Journalings of a Primary Teacher {8-25-13}

The kids in my class are totally, completely, 100% the CUTEST kids in the whole universe. 

When asking them how they would feel if Jesus put his hands on their heads to bless them, we got mostly answers like, "Happy, I guess," and "Um, good?"

Except for one boy. Who bluntly stated, "Honestly, I think I might faint."

LOLing.

Later on, we were discussing whether anyone in the class had ever felt a peaceful feeling after they prayed. One girl shared this fantastic story:

"Sooooo once upon a time we had to take one of my friends home at night after it was dark. We were so nervous, and scared, actually really scared, so we said a prayer, and then we like felt something inside, like this peaceful feeling....And we felt like we'd be safe. But we took a baseball bat just in case. And then everything was fine."

And in my husband's class, he was sharing the story of Joseph Smith rebuking the men for their language while he was in prison. After listening to hours of filthy language and even filthier deeds, Joseph Smith stood up and said, "Silence ye fiends of the infernal pit!....I will not live another minute and hear such language..."

Later on, Chris was sharing a story about how sometimes the people around him at work also use bad language and swear. One girl raised her hand and asked, "Well why don't you just say to them what Joseph Smith said? I'm sure that would shut them up."

Its good to have such pragmatism in the world. 

Journalings of a Primary Teacher {8-11-13}

Journaling has always been hard for me. Which is weird, because I'm an English major, which basically means I was writing ALL THE TIME. But for some reason, I never liked keeping a journal. 

When I was called as a primary teacher, I was very specifically advised to keep a journal. That's part of the reason I started blogging about my experiences in primary. And I'm glad I did, because I love going back and reading the hilarious antics of 7-year-olds, and one day, maybe when I'm trying to teach my own kids, I'll go back and remember all the things I learned. 

This week was just me and 7 kids. Was I a little nervous? Yes. Phew. More like A LOT nervous.

Like, nervous enough that I had a terrifying dream the night before that I showed up to a room full of 12 kids all throwing pens at each other and wildly screaming like jungle children. 

Thankfully.....real life was much, much better. 

I got to meet one of our students who had never come to church before. He's this sweet, quiet kid who looks like he has no idea what to do, and he has absolutely heart-melting blue eyes. At the end of class, each child got a 'faith rock,' on which they wrote the word 'faith' and then got to decorate with markers. This adorable boy wrote 'faith' on one side, and then came up to show me what he had written on the other side. It was 'giraffe.'

I have no idea how he got from 'faith' to 'giraffe, but I had to chuckle. He was just so proud that he knew how to spell 'giraffe.' I  get jumps like that all the time. I'll be teaching about the Holy Ghost, and one boy will raise his hand and say, "Did you know that killer whales EAT dolphins???!"

And I'm like, " Oh, how nice. So back to the lesson...."

And then a girl will pop up out of her seat and come right up to me in the middle of my next sentence, and say, "Um, did you know that, um, I have 4 cousins that are girls?"

There's a lot of pressure here to keep the lessons entertaining--- you can see why.

The other rocks were pretty great too. One girl wrote 'faith' in teeny-tiny letter on one little corner, and then furiously began scribbling with a blue marker all over the entire rock. Another boy wrote 'faith' on one side and then drew a snake on the other side {which I quickly learned was an asp-- like in the scriptures} {at least he's remembering something, right?}. But there was one especially that tugged on my heartstrings: One little girl came up to me to show me her rock, and pointed out to me that she'd even written 'faith' in brown! When I asked her why, she said, "Because faith is like a seed, and seeds are brown. See--- I even drew flowers growing out of the faith!"

The reason I brought 'faith rocks' was to help them internalize the story of the brother of Jared, who took clear stones to the Lord, and when the Lord touched them, they gave off light. The point I was trying to ingrain was that in the story, the brother of Jared had so much faith that he knew the Lord would make the rocks give off light. So you can kinda see how rocks and faith come together here. So after 50 minutes of teaching, telling stories, drawing pictures, and coloring rocks, I felt pretty confident that they'd absorbed at least the basic idea. 

Until we were out in the hallway, and a member of the bishopric happens to stop to visit. 

"So, what'd you guys learn about today?"

And I'm all like, come on kids....come onnnnn......

And one pipes up, "Faith!" And I'm secretly fist-pumping the air, thinking, they learned!

Then he asks, "So what do your rocks have to do with faith?"

And all 7 kids are staring at him, dead quiet, at least 4 of them with their mouths hanging open.

Face-palm.

At least it wasn't as bad as the time the kids all came out of the classroom throwing paper airplanes at each other.

 I can't even remember how that happened. 

Journalings of a Primary Teacher {5-12-13}

This Sunday was not the best of Sundays. Whenever holidays come around, all the kids seem to get antsy and twitchy and chattery and reeeeeeally hard to calm down. My only comfort is in seeing all the other classes acting just as bad as mine when we sit down in primary {sorry presidency....you've got it tough}.

My partner was out sick, so I snatched Chris to come sit in on my class. And man am I glad I had a second person there, because they were all. over. the. place.

If there is one thing I have learned from teaching Primary so far, its that you really can't base your teaching skills or self-esteem off of how your class is acting some weeks. Because honestly, they are going to be naughty. They are going to throw paper airplanes at each other. They are going to look at you with that know-it-all face and tell you exactly why they don't have to do something. They will tell you you're a bad teacher. They will threaten to tattle on your bad teaching skills to their mothers. They will loudly whine in sharing time because you didn't let them color.  

They will be kids. 

And sometimes I frantically bust out of church like I haven't breathed fresh air in years. Sometimes I just have to let out a big ole' sigh because I'm pretty sure they didn't absorb an iota of the lesson I just taught. But that's primary. That's learning to be a teacher. And the funny moments always overshadow the bad ones.

Like during a discussion on the bishop's storehouse when one boy pipes up and says, "I bet I could do some calculations to figure out the amounts!" 

And the girl next to him sassily says, "You're not old enough to calculate!"

Or when the sharing time leader asks if anyone has a mom who follows the commandments, and one boy stands up and anxiously says, "My mom is obedient! But she didn't want to raise her hand so I had to tell you." His mother, also his teacher, turned bright red.

Like the times when you tell one girl who has the hiccups to hold her breath to get rid of them, and it turns into a traffic jam in the hallway because all the other girls stop and want to hold their breath too.

{who knew it was so much fun?}

Or when you ask them to explain what 'enduring to the end' means, and one girl compares it to having to re-build her lego castle multiple times. "I just kept having to re-do it because it would break, but I never gave up! And that's like enduring to the end."

I'm learning to be {extraordinarily} patient. I'm learning to say no and not worry about how upset a child may be because they will promptly get over it in the next 5 minutes. I'm learning how to find the humor in everything. And I'm learning how to tie lego castles into teaching the gospel.

And I love it. 

Journalings of a Primary Teacher {5-5-13}

I know that my primary posts can seem sort of random at times, but honestly, they're mostly for me. I want to remember how funny and cute and sweet all my kids are, and how much I adore them!

As we were sitting in class, chatting with the kids who were there and waiting for the others to show up, one boy, out of the blue, shouts, "SOMEONE SAID SOMETHING!!!" 

My partner, while I was trying to stifle my laughter, teasingly asked, "Was it me? I say a lot of things." 

Sadly, we never figured out who it was that said something {bahaha!}. 

He wouldn't specify.

Our lesson was on the gold plates, and my partner was teaching. After explaining that Moroni hid them in the ground to keep them safe, she let the kids make their own 'gold plates' by using a popsicle stick to write on tin foil-wrapped cardboard. Then, we went outside to hide them, just like Moroni did.

You kinda had to see it for yourself, but just try and imagine the excitement....

One boy immediately runs over to a flower bed and starts digging a gigantic hole. Dirt flying everywhere. Another boy is repeatedly chucking his 'plates' at a tree, trying to get them to stick in the branches. One of the girls is trying to drag me along by the hand while begging to let her hide my plates too because she knows the best place. The other girl quickly runs off to hide hers, but upon returning, comes up to me with a panicked look and says, "I can't remember where I hid mine!" 

It was one seriously funny scene.

For the second hour I actually got to sit in on my husband's class. He introduced me as his wife, Sister Diepeveen. One girl quickly raises her hand and begins chattering on about how much she loves me. "I think Sister Diepeveen is the best! I am so glad she's here; I like her more than you!"

My husband, meaning to tease her about sucking up, replied, "I think you've got a little brown on your nose!"

Confused, she started rubbing her nose. "Really?"

A friend of hers quickly came to the rescue, standing up and putting her hands on her hips while loudly scolding us: "That's because she has freckles!!!"

Awww, primary love.

Journalings of a Primary Teacher {2-24-13}

Kicks and giggles, that's what primary is made of.

While waiting for sharing time, I watched a little 2-year-old guy run as fast as he could down the hallway, closely followed by his dad. He promptly got scooped up upside-down, and as he was being carried off, he folded his little arms and voiced a big, "Aw maaaaaaaan!"

I couldn't help but bust up laughing.

~~~

One little guy in my class accidentally bit his lip in the middle of singing time. He tapped me on the shoulder with a, "Sis-er Diepeveen I think my lip is bleeding." I look over to discover he's smeared it all over his cheek, hands, and chair {yaaay}. I promptly grabbed some tissues and helped him clean up a little. As he's pressing one bloody tissue to his lip, a boy from the row behind leans over, all agog, and asks, "Is that blood and guts???!!"

~~~

We ended primary on a very good note. The small guy who said the closing prayer started with, "Dear Heavenly Father...." He then asked, "Please bless us that we won't ever lie. And bless us to do good things." And that was it; "Amen." 

So here's to a week where hopefully we won't lie, we will do good things, and we will always find the humor in the little things!

Journalings of a Primary Teacher {2-17-13}

Teacher: Does anyone know who Peter, James, and John were?

Kids: Yes! Apostles! 

Teacher: Do you know when they were apostles? During what time?

Kids: ....silence.....

Teacher: Anyone?

One brave girl: Umm...the 80's? 

{i had to cover up a gigantic snort of laughter at that point.}

Teacher: How can we talk to Jesus?

Kids: Prayer! Texting!

Wouldn't it be cool if we had Jesus' phone number?

We could text JESUS.

--goes on for several minutes--

Teacher, trying to regain some control: Ok, but, if your cell phone battery dies, you can't text. And guess what? You can always pray! 

One thoughtful boy: Well....yeah....I suppose prayer is better than texting.

{they should put that on a pillow or something.}

This next one happened over in my husband's class. Good to know his primary lessons are sometimes as hilarious as mine.

Chris: So, when Joseph Smith was first shown the plates, he couldn't have them. Do you know why?

Kids: Why???

Chris: Because he wasn't ready for them yet. 

Kids: ...confused looks....

Chris, trying to come up with a metaphor: Okay, so it's like driving a car. Do your parents let you drive?

Kids: No! Bahaha!

Chris: Well why not?

Kids: Because we're not old enough!

We're not allowed!

We can't reach the pedals!

Chris: Well, Joseph Smith couldn't "reach the pedals." He wasn't ready to receive the plates.

..lesson continues....

...lesson ends....

Chris: So, who can tell me what we learned today?

Kids, laughing hysterically: JOSEPH SMITH COULDN'T HAVE THE PLATES BECAUSE HE COULDN'T REACH THE PEDALS!!!!

{well played, Chris, well played. good luck getting them to forget that one.}

Love Week: Primary

Okay, for those of you who know me, this one is kinda obvious. 

I love my primary class.

They are hilarious, and smart, and funny, and sweet. 

And I learn a lot.

Sometimes they can get out of hand. Sometimes at the end of my lessons there are paper airplanes all over the floor and I swear they don't remember a word I said. 

But I can't help adoring them. Especially when one sweet girl runs over to hug me after primary and tells me she can't wait to see me again. Or when one little boy looks earnestly into my eyes and tells me he wishes he could be "a Shamu." Or when they want to sit by me, and touch my jewelry, and hold my binder for me. 

Seven-year-olds are the greatest things to ever happen to me. 

I love them more than I love almond kisses and chocolate ice cream and berry pie and cookie dough.

...which is a lot.