September 7 Home Communicator –
If you were in the elementary building for Parent Orientation Night or Open House, you may have seen the new mural in the hallway by my office (created by one of our very own first grade teachers, Cassie Schaap). With colorful triangles in the background, it proclaims in large letters:
LOVE GOD
LOVE OTHERS
This is obviously a great message for any Christian school hallway, but it is also the foundation for our new school wide behavior expectation plan. The basis for our behavior plan comes from Mark 12:30-31 (NIV) ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these. With this new plan, students will be encouraged to be polite, use manners, respect others, walk in the hallways, and clean up after themselves.
You might be wrinkling your forehead right now, thinking to yourself, “I sure hope my kids have been learning this stuff before this year!” And yes, of course, they have. What’s different this year, though, is the fact that teachers and staff now have consistent language and expectations from grade level to grade level and classroom to classroom. Another difference is that we’ll be focusing much more on why we should all be doing these things.
1 Corinthians 10:31 states that everything we do should be done for the glory of God. Everything we do. We have the opportunity to use our everyday thoughts, words, and actions to glorify God. What better reason is there for our students to follow these expectations at school than to bring Him glory!
Serving Him together,
Tricia Kiepert, Elementary Principal
