Easter and Reflections by 3rd Graders

Reflective Writing Assignment on Easter
Just a few quick responses of what’s been going on in my classroom during our study of Easter. I have tried to leave the responses as unedited as possible but explanations are included. Many of my children know the right things to say when they are prompted…this writing only included what you see below; the question.

Question: What Does Easter Mean to You?

Student #1
Easter means to me like playing in the yard with my cousins and sister the best sister of the world. I like spring and easter in spring. At Easter I play for Jesus Christ and bow my head and my eyes. I will be happy he arrived again from the dead and he is the Holy Spirit. I love Him with my heart and he loves all the people. He pertects us with his hole life and he kills the sadness. He uses his good powers to pertect the world and all the person’s should love him. He lays down his life for his sheep (our Bible verse from two weeks ago; John 10:11). He does not come to destroy our lovely world and that’s all you need to know about Easter.


Student #2
It means to me that is when Jesus Christ came to die. It was not fair to Jesus because He is very powerful and he died on the cross to help his people. He came be the bread and water of life (chapel lesson).

Student #3
It means love, he wanted us not to sin, he died for our sins, without him we would be ded (dead). God sent Jesus to die for use, Jesus got risen from the ded, he got hurt out of kindness and love for us.

Student #4
He died for our sins.
He died for others.

Student #5
Easter means to me that he died for us. He died because he is mighty to save (another Bible verse (Zephaniah 3:17). His our father and he is mighty.

Student #6
Jesus died for our sins that means it hurt. We learned that he died and that he came out of death! He rose! God is Jesus’ dad, he sent him to use to help us and die for our sins. That’s why we learn and celebrate Easter because Jesus came out of death! Jesus is the King.

I challenge you to think about what EASTER means to you…think about everything that is Easter in our lives. I would love to share some “adult” perspectives on Easter with my kiddos. If you want to respond you can do so in the comment box or by sending my an email at miss.jantzen.jcs@gmail.com (the e-mail I check at school during school hours).

Meanwhile, the rest of my life is going as well as could be expected. There are always the moments when you think you can’t take it anymore. God has been faithful with everything and will continue to be faithful as long as we approach him. We can’t do this on our own.

God has sent pint sized love my way in the form of the first graders. There smiles and hugs and sometimes kisses make my heart happy and confirm that I am meant to teach. I am able to show them love without even opening my mouth by giving a high five, a smile, a hug, or running around making a fool of myself with a bubble wand! (BUBBLE WANDS would be a great donation item! HINT HINT! They are available at your local Wal-mart for only a dollar! SEASONAL or TOY aisle)

As we go into the Easter season I am drawn to many songs that have influenced my understanding of the significance of the Jesus and His resurrection. A true appreciation that has formed recently would like to share the titles below and the verses that have had the most impact on me. God is so good!

Our spring break is coming up in a mere 4 days now! HOORAY!!! 9 days of nothing but relaxing and spending quality time with people. I will trekking the 7 long hours to Las Terranas for a few days outside of Jarabacoa and perhaps then visiting Santiago to do some end of the school year shopping for storage items.

Mighty to Save – Hillsong
Jesus rose and CONQUERED the grave.
We’re singing for the glory of the RISEN KING! How awesome is it that we don’t serve a dead GOD!!!

In Christ Alone
Pretty much the whole song is powerful!
Here in the death of Christ I LIVE.

To Know Your Name- Hillsong
The precious blood of Jesus Christ redeems, forgiven I’m alive set FREE!


Please pray for JCS as we are going to need to recruit lots more teachers! Please pray that people will respond to our need. And if you need a job…come work for us! It’s not perfect, but what is?

2009-2010

I would like to apologize for my absence from my blog and from life in general. I am a poor communicator and that is something I will be working on for the next year and 6 months. You all should be hearing from me a lot more frequently as I am planning to stay in Jarabacoa for one more year.

I will be teaching second grade next year and will be raising support again. I am currently working on a support proposal that many of you should be receiving within the first week of the official summer according to the calendar.

Currently I am going to fill you in on life here for about the past month.

Last I blogged about my weekend in the capitol...so much fun! Since then I have house sat for a family from school with a few of the other teachers, had my parents come to visit, and seen one of my professors from Taylor here in JARABACOA... busy month.

In finishing out this school year I ask that you pray for my students everyday. I have a very difficult class that hasn't responded well to many forms of discipline. I often want to cry at the end of the day...which is not healthy.

Pray that God will become the center of my thoughts as I have so much to do and learn before next year.

We have spring break in 2 weeks so pray that all the teachers will have enough strength to make it through.

Check back for updates on how the transition and planning of next year is going to go.