They Actually Let the Seminarian-Engineer Teach Little Kids?

Yes, yes they did.

Somehow, the kind folks here in Mount Pleasant have let me help with Vacation Bible School, overlooking the fact that most engineers talk to their feet... not teaching sort of material. < /sarc>

In all seriousness, I've been having a blast helping with it. All of the kids are so full of energy, and it's easy to tell that (for the most part) they actually do want to be there.

Yesterday, I traveled with the group of preschoolers. I never thought I'd be able to handle them, but they're really an amazing group to work with, mostly because they are so simple and innocent. We made a simple craft -- butterflies using tissue paper squares put into a plastic baggie and clipped with a clothespin; it's still riding around on my jungle hat, which is perfect for our rainforest theme. The kids were happy to see it was still there today.

During the game, a modified version of 'duck, duck, goose,' the rain started to let up, showing a beautiful rainbow... we pointed it out to the kids, and hopefully it is something that they will remember.

Today, I had the opportunity to teach fourth through sixth graders because their regular teacher couldn't make it today. Most of the time was spent following them around between games, snacks, crafts, and class. I taught the classroom portion, which involved discussing the stories of Elisha distributing the loaves, tying that to Christ feeding the multitudes, and some other passages. I also mentioned how the Pelican (like the day's animal the Toucan) takes good care of its young and became a longstanding symbol of Christ feeding us in the Eucharist. We talked a little about St. Paul and his Epistles as well. It seemed like they enjoyed it and got something out of it. Big surprise to me.

But it just could have been that they liked St. Paul's sword too.