Celebration: Kaizen Learning – Encounter K.10 

Big Question: Who heals us?

Big Learning Idea: We are learning that our Friend Jesus is the Great Healer.

For this last lesson during my Bible lab placement, my students made 'Care Bear' toast, brought their stuffed animals, and had a teddybear picnic (while we read The Teddy Bears' Picnic by Jimmy Kennedy). 

This final lesson lined up perfectly with my last day of teaching this class. Since the entire unit focused on healing–What does Jesus do for me? What can I do for myself and my community?–I wanted to continue my previous lesson (which focused on get-well cards for those who were hurting or sick using the idea of care bear. 

One suggestion from the lesson was to make a 'Care Bear' out of toast, which got me thinking about Teddybear Picnic and thus the full lesson was formed. The students brought their favorite stuffed animals, explained why they were so special, and how that related to the couple of previous activities (including the 'Care Bear' cards) we had. I was very proud of my students for speaking, listening, and applying the lessons we had together. They followed directions, were polite when I was reading as well as when others were talking, and they were thoughtful when preparing toast for their teacher and my mentor teacher. 

This lesson showed me how putting effort and creativity into teaching (every once in a while) is rewarding, not only from the teacher's perspective but the students'  as well. The duration of this lesson took way longer than I expected and I did apologize to my mentor teacher for going over the timeframe, but I was reassured and told that these types of lessons–the hands on, explorative, experience-sharing–are everything, especially for the K-2 grades. Going forward, if there is a time restraint, this lesson might be split into two days. However, all elements–sharing experiences, making something, listening–should be implemented, especially for connecting the entire unit during this final lesson.