From The Director, Kathy Irvin:
March 2005 - We Pray
What makes us different, sets us apart. We pray! This was one of many observations the AJN teachers made when they visited other schools on Teacher’s Institute Day. DCFS(Department of Children and Family Services) requires that we receive a minimum of 15 hours of continuing education hours every year. Along with attending lectures, classes and renewing our CPR and First Aid Certificates, this year we decided to leave our small world and observe local programs. Teachers spent the morning at All Things Bright and Beautiful, Joseph Sears, Willow Wood, Northminster Nursery School, Rose Hall Montessori, Christian Heritage Academy, Evanston Daycare Center, and Northfield Community Nursery School. All thoroughly enjoyed their experiences and came back eager to share observations and ideas. And, we all agree that we love spending our days at A Joyful Noise. Two points were brought up by almost all of the teachers. One, we are very fortunate to have a Board and parents that fund excellent, quality equipment and supplies. The other, we pray. We spend only minutes a day at this simple task, but these words said before snack, in Friday Chapel and at the end of class invade and affect every aspect of our program. The teachers noticed. We missed the praying. So what does praying do for young children. How can it have such a strong affect on children playing, building and painting? Young children live in a very self focused world. Life is usually about me and mine. “I need it!” Prayer teaches gratitude and compassion for others, that life is gift. Even the youngest tots fold fingers and chant together, “Thank you God for snack” As the hand washing line dwindles before snack time the children wait for each other to begin together, “Thank you for the world so sweet. Thank you for the food we eat. Thank you for the birds that sing. Thank you God for everything.” This amazement about God’s world extends into every corner of the classroom. A child stands at Sharing Time to tell the class about a special rock, and we can say, “Wow isn’t it amazing that God’s world can create a crystal like this?” A child comments “She is different. We are all different. God made us that way.” At the end of class the Junior Kindergarteners recently began to say a closing prayer, a kind of benediction before we leave each other. We made it up from a song we sing in Chapel. We hold hands and say “Thank you God for this fine day. Thank you God for friends at play. Thank you God for families. Amen” With a quick squeeze of the fingers we head home. The children will not let us forget to do this new ritual. And prayer teaches even the very smallest that they are a unique and very special creation. They hear the words that they are loved by a Father God, “He knows us each by name.” Do they all close their eyes and fold their hands? No. Do they all sit still and recite the words? Most do. Do they understand what they are saying? Hard to know. But I do know that when we pray together in Chapel, “We know our God is here because he is everywhere. He calls us each by name and loves us all the same. We can go to him in prayer, and he teaches us to care.” I can feel His presence moving among His children. I believe that they are connected to Him in ways we can’t begin to imagine. So we “go to him in prayer.” Pray. We do.