Turn on the Lights!

Ohhh, what a dark and dreary morning. It’s foggy and misting, and not conducive to a cheerful attitude for this teacher! As I drove to school this morning, I first felt rather downhearted with this weather and the dark morning. Then I remembered a recent devotional on Jesus being the light and thanked Him for that. I continued thinking about Jesus the Light, and light in general, and considered what I could do with my class today to motivate them (and me!) on this gray day. 

We will start with having devotions about Jesus, the Light of the World (see below). We might put the blinds clear up. We could light candles or use battery-operated candles to get some extra brightness in our room. I have a set of 24 little flashlights that we really enjoy using, so we will use them today to spotlight words in our reading, make shadows, read stories by flashlight, play a version of tag, or explore light for science.

I can add some surprises to the day, such as setting the timer throughout the day for random amounts of time, and whenever it rings we stop what we are doing and read a story. We could tell stories or jokes. I can add some extra brain breaks. The children could get a stuffed animal to “help” them with their lessons. We might take a break from the written work and play a learning game.

On these gray days, we can do some extra singing. Perhaps wearing brighter colors would cheer us up. We should think of something to look forward to.

This gloomy day ended up being a happy day inside!

The next day. It is another dark and dreary morning. It doesn’t bother me as much as I think ahead to the plans for the day. We have Book Day. I am amused with my “costume”—I’m dressing as “the old lady who swallowed a fly,” and I’m looking forward to finding out what my students have come up with for the day.

Jesus, the Light of the World Devotional Activity (adapted from Christmas Do-votionals, Warner Press)

1. Turn off the lights and light a candle.
2. Discuss the light and how it shines. Where are your eyes drawn? To that flame! It happens to me every time. I try to look at the class as I’m talking, but my eyes continue to turn to the flame. We want to turn our eyes to Jesus, the light of the world!
3. Read John 8:12, John 9:5, and John 1:5.  
4. Discuss how the light chases away the darkness. This could be demonstrated with a flashlight. Relate this to Jesus “chasing away” the darkness of sin.

Photo by Rich Smith on Unsplash.