I sat for a while this morning under my Christmas tree. Tomorrow is Twelth Night and tradition tells me to take down the decorations tomorrow. This will be especially hard this year because Martin and I started a new tradition this year. We prayed over every ornament, bauble, angel etc and dedicated 1 to each person in our lives. We asked God for health, prosperity and success for each and the tree has seemed very special this year! As we take them down tomorrow, it will be in silence and in prayer and more prayers will be added-the children at Sandy Hook, the firemen who were gunned down recently and the terrified people of Syria.
This year we have purchased a new tree in the sales and so this little one will be given away but it has served us well and brought much joy!
All the children of ICE-both here and overseas, are represented on the tree and I have decided to make a new Tree of Love and leave it up all year. All the children will be added and prayed for regularly as well as family, friends, colleagues and clients. I want our organisation to be surrounded in a huge ball of positivity and love this year and this will be a beginning! I have no idea how I will make this but no doubt as I sit on the beach this morning the ideas will flow in! Within this huge ball of love, we need to practise self nurture and love -so the beach is the first place for me today before the cares of the day crowd in for notice!
MY FAVOURITE JOB EACH YEAR
Today I have tackled my favourite job-actually more of a sacred duty!
I have gone through all my picture books-hundreds!- and chosen the ones I want to use this year. (Of course I will find many more!) Then I have put them in order of appearance and started planning how we will use them. I LOVE this part of the planning process as I want children to love books as much as I do and choosing from the best available gives me so much pleasure!
Of course I have to re-read and sit staring ay amazing illustrations- not to mention showing my selections to the teachers and children at ICE today!
As I handle each book, ideas fly in and I imagine what we will do to deepen understanding. Ways of linking titles and authors to study start to appear! I realise that Colin Thomson will be big this year!
All my Aussie books are boxed and ready for the Australia Day lead-up and I can’t wait to share Bronwyn Bancroft’s fantastic Aboriginal pictures. Sally Morgan’s “In Your Dreams” is whispering, “read me this year” and so I will!
Karen Treanor’s marvellous “Sleepy Harley” calls loudly and I remember with pleasure how the children loved this story last year because it is set in our street!
Bill Martin’s wonderful poem anthology yells, “Pick me!” and suddenly I realise I have done it again-chosen 3x more than we need yet somehow it doesn’t matter! The feast of literature has started- the food is in the book pantry and we begin to taste! Ah-delicious……
We Begin……….
This first day of the holiday BOOST program always feels strange- like we are all in slow motion! I think it is because at the end of the year we are all running as fast as we can-then we break and relax and then back to it, and yet back with a calmer spirit. Somehow after rest we are able to see the “whole picture” again and really enjoy the teaching process.
We noticed the students were far more relaxed and receptive. I am always surprised by how much the children achieve during the holidays. It really does bear out the research that shows relaxed students learn more!
The whole day flowed so easily and none of us felt tired or stressed. We have only had about 1 week off (students have had 2), but the difference in tension levels is HUGE!
All through the holidays we are working on our special theme packs to interest the children and help them enjoy the “wholeness” of learning. I am convinced we need to teach in a very focused, explicit way but within a meaningful, enjoyable theme that MATTERS to children. For me-nothing beats the shining eyes of a bunch of children totally engaged and interested in the subject matter.
Really teaching children has to be the most sacred profession of all!
