Tag: Lutheran Schools

The Noteworthy Mommy Goes Back to Preschool

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This past semester has been one I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

When I walked into the preschool classroom at Zion Lutheran School in St. Charles, Missouri, something deep inside me stirred. It felt familiar, sacred even. And then it hit me, this wasn’t just a full circle moment. It was a three-circle moment!

I attended Zion Lutheran Preschool in Belleville, Illinois when I was four years old. Those early memories…learning, singing, being loved and cared for in a faith-filled space were the very beginning of my story. Years later, my very first contracted teaching position after graduating college was teaching half-day preschool at that same Zion Lutheran School in my birth church in Belleville. That classroom was where I learned who I was as an educator, where my calling first took shape.

And now, thirty years later, I found myself teaching half-day preschool again at Zion Lutheran School. This time in St. Charles, MO. This time at Mini Me’s school. This time at a church that has become an incredible home for my family of three. God’s timing is never accidental, and this moment was no exception.

When I heard that a teacher friend was in need of a long-term substitute, I felt something I had never felt before. There was no debate. No list of pros and cons. No second-guessing. I felt called…clearly, unmistakably called to step in. The Holy Spirit was working inside of me, nudging me forward. There was only one answer my heart could give.

Yes.

I won’t pretend it was easy. It wasn’t. There were sacrifices…real ones. I no longer had the opportunity to pray with my Moms in Prayer group or meet with my morning Bible study. My energy tank was empty most days, leaving no fuel left for workouts at the YMCA. Our household felt it too with less prepared meals, a little more chaos, a little less order.

But oh, how the sacrifices paled in comparison to the blessings.

When I say yes to something, I’m all in. One hundred percent. And I gave this job everything I had. In return, I was given a class of littles who loved stories. Truly loved them. If they could have spent the entire day listening to books and eating snack, they would have been perfectly content.

So I answered that love with books…lots of them. High-quality, beautiful picture books and some repetitive texts. Some I remembered sharing with kindergarten students I taught years ago like “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” and “Mrs. Wishy Washy.” Some I had once read aloud to my own Mini Me when she was in preschool. And a few that were brand new to me like “The Gingerbread Girl.” Every story felt like a gift.

And of course, the reading consultant in me couldn’t help herself. I modeled comprehension strategies while reading. I taught them how to make predictions, how to wonder, how to notice new vocabulary. I stretched them gently, intentionally and they rose to the challenge! The growth these littles made in such a short amount of time was incredible.

The greatest blessing of all was teaching them about Jesus and showing them His love every single day. Attending chapel each week. Praying together. Helping them learn letters and sounds using Open Court Reading and alphabet sound cards. And wow, the instruction stuck! They remembered. They applied it. They grew.

One of the sweetest blessings in this adventure was how much Mini Me loved having her Noteworthy Mommy at school. She beamed with pride every single morning. She and her BFF would often help me set up the classroom, straightening chairs, setting out materials, doing the important “teacher work” before the day began. Watching her move through her school day knowing I was on campus was pure joy. She loved having me there, and I will treasure those moments forever.

The Noteworthy Mommy in 1995 with her students on a field trip.
The Noteworthy Mommy in 2025 with her students at an Advent program.

This position, which was meant to be temporary, ended up being extended longer than originally planned. And honestly, it felt exactly right. Like God saying, “Stay a little longer. There’s still more for you here.”

This semester stretched me. It exhausted me. It blessed me beyond measure. And as I look back, I can say with full confidence this wasn’t just a job. It was a calling revisited. A circle completed. A reminder that God isn’t finished with us yet, and sometimes He brings us back to where it all began, not to repeat the past, but to show us how much we’ve grown.

Third Grade…A Transitional Year of Learning and Love

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It seems like yesterday that I walked my mini me into the Sonshine Center for her first day of preschool. Now she is a big third grader and requested to be dropped off in the carline. My sentiments echo what parents across the world are thinking… if you blink you are going to miss it! If you look away for a mere minute, her childhood will be over. So embrace this stage and age with all the good and the bad and know that like a shooting star, if you look away, you may miss the magic!

What Makes Third Grade Special?– The last grade level under the early childhood umbrella, third grade takes the skills taught in first and second and expands on them. Third graders read complex text, develop fact fluency (in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and read for meaning in science and social science. In third grade we begin to see the shift from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” As a reading consultant I don’t like to use these terms because we learn while we are reading at all grade levels and most third graders continue to need phonics instruction which falls under learning to read. But it is a phrase used by many to describe the changes we begin to see during this transitional year. The best thing you can do for a third grader at home is to get them to read. Easy to say as a reading consultant but if I’m being honest, hard for this Noteworthy Mommy to implement.

First Day of School Cookies– Gone are the days of the ceremonial reading of “The Kissing Hand” but the tradition of making Nana’s famous homemade sugar cookies lives on! This year my friend, Ms. Ginger, helped us bake the delectable cookies that my mini me gifted to her teachers and administrators on the first day of school. Instead of making cutouts of hands and hearts, like we did in years past, we used a cookie stamp with Martin Luther’s rose. Borrowed from Ms. Cherie, who I refer to as my Zion mom, it made a sweet addition to our back to school cookies.

Making homemade Back to School cookies with Martin Luther’s rose design!

Miss Firminhac– My mini me has a young and energetic teacher this year. Miss Firminhac is new to Zion and came to us after completing two years teaching fourth grade in another state. She is a third generation Lutheran school teacher and we are thrilled to have her! The minute I met Miss Firminhac I knew she was a natural teacher. She is confident, kind and tall! What impressed me the most is how she got down on my mini me’s level and spoke directly to her in a soothing tone that eased any trepidations my mini me had about starting a new school year. With her inviting classroom and infectious smile, my “eight year old self” secretly wishes she had Miss Firminhac for a third grade teacher! I know my mini me is going to learn exponentially under the guidance of her dynamic teacher and will not only learn about the love Jesus has for His children but will be shown love by Miss Ferminhac as well.