Lower School students are being taught to serve
From the desk of Sandra Fritcher, Lower School Principal:
Research indicates that kids who have servant mindsets have higher GPAs, better reading comprehension, and better critical thinking/problem solving skills. The Lower School respects that research, and we also believe that learning to serve builds Godly character in our students. We want our children to learn about and experience compassion and service toward others, while also developing Godly character. But, how does a child learn to serve others? How does a child learn to show compassion for others? How does a child develop Godly character? One of the ways is through service projects. We want our students, all of them, to not only learn about God, but to also experience how God teaches us to live.聽 Service projects allow that to happen.
Scripture (Galations 5:13-14) teaches us that we are to serve one another. Jesus modeled servanthood many times in His life, and we want our students to learn what that Christ-like behavior involves. The earlier kids experience helping and serving others, the greater the chance they will live a lifetime of compassion and service. So, beginning at the Pre-K level and continuing throughout the Lower School, our students are learning how to be compassionate, are learning how to serve others, and are developing Godly character by planning, preparing and presenting good deeds and activities for others.
In Pre-K, the teachers decide on an activity that our little ones can understand and actually do themselves. This year, they are making Valentine cards for nursing home residents. Then they will deliver these cards to the nursing homes in order to share their love with the residents, Pre-K style. What a wonderful way for a little one to feel the accomplishment and the satisfaction of helping another person feel better.
Servant-like traits are cultivated in the other grades as well. In the spring, our kindergarten students will be participating in a read-a-thon in order to earn money. They will then use the money to purchase books for boys and girls at the North Tyler Day Nursery. Our beginning readers will share picture books with these children to enjoy.
First grade students will be going to The Hamptons Assisted Living Facility in the spring to provide musical entertainment, love, and comfort for the residents. The children will also read books to the residents.
Second graders rang the Salvation Army bell at various Tyler locations in December. They also made fleece knotted blankets for the Jesus鈥� Closet ministry. They learned these blankets are shared with the needy and homeless people in the community.
Serving needy individuals in the Bullard community is the focus of the third grade service project. The students are collecting 100,000 pennies. They are studying and learning about money, money equivalences, and budgeting with these pennies. In the spring, they will go on a shopping trip to use these pennies to purchase food, blankets, and supplies for the Bullard Mission House and Clinic.
Fourth graders wrote letters to soldiers during the week of Veteran鈥檚 Day. These letters were then included in care packages sent to active military personnel, veterans and wounded warriors as part of the Operation Gratitude program. In January, the fourth graders will go the Benevolent Center at West Erwin Church of Christ to help roll and package bandages for a hospital in Africa.
Fifth grade students will be providing transitional containers, such as duffel bags, laundry bags, or backpacks, for kids entering the foster care system. A representative from Duffels for Hope will speak to the fifth graders about how important these bags are for the foster children since they have had to leave their homes and belongings.
Art students in second and third grades will make Valentine cards during art class in order to share love and comfort for sick and elderly people in hospitals. These Valentines will be taken to the KVNE radio station for delivery to the hospitals. Fourth and fifth grade art students will be painting ceiling tiles that will be used to decorate a clubhouse for foster girls in Smith County. These tiles will go to the Refuge of Light in Tyler at Grounds of Justice.
In April, the Cadet Singers will be sharing love through music when they go to several local nursing homes. They will present mini concerts to the residents in order to cheer them up, and entertain them.
God鈥檚 great love becomes real to our children when they serve others. They learn what it means to be cheerful givers. Through service projects, the Lower School students learn to think of others. They learn to be compassionate of others. They learn basic kindness toward others. They learn charity toward others. They learn to love others. And in all of this, they begin to understand why Jesus modeled servanthood, what servanthood looks like and how they can be servants.