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.

el capital

last weekend i was off to the capital for a whirlwind trip of 24 hours of sun, city life, and a concert at possibly the largest venue i've been too.

we headed down by bus on saturday at 10:00. the bus ride was nerve racking because i wasn't sure how i'd react. i only got motion sickness when we were about an hour away, but that hour was pretty long.

then from there is was off to job's father's house for our afternoon or relaxation and errands. the house where we stayed was job's house growing up but is now open to missionary's for relaxation. the house is beautiful (3 floors), a pool, and an outside patio that is amazing. the outside gardens/patio area look like the come straight from a home and garden magazine. i have posted a few pictures below.

the beautiful patio, pool, garden area

after a relaxing afternoon it was off to see juan luis guerra - one of the most famous dominican artists ever. the concert was packed, we left our original spots because we didn't feel 100% safe where we were and we wanted to enjoy our time. see the pictures below for a look into a dominican concert...lots of drinking, smoking and dancing. it was hard not to partake in the dancing because everyone was dancing and latin music requires movement. :)the stadium well at least one half & juan luis on the big screen

then back to reality on monday. monday turned into a very stressful day as i had the last straw broken with one of my students. he has been suspended since, pending a served detention after school. please pray for him has he is not remorseful at all for his actions towards myself or the other staff.

praise! the book fair is in town! currently we have raised $600 towards new books for the school. however that seems so small considering my junior methods class at 32 people bought more than $700 in one order alone. small steps are good.

my parents are coming in less than a month. please pray for them as the are getting ready to travel. we have some big things to discuss when they come so pray that we are praying about what we will say.

Excursions

it's time for another weekend excursion here in the land of the DR. this time we are piling not into a CR-V but instead into a big yellow bus. hooray for new cultural experiences on Caribe Tours. not being a seasoned bus traveler I am a bit apprehensive about the travels down the mountain and then back up on sunday.


we are heading down to a juan luis guerra concert in the capital. i am excited to venture to the capital for the first time and spend my afternoon lounging by a pool reading a book.

this week has been difficult with learning to let go of my students and their behaviors. love the sinner not the sin...and i have a class full of them...including myself.

i will post pictures once i return.

hey and good news it stopped raining! after nearly 7 days of rain the sun came out and shone brightly in the sky. the rivers are still incredibly high, but the roads are nearly dry. i can't imagine it raining for 40 days and 40 nights straight...noah and his family must have been really bored when they weren't taking care of the animals.

rain, RaiN, RAIN

As of this morning it has started day 6 of continual rain fall! Which means it has been raining for the better part of 127 hours (as of 7:00am). Who knew that the ground could hold so much water?! OR that the atomosphere could hold that much water!!!

Yesterday I had 6 kids in my class so I couldn't teach everything that I needed too. We'll see if I have less today since many of my kids sick with colds and coughs.


Anyways, off to school to prep with other plans if my class is super small again. I may just teach and see what we get done...we'll at least start spelling today and possible do some math board races again.

good news

I'm up and feeling better! I believe I was exposed to either food poisoning or their was some sort of item I am allergic too in the food I ate this week.

I had wrap from a local restaurant that had oil and vinegar on it. I haven't had any other reaction to oils before other than in mayo. So I'm inclined to think that it can't be that. But one never knows.

My headache is gone right now; however, I'm sure it will come back soon. It is most likely linked to the crazy pressure associated with the rainy season/week we are having.

Thank you to those who prayed for me yesterday. I began feeling better and was able to keep food and water in my stomach around 1pm! :) since then I've kept a pretty soft diet of eggs, bread and the occasional cookie (karyn and natalie made them this morning!).

the bad equation

rain + migraine + stomach bug = a very bad sad depressing day :(

and since it's raining it's only 50 degrees in my house right now...brr.

that's where i find myself right now. at home on head-teacher and director mandated bed rest.

last night i came home and was just weary and exhausted from a really stressful day. i was just tired so i went with rachel to go get my nails done. when i came home i made myself dinner and talked to my mom. it was around then that started having my migraine.

generally my migraines come in different levels of pain; this one was pretty bad so i decided that i should call it a night at 8:30. so after a fitful few hours of dozing off i slept until 2am. at 2am i felt very nauseous which is typical when i receive my migraines but it also normally means they are almost gone. so i still had hope of going to school.

that was until i spent a half hour in the bathroom. at 2:30 i crawled back into bed exhausted and what i thought...empty. unfortunately not the case. i spent the rest of my morning trying to find a way to sleep that would not trigger my reflex.

so at 6:00 I crawled out of bed to shower in hopes that the lukewarm water would make me feel better; nope. so at 6:30 i sent word to my head-teacher and the director that i would be coming in to write sub plans.

so off to school i went. thankfully i did not feel the urge to throw up while at school, but as soon as i got home it was there. our cleaning girls are here so i'm trying to hold off until they leave.


please pray that i can stay hydrated! i haven't been able to keep even water in me this morning!! :( also please pray for whoever has my class. my class has been in rare form this week causing all sorts of issues.

please pray that God will talk to me today as i take lesson 2 in letting Him take charge. forced relaxation needs to be more fun and less sickness...in my opinion.

Verse of the week from the elementary staff meeting- also a good verse for me to memorize when dealing with my class...

Galatians 6:9
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."