Staff Blog

“How does my hair look? Does it look cool?” As I turn around, I see hair standing straight up, styled with gel, and filled will many different colors. Underneath it all, there is a young boy’s smile staring up at me.  Many of the boys at the shelter enjoy styling their hair (sometimes even more than the girls do!).  It has been fun to see all the “cool” hairstyles at the shelter.  Even more than the hairstyles, the smiles on each face are priceless.  Enjoy these pictures of some of the coolest hairstyles here at CSC!

Coloring and styling each other's hair

Purple hair!

That hair stands up so tall!

Look at those orange streaks!

If you walked by our science class on any given day, it might resemble play time. In fact, we are having so much fun, things are falling over fast! One of the science classes recently finished a unit on speed. They learned how distance, time, and speed are related. To further illustrate this relationship, they had the opportunity to play with dominoes. The class was divided into two teams. The teams had to line up 25 dominoes that were equally spaced in such a way that their dominoes would fall faster than the other team. This led to a lot of discussion about concepts related to speed, and we had fun in the process!

After two weeks of Christmas break, the students are back to school! Freshly sharpened pencils and new units are all a part of getting back into the routine of school. In our class, we began a new reading unit:  “Survival”. The students were very excited to see new books in our classroom library that were about our reading theme.  When the students have free time after completing their work, they are encouraged to read books from the classroom library.  As a teacher, I like to set goals for what I want to see my students achieve. In this unit, I wanted them to have the opportunity to read more chapter books. I intentionally placed more chapter books in our classroom library with the hope that they would challenge themselves. Well, after a week of being back in the classroom, several students were up to the challenge! Two students have already successfully finished one chapter book and are planning on starting a new one next week! Other students are working on finishing the books they have started. These students are bringing these books to read during snack time and are often reading interesting passages out loud to each other.  The best part? They are discovering that they actually enjoy reading and finding out what kinds of stories most interest them.  I would say that after a long break, we have had success in coming back to school. 

Christmas is coming! All of the children are becoming more excited as each day passes. During Christmas, we remember the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. We think about giving and receiving gifts as we remember the most precious Gift to this world.

Each of the students at the Children of Hope School were asked what they want to give Jesus for Christmas. Here are a few of their responses:

"Dear Jesus, My gift for you Jesus is I will dance."

"Dear Jesus, My gift for you is a flower."

"I will give Jesus my heart."

"Dear Jesus, I will give my love to you."

"I will give Jesus a house."

"love my friends"

"Dear Jesus, I will honor you with my voice."

"obey the teachers"

"I will give Jesus my life. I will also give Him my talent to draw."

"My gift for Jesus is I want to be a missionary and to spread the word of God."

"I will give Jesus a crown."

We are halfway through the year at the Children of Hope School!  This past week marked the end of second quarter. Students were diligently reviewing and preparing for their quarterly exams at the end of the week.  Teachers were busy writing tests and helping their students review content they had learned over second quarter.

The idea of taking quarterly exams can be stressful for some students.  Still, they persevere.  Below is a picture of a student finishing her science test.  The test was challenging for her, but instead of giving up, she took the time to review each question carefully. She asked questions when she needed clarification. This student has come a long way since the beginning of the school year.  She is learning to be patient with herself when she doesn’t understand the material.  She is learning to ask for help.  When she finally came to the last question on the test, she looked at me and exclaimed, “Oh! Teacher! I know this one!”  Ending her test with confidence was the best way for her to end second quarter.

This school year seemed to fly by so quickly! I can hardly believe how far we have come since June!  Please continue to pray for teachers and students as we begin the second half of the school year.