It's been really neat this year to go about discussions a little differently. I guess I've been thinking about how I am with these kids for 7 hours a day (more than some of the parents) and how God would want me to teach them in the way of Lord. This is tricky of course because I'm not allowed to bring up God, Jesus or faith. I don't think this has to completely close the door though because they are allowed to talk about it if a student brings it up...
I have a series of Big Books about science. Some are about how plants and animals grow, some are about recycling, some are about life cycles. When we talked the other day about the life cycle of a butterfly, I mentioned how it's so cool that no one taught the butterfly how to be an egg, form into a caterpillar, create a chrysalis, and bust out a butterfly! It was just created that way to do that specific purpose. If I act really excited about those things, then they get even more excited! They have an amazing sense of wonder. I regularly talk about things like how awesome it is that flowers weren't taught how to break through their seed or push through the dirt, or bees weren't taught how to pollinate, or that the Earth is only 1 of trillions of other planets, they were just created that way! Usually a student will say that God created it to do that. Then I just smile and sit back while they finish their little discussion about God without me saying a word. Yesterday in learning about space, the students thought it was so cool that if Earth were a little closer or farther away from the sun, there would be no life on Earth. They also found it interesting that that little Earth in the picture is just one of trillions(?) of other planets and other solar systems. At the end of the lesson, Noah said, "Wow, He's a really big God!" The 5 year olds get it. Most adults don't... So strange. I've learned a lot this year about appreciating (or even noticing) little things in nature from this group of kids. We could all take a lesson on being appreciative of God and his creation from these Kindergarteners!
