Last weekend I went to the Boy Scout Makahiki. I enjoyed the various exhibits -- knot tying sponsored by a local fishermen's group and seeing how many pennies you could balance on a piece of floating aluminum foil. There was one tent sponsored by a military group (I think the Army?) that was particularly popular-- the boys were lined up 2-3 deep to wait their turn to...I couldn't quite see at first because it was so crowded, and I had to squeeze my way in to get a better look. Then I saw that these boys were all waiting to hold different kinds of guns. I stood there watching for a few moments, but it deeply grieved my heart to see these young boys excitedly heft semi-automatic weapons (unloaded, of course) in their hands. I had to walk away.
And yes, I know, I'm the CE teacher, of course it would grieve me to see this. After all, I just spent several weeks discussing peace! And yes, what I saw in the tent brought up many complex issues. Let me address just one aspect in this blog.
The other week I posted a particularly thought-provoking peace poem written by a 2nd grader that said, "We need to fight for peace."
Continue reading "What can I do to increase peace in the world?" »
This week Ms. LeBlanc's and Ms. Revard's classes continued to prepare for this week's canned food drive. They made their posters and speeches that they will share with each elementary school class. Many of them wrote about how St. Patrick's food pantry is low on food, and exhorted their classmates to "bring as many cans as you can!" One group is planning to cheer/chant - "Bring canned food! Bring canned food!" They are so excited about the canned food drive. Even the students who are not involved in running the canned food drive are excited! It is so heartwarming to hear the students squeal when I tell them it's time for the canned food drive.
Continue reading "Canned Food Drive next week, April 26-30" »
I took the 1/2 classes to the Epiphany Church in Kaimuki to see the life of Jesus in stained glass. We briefly discussed Easter in CE class and I wanted the children to see it in a different medium-- and the field trip also tied into the children's medieval studies in their classrooms where they made their own stained glass. I also thought it was neat to show the children where MPI Elementary came from, as MPI Elementary was formerly Epiphany School.
The children had so many interesting questions about the events of Jesus' life. (Indeed, even adults have questions about Jesus.) We could have spent many more hours talking!
Continue reading "Story and life in stained glass" »
The Earth Day Book Swap was a tremendous success. It is so fun to see the children peruse the boxes, choose a book, and find a spot in the crowded Peace Room to look, engrossed, through their book. How wonderful that the children love books! We have so many books (thank you to the Shuto, McConnell, McGill, and other families who brought many books in) that we are going to extend the Book Swap to the week after Spring Break. So feel free to bring in more books to swap after Spring Break! We talked about how we don't always need to buy something new to enjoy -- how wonderful that we can bring something that we don't need or use anymore and trade it for something "new." In addition, someone can use what we don't need anymore!
Continue reading "Book swap and peace poems" »
