So What's With All the Frogs?

Well, it is clear that our class theme is frogs. You only need to step into our room once to see that! The kids love it and get a kick out of seeing all the different frog stuff I have around the room. But, you might be wondering "why frogs?". Well, quite honestly I stumbled upon it by complete accident, but it has become something I love! When I graduated, my first call was to St. John Lutheran School in New Orleans, LA. Upon arrival I noticed that every class seemed to have a theme, mainly animals. The Kindergarten teacher loved Curious George, so they were obviously the"Monkey Class." I was soon asked what my classroom theme would be. Great question! I had never even thought about it. You would think that I would have noticed this or had an idea somewhere along the way with all of the fieldwork we did in college and with my Student Teaching experience. But, somehow I never gave it a thought. Here I was trying to setup my first classroom without a theme and no clue what I wanted one to be. The 1st Grade teacher before me had Bears as her theme, and I did not like that. I alway thought about Bears as being more suitable to an Early Childhood classroom, not 1st Grade. So, off to the nearest teaching supply store I headed, hoping for divine inspiration. Bears, Stars, Underwater, Monkeys (out of the question), the possibilities seemed to be endless. Then I saw it, frogs! They were cute and there was a lot of stuff available to purchase, so I now had a theme! Decorating began, frogs here and there, cute plays on words like hoppening, pad, and leap. Then I thought back to the acronym I am sure you have all heard: F.ully R.ely O.n G.od. It fit perfectly! It is the basis of everything we teach the children in Religion, Church, and Sunday School. We want them to know God, know He loves them, and know all He has done for them. We also want them to learn that, no matter what, they can turn to Him for every need they have, both physical and spiritual. Happy times, sad times, troubled times, easy times, hard time; we need Him throughout them all. If I wasn't sold on the idea of frogs as a theme before, I sure was now. They have grown on me since then and I love buying new frog-themed things for the classroom and love it when kids bring me in something to add to my collection. Its fun and cute, but also helps me to remember the reason I chose them. So, to answer the question posed at the beginning of this post: frogs are cute, but frogs can help you remember a core part of your faith - to rely on God no matter what. He will provide us with every thing we need physically, mentally, and spiritually. I teach this to my students every year. My hope for them is the same hope I have for you: every time you see a frog now, you will remember who to turn to and who will always take care of you.