Exciting news!! Monday morning at 8:00 AM I received a text message from our Elementary Principal, Dan Lazor! He was giving me the excellent news that his wife gave birth to their sixth child at 8:00 AM on February 18! Lucille Anne (Lucy is what the family has been calling this little angel) is so cute! With the arrival of #6, Mr. Lazor was home on paternity leave. Before I forget, here is a picture of the proud Daddy and Lucy shortly after her birth!
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It was a very full and busy week for Mrs. Birmingham and me since there were numerous teachers out because of bronchitis or attendance at a conference or taking their students to music or athletic competitions in Korea or Japan! I enjoyed opportunities to substitute for various teachers throughout the week. I really enjoyed being able to sub in our SLC (Student Learning Center) for Mrs. Pallesen. I had a most delightful time one-on-one with Josh, a Grade 5 student, who needs extra teaching in English and Writing. After giving Josh his Spelling test, I had the joy of seeing his rough draft of a writing assignment he is working on! He is one of the fifth graders who are involved with the MIT Scratch Computer Programming after school activity. I was thrilled to work with him on his computer to assist him with his writing skills. I have seen so much improvement since I met him when he was in Grade 3. I also had the pleasure of reading a Geometry Exam for a middle school student, Gracie. That was fun and brought back many good memories of my Geometry class with Mr. Byers at Chambersburg Area Senior High School - long, long ago!!Mrs. Harding, our fourth grade Music teacher was at an orchestra competition with our Middle School and High School orchestra so I had the special treat of teaching her fourth grade cherubs in Music. They are studying various composers and this week they were focusing on Ludwig van Beethoven! We had an awesome interactive discussion of Beethoven - his life and his composing genius. I was thrilled that so many of these young ones are learning to love his music and Bach's! It was a great time!
A special treat for me on Friday was to be the Lunch Recess teacher for Grade 5! After lunch I took them up to the large soccer field and there were several activities going on. I was watching one group of fifth grade boys playing soccer and just had to jump in and play with them. They were amazed and excited that "Mr. Garman is playing soccer!" I had so much fun!! However, I probably forgot that I am nearing 64 years old and maybe got too crazy. My legs and back are aching this weekend! :-) But each time I feel the aches, I think of boys like Joseph, Victor, Majid, Mahav, and Andrei who were smiling and enjoying seeing an old man play with them. I really want these boys to come to believe in Jesus!
This week was a very active week with the Read-A-Thon. Wednesday was Mystery Reader Day and many teachers, parents, and staff visited the elementary classrooms to read some of their favorite books. I am going to allow the pictures to tell you about this special day and week!
Above is the Bulletin Board the students gather around to view each day with the total of minutes they have read during the Read-A-Thon! That number has increased but I don't have the latest total at present. The students continue to make their fingers like scissors and run them through their hair each time they see me! They smile and say, "I'm going to shave your head, Mr. Garman!"
I have read The Royal Bee to Grade 3B
each year during Read-A-Thon! It is an
inspired fiction account of Frances and
Ginger Park's grandfather when he was
a very poor boy in Korea over 100 years
ago. The students love the story and
when I finish they usually applaud - not
for me, but for the little boy! They want
the story to go on! This year was no
exception! You might want to read it
if you haven't!
In addition to being a Mystery Reader for Grade 3B, I was invited to be the Mystery Reader in 2B! I read two fun books to these cherubs! One was Tacky and the Winter Games!
Here I am reading Tacky to the cherubs in 2B! They
loved it and we had a great time of talking about new
vocabulary and being the person God made each of them!
The other book that the kids seem to always enjoy when I read it is A Giraffe and a Half by Shel Silverstein. There were a number of parents in the room as well when I read it to Grade 2B. I am not sure who enjoyed the reading more! :-) I love reading it and challenging the students to write there own stories!
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Two more highlights this past week were two time that I had to speak with a couple girls about their behavior. One third grade girl, Robyn, had not buckled her seat belt on the bus and I needed to speak with her about that. Robyn just started at YISS in January so she is not too familiar with the bus rules. I had a delightful conversation with her and discovered that often her seat belt is stuck under her seat and she can't buckle it and has been afraid to ask for help. The day after I spoke with her, she came to me and said, "I have something for you, Mr. Garman." She had prepared the following note:
One little kindergarten cherub, Jade, had a little problem one day last week. She likes to tease and make funny faces at me. On Thursday as she was leaving the school with her mother, she smiled at me and stuck out her tongue. Her mother told her right away that was inappropriate. I told her a story of the trouble I got in when I was about 10 and stuck out my tongue at a lady who had made me angry. The parents had a nice talk with Jade and helped her to understand that she needed to be careful with her silly faces. I also had a nice talk with Jade and she was so responsive. The following day she came to me with the following note.
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I close this week to ask you to pray for my wonderful friend from SYME days in Songtan. His name is Alex, but I called him Baby Hippo and he called me Papa Hippo when we were at SYME together. When I met Alex, he would not speak hardly any English, but would always smile this brilliant smile! We started a crazy greeting when we saw each other at SYME and it became our trademark. The other SYME students loved it. And because of our crazy greeting, we became good friends and Alex starting coming to me and practicing his English. He has since served his mandatory military time for the Korean Army and is finishing his university studies. He loves the Lord and asked me to pray for him to keep growing in his walk with God. Following are some pictures of our special time together last Sunday evening. We had not seen each other for over a year and we had such a great time together!
Yes, a picture of food!! Surprised? I don't think so!
Our choices for our yummy dinner at The Alley!
We chose a most delicious Tiramisu for dessert accompanied two refreshing teas!
Alex (Baby Hippo) and Papa Hippo enjoying our
meal and conversation at The Alley!
As we left The Alley, we stopped to get a crazy picture of the two of us giving our special greeting call! The server taking the picture had a difficult time concealing his laughter! :-)
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This next week we have one of my favorite times at YISS - Student-Led Conferences with parents! That will be on Thursday and it is always thrilling for me to walk around and meet parents and observe students leading the conference with their parents as they show them their academic work and progress via the computer and various other methods! I love seeing the students use their presentation and communication skills! Friday, March 1, is a day off for students, teachers, and staff to celebrate Samil Day (Independence Movement Day) in South Korea! It's an observance commemorating a day when Korean openly resisted the occupation of the Japanese and fought for their independence.
As always, I want to thank you for your love, your prayers, your encouragement, and your support! What a special blessing you are to me!
Love, Gregg
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