New routines for the 2020 School year!
Throughout Uganda, most schools began the school year the first week of February. We postponed the start date to the last week of February to give our team more time to prep for the arrival of our students. This year, we have a new principal, many new teachers on staff, and a new program for how we disciple Cherish boarding students. We wanted to make sure all of our new staff members and teams felt full prepared before the students arrived - and we feel that God affirmed our decision to delay the start of the school year with an incredible first week of school.
Below are a few highlights of the new practices and routines:
Teacher Time
Before the school day even begins, Cherish teachers gather together early in the morning. During this time, teachers meet to connect with each other, pray together for the day, review the previous day, watch a video for God time, and then announcements are made by Head Teachers.
Morning Empowerment
We call the first part of the day “Empowerment” a time to welcome the students to school. Each child is greeted at the door with their greeting of choice (a hug, a high five, or a handshake). According to our staff, the children are loving this time of day (hugs have become the most popular choice amongst our students) because personalized greetings are very valued in Ugandan culture. The students then gather around tables to receive water and a morning snack (many of our students haven’t eaten since the previous day’s school lunch, so we want to start their day off with a snack to give them energy for the school day). While enjoying snack time, we have one question of the day presented to the whole room. The students and teachers then discuss this question of the day to get conversation flowing and to wake up their noggins.
God Time
The students then move around, outdoors, or into their classroom for a morning lesson from the Bible and God time. They read the Bible, discuss questions related to the scripture, then they journal or draw based on that reading and discussion. They end God time with discussing what “nugget” of information they’ll takeaway as one thing you learned that you’ll carry through the rest of the day.
Project-Based Learning
A new approach for teaching is to focus lessons around project-based learning. We’re encouraging our teachers to get the students outside of the classrooms or around real life examples that can help with comprehension. creative lesson planning
Classroom Connection
We believe that discipleship goes hand in hand with creating a personal connection. Cherish Teachers are creating fun greetings and ways to personalize the classroom time to make the classroom a fun, unique learning space for their students.
At the end of the day, primary school students are escorted out and given either a hug, handshake or high five as they leave the school grounds. Boarding students enjoy dinner and sometimes gather back in the CLC for an evening time in the Word with staff and mentors.
We cannot wait to see how God moves in the lives of students during the 2020 school year at Cherish Schools.
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