Greetings, everyone! Winter has arrived, or at least sent an RSVP. Going from nearly 80 one week to wind chills in the 20’s and snow next, is perhaps a bit much.
Things are flowing along nicely at the school. Students and teachers and parents are getting used to each other and getting used to the routine. I have been able to be there a couple days when school let out. Some children are more eager to go home then others, some get to the car and mom asks where something is and they have to go back in and look for it. Much different than riding the bus like I did, by the time my hour long bus ride was over, no way were we going back to the school to get something!
We have now received what I just alluded to in my last post. We have been given some expensive testing materials by the Wawasee School Corporation. These tests can be given to anyone, really, but are usually for testing students who may be having issues keeping up in a certain subject. What the tests do is find out why the child has problems, whether it is something they don’t understand, or are just having a hard time comprehending because of the way they need to learn it. For example, some children learn more visually, some need to hear something read to them as well as seeing it, etc. These tests can be very helpful discovering issues that may have escaped detection until the child goes to school. To make it even harder, some children come up with a system to learn about their world, and it works for them, specially in their preschool years.
But when they enter the school setting, teachers usually teach a lesson to a group of students all the same way. And if that child’s way of learning is different than most, they can begin falling behind. Identifying these issues in a child means that the teacher can make sure that they are getting the material. Sometimes the teacher can spend a couple minutes extra with a child, or the resource teacher can step in and spend extra time that a teacher cannot. Parents also benefit by knowing how their child learns.
Children can also benefit by knowing that any problems they may be having may not be their fault, they aren’t just lazy or dumb. They can be taught personal strategies to learn better and different ways to process the material. Sounds very technical, but it can be very rewarding and exciting to watch a child who was struggling, suddenly feel like they CAN learn.
Another thing that is happening is that the various curriculums we use are being evaluated daily as the teachers use them. There are a number of systems out there, and we chose a mixture of companies for different subjects, based on what we had experienced, reports from other schools and teachers, and just what seemed best at the time to our curriculum committee. We have a great set of teachers who have been able in a couple instances, to realize that the students may be having issues with a certain curriculum. Meetings are held, things looked at more closely, and decisions are made whether to revise the teaching method or switch curriculum next year. We are blessed that everyone is working together to make our learning process the best that it can be. We are committed to making sure every child learns at their full potential.
We had an interesting thing happen the other day. Someone at church happens to be friends with a former principal at the school. He wanted to look at the school now, so they took him on a tour. When he looked at our desks and chairs, he said they looked very familiar and wanted to know where we had picked them up. We told him, and he said we picked them up at the same building where they had taken them when the school closed. Turns out, our desks and chairs have come home! What are the chances?
At this writing, our roof is scheduled to be replaced. We are hoping that in the next couple weeks that can get started. I have no idea what color the roof is going to be, I will find out when it happens. It would have been nice if we could have gotten it on earlier this year when there was no rain, but there was also no money! I’m sure it will all work out. But they can do smaller sections at a time if need be.
The other day I realized that I had never really taken a comprehensive set of photos of the school project. I have hundreds of photos taken at various stages, but not all at the same time. So I picked a day that was reasonably sunny, and took hundreds of shots, mainly because it was so bright outside I couldn’t really see my camera screen, so I just took various exposures and picked the best ones later. Still working on sorting them out, but I discovered a couple things I hadn’t seen before, in little hidden away corners!
Our “new” playground has yet to be installed. I’m sure the children are eager to have it set up. we are hoping to get it put in before the ground freezes, but if weather forecasts are accurate at all, that may not be much of an issue. Supposed to be a bit warmer and drier than last year, but we’ll see.
Well, it’s time to wrap this one up. I hope to have a teacher bio for you next time. I hate to bother them because they are so busy, but I know many of you are looking forward to finding out more about our teachers.
Our biggest current financial need right now is still money to finish the roof. But we are also slowly finishing up small things that didn’t really need to be done before school started, and those little projects mean a steady drain of cash. If you want to help with a financial donation, you can go on our website, www.uccs.school, there is a Donate button there, or you can contact us for more information. If you would like to make a totally anonymous donation, there is a button on our website to go through the Anabaptist Financial group. You can direct them to send your donation to us, and your identity remains private.
