fun with the games these past weeks as they ask to continue playing!
Circle Time Games
Whenever I ask one boy in the class what he likes about English Class, he always replies rebelliously and jokingly, "computer games are better!" Since I never got any real feedback from the student, I relied mostly on his sister, who is also in the class, to tell me what her brother actually enjoys. Last week, this student came to Kid's Club on Tuesday and when he saw me, he came running up to me shouting, "Kendra! Kendra!" He gave me a high-five greeting and then continued in his best English, "English Class very good! Very good yesterday!" I smiled at the first feedback I received from the student, and I smiled at his victorious effort in using English.
... It is possible that my translators are just as addicted to these stories as the kids are!
The best part about having four gifted teens with a heart for kids and a talent in teaching English is watching them become leaders. One of the translators would even like to study to be an English teacher in the future! I am certainly blessed by all the extra help with the Kid's Class, and the kids learn more when I can split them into smaller groups so they can practice their new English Skills with one of the many translators.
Card Games with a Translator
Small Group Time
Contraction Surgery - the kids cut apart the words and taped them together to make contractions! It was such a fun activity and the students were so engaged in the lesson; I only wish I had set aside more time for the activity.
The Little's seem to have also sprung like the first spring forest flowers! One day last week, there were nine littles who came to join in on the activities (plus two baby siblings). It was one of the biggest classes I can remember at Little Linguists, and the theme was a big hit for the oldest toddlers all the way down to the little babies. I simply had the theme "Circle" and we sang a song about making a circle with friends, sang the song again with a parachute, played with hula-hoop circles, read Press Here (a story about colorful circles), and made circle art like the pictures in the book!
Playing with Hula Hoops
"Press Here" by Herve Tullet and Circle Art Resembling the Pictures in the Book
Play-dough Fun
Making Gingerbread Decorations with the Play-Dough (a variation activity)
We had a Special Club in both Letovice and Boskovice two weeks ago to give the kids something different to do than the traditional club games. The Special Club was the same in both locations - we created a mysterious "village" that was controlled by a character called "Time Master." About every 7 minutes, time relapsed and all the leaders would return to their original positions and act is if they did not already know the kids. The kids, the only hope for the village as they were not affected by the relapsing time, had to collect five clues from five different leader characters. This was a hard task to complete since the leaders "forgot" the children after each time-lapse! After collecting all the clues, the students were able to piece together which of the leaders was the Time Master. They then had to defeat the Time Master and all the other leaders in a huge game of dodgeball! The game was so fun to put together and create and even more fun watching the kids enjoy the afternoon in Special Club time.
Finding Time Master at Last!
Before the Special Club started, the kids already knew the basis of the game and that they would be looking for the character Time Master; however, no one knew who is the Time Master! One little girl came to me before the Special Club started and declared, "But Kendra, I know who is the Time Master." I laughed because not even the leaders knew at this point who would play this crucial role in the game! She continued, "God is the Master of Time." I paused and then said, "I didn't know your family went to church." She replied, "We sometimes go to the Catholic Church. Last week I was baptized!" I praised God for this moment to get to talk about my faith with this little girl and share joy in the fact that God has touched her heart also.
With club times full of kids, the snack bar also becomes crowded; I was glad I found this two-person game so that I can still spend some one-on-one time with the kids even while helping others at the snack bar!
Easter Break means a sleepover club with the kids! Over 70 kids joined us for a night full of games, tournaments, and hang-out time. Even with so many kids, the youth pastor was able to sit them all down for a half-hour as he shared the story of Moses and the passover as a fun, biblical history lesson that has a foundation to Easter. Later in the night, the girls and I watched an excellent animation of the story of Moses which further gave depth to the story the youth pastor had shared earlier.
The kids got to use the new blow-up field for the first time at sleepover club! There were endless competitions of dodgeball throughout the night after we all posed for this picture.
The kids (especially the girls) really enjoy playing Just Dance. When the WiFi failed during one song, the girls decided to jump like the dinosaur that is available after the internet is disconnected!
Arranging 24 girls in one room tested my Tetris skills, but we all fit and fell asleep at some point in the early hours of the morning.
Watch a short video about Sleepover Club here!
LEGO Club day at Bible Class is looked forward to by all the kids and leaders each month. The leaders have started introducing themes for the students to challenge their creativity in making objects out of these colorful, little bricks. Last week, the theme was "tools" - garden tools, kitchen tools, builder's tools, etc. I was sitting next to one little girl for a while and noticed that she continued to put a couple blocks together and then break them apart, never really creating anything. After some time I asked her what she was making; I thought maybe she had an idea and just couldn't figure out how to create the object with from the square LEGOs. She said, "I don't have an idea..." At this, I suggested we take a field trip to the kitchen and look for some tools in there; I did want it to be her idea and her creation after all! So we journeyed to the kitchen and looked at some bowls and spatulas, but then we found it... a cheese grater! The little girl and I rushed back into the LEGO room and constructed a cheese grater from LEGOs. Once we had finished making the tool, I asked the little girl, "now what?" To which she jumped up, grabbed my hand and started dragging me out of the room shouting "TO THE KITCHEN!" We made many trips back and forth to the kitchen as she continued to make different tools. As the kids diligently worked on making tools with the LEGOs, I thought about all the different tools and gifts God has given each of us to use to serve Him - a lesson I am sure the Bible Class leaders had in mind when creating this theme for the kids.
LEGO Club
I am often invited to a couple surrounding schools during a holiday to share about American holiday traditions. Easter was a fun presentation to put together as there are so many cultural differences in American and Czech Easters. In each holiday presentation, I often share the history of the holiday and why the holiday is celebrated - for many American holidays such as Easter, Christmas, and Thanksgiving, the root of the holiday is a Christian celebration. For the Easter presentation, I shared about many different secular traditions; the bunny, egg hunting, painting eggs, and so forth; however, at the beginning of the presentation, the children were given the challenge to look for clues about the one color that represents Easter during the presentation. The Easter bunny, eggs, lambs, lilies, and the president's house for Easter egg hunts are all white! I shared with the students that white symbolizes Easter because of the holiday's Christian origin and continued to tell them about the true reason we celebrate Easter.
At the end of the lesson, the students decorated an Easter egg stating something they had learned in the lesson. All the students in one class asked me to sign their eggs! :)
Finding the Easter Bunny hiding in the "burrow" (kids are hiding the bunny in their laps as one child looks for the bunny among the classmates).
As March was ending and I thought about the classic phrase of March coming in like a lion and out like a lamb. While this phrase may refer to weather (although growing up in Minnesota it is a little hard to decipher), I thought about how on the first of April this year we get to celebrate the risen lamb of God! In that way, March really ended with the lamb.
A little bit of my Easter Bible-and-Coffe time.
My pet bunny modeling for an Easter picture.
BONUS: the Saga of the Mismatched Socks continues... this week, with the boys!
