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Showing posts from September, 2011

Meet Mrs. Savonen

Well, it's Monday again, so it must be time to meet another member of the GGCA staff. Today I thought it would be nice to introduce you to Mrs. Holly Savonen, GGCA's third grade teacher. Mrs. Savonen looks much nicer than the picture here which I took when I caught her after after being outside on a rainy day. Still, she was a good sport and smiled for my camera. That's Mrs. Savonen for you.  Mrs. Savonen reminds me of the two masks that you see symbolizing the dramatic arts, the one with the laughing face of comedy and the other with the weeping face of tragedy. She laughs and cries easily because she has a great heart and she relishes life. She is the first to laugh herself and she weeps like a mother for her child, for she truly loves and cares for each of her students.  I admire Mrs. Savonen's commitment to learning. She reads with her students in mind, always working to improve herself as a teacher. I think of the Apostle Paul who in Philippians 3 spoke of

Meet Mr. Evans

I can't rightly recall how Mr. Michael Evans began working at GGCA, but I am glad that he did. Did I hire him? If so, I must remember to pat myself on the back for making a good decision. What I do know is Mr. Evans' amazing flexibility and faithfulness. Every year he as worked for me at GGCA, he has come to me and said that he is available to teach whatever needs to be taught. I have asked him to teach math, science, and history and he has told me that as long as he can have the books for the summer, he will be ready. This is a school administrator's dream!  Mr. Evans is a great teacher who grows from year to year in wisdom and experience. He has become our middle school's afternoon anchorman, teaching seventh grade science and either seventh or eighth grade math for the past two years plus monitoring the seventh grade study hall. He wears awesome neckties for which he says he never pays more than two dollars, and he has some pretty good stories and jokes to help m

Details of Daily School Life

And so, here we are on another fall-like Monday morning at Greater Grace Christian Academy. We have already begun our day with prayer and some time in the Word and the students have gone their separate ways: Sophomores are in the gymnasium with Coach Lynch, Coach Campbell, and Miss Eva; Juniors are with Mr . McFarland doing their reading for this week's Apologetics classes; Freshmen are with Mrs. Vanderwarker working on their composition skills; Pastor Knight's eighth graders are in the midst of studying biblical times in Ancient World History; the seventh graders are under the loving tutelage of Mrs. Colby in English class; and the sixth graders are with Miss Locke learning the latest Saxon math lesson.  The elementary students are likely studying either language arts or math this morning, since these are the prime teaching hours for those two subjects. The office is relatively quiet. Jen Lynch is answering the phones and clickety-clacking away on her computer keeping the

Meet Miss Diane

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This year I have decided to dedicate some of my blog to introducing the staff of Greater Grace Christian Academy. Today's introduction is for Miss Diane Turmel, better known to her kindergarten fans as "Miss Diane." Miss Diane is GGCA's indispensable kindergarten assistant. She and Miss Anderson are the dynamic duo of the five-year-old set, transitioning students from pre-school to first grade. That is a huge transition.  I remember watching a Saturday morning cartoon called Recess in which the kindergarten students were depicted as a tribe of uncivilized natives. To a degree, that humorous depiction is accurate, because kindergarten is the grade where students learn how to be "civilized" students.  Miss Diane is one of the ladies who brings civilization to the kindergarten "tribe." Miss Diane is a patient helper of teacher and students alike. Do you remember ever being sick or having an accident in kindergarten? Miss Diane is the kind so

Rainy Days and Fridays Always Cheer Me Up

The rivers are rising, roofs are leaking, sump pumps are stressed, and the itsy bitsy spider may have given up all hope of ever climbing up the water spout, but it is Friday here at Greater Grace Christian Academy and we are completing our first week of our new school year, and that is cause for celebration and praise. This is our 25th year of service to church going Christian families in the Greater Baltimore area. Twenty-five years!  We've come a long way from our humble beginnings having school in a Teamster's hall and in a former funeral home. I know adults who went to school in those buildings and they have stories to tell that make you laugh and shake your head in wonder that they actually have fond memories of those places. When I think of the little room I once taught in where I had only twenty-one chairs for my students to sit in, when I taught combined classes of freshmen and sophomores and of juniors and seniors from $2.50 "textbooks" with the construct