It's More Than

ABC's and 123's...

Throughout the year, Mary Frances' 4K class has learned a lot! Her class and her teachers have worked hard and had fun... She knows all of her letters, their sounds, and how they work together to create words. She can read many sight words and is beginning to sound out some words. She is curious about words and is always carrying around a pad and pencil asking me "what does that say?" and "how do you spell ____?" She can rote count above 100 and can count with correspondence to almost 30.

I think all of that is wonderful, and I truly think her last two years at St. Luke's have helped create a lifelong learner which is extremely important to me. She has had wonderful teachers who have gone above and beyond at every turn. In fact, her teacher from last year took her to the elementary school to eat lunch with her daughter. Just an example of how they have gone the extra mile to help my child love school! They know my child and they know what she needs. And while she might have been a bit shell-shocked to walk into that full and loud lunchroom last week, it will give her a boost of confidence when she walks through the doors in August.

There is another thing she has learned this year that I think is much more important than all of the academic learning, and it is something that I also hope will be a lifelong habit. That is how to give! Throughout the year, her class and the entire school have collected pantry items for Grace House Ministries. Each week we were charged to bring a pantry item to put in the basket. We didn't take something each week, but we tried! {As you know, my children typically accompany me to the grocery store so we would pick up something ~ usually on sale and that goes a long way such as rice or pasta ~ and talk about taking it to school and why.} The basket would fill up and Mary Frances' teacher would deliver it to the appropriate recipient.

Well, this week her class {with the help of parents, grandparents, and teachers} planned, organized, and put on a lemonade stand to raise money for St. George's in Nashville, TN and Christ Church in Albertsville, AL ~ two churches that have sustained damage in the recent floods and tornadoes. The children had a ball and they raised over $1300 to divide between these churches.

Isn't that amazing! What a lesson I hope they ~ the ones who sold lemonade and the ones who donated ~ learned...

{That's Stephen's class after enjoying their cool, refreshing lemonade.}


And now a questions related to giving ~ does anyone know where I can find a firetruck cookie cutter? A fire dog and a fire hydrant would be a bonus! Stay tuned to see how that relates to giving.