Burch_Belize_May2020
Dear friends and family,
The Lutheran Mission in Belize has big news! This fall (we think the first week in September), we will be opening a Lutheran preschool in Valley of Peace, Belize. Valley of Peace is a farming community made up (mostly) of people who have fled civil strife in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala as well as Belizean Mayan families. Like all Belizean communities there are also “others” from various backgrounds, but the languages in Valley of Peace are mostly Spanish and Mayan.
We believe that an English-speaking preschool will help give kids the advantage of speaking and understanding English before they begin classes in the local kindergarten the following year. We know from our own kids’ experiences how tough it is to enter school speaking a foreign language, so we are very excited about using the gospel to bring English and Jesus to these Little Lambs.
This letter is to ask any of you who have taught children as parents or teachers to send me your very best fun ideas for lessons, songs, fingerplays, activities and games for this four-year-old level. The main focus of the school will be language development through Bible stories, songs, and activities, but we will also include math, science, and social skills. The attached weekly curriculum is a good beginning, but we want children to memorize a weekly Bible memory verse, and experience many fun learning activities. We hope to plan lessons for children to learn using all their senses.
For this project, I have created a new e-mail address in order to keep school topics separate. Please send any ideas for activities or related Bible verses to me at:
Please pray for us as we go forth. The people in Valley of Peace are “abuzz” with the news, so we hope that we will be able to help build the foundation of a Lutheran community through the establishment of this little school. And who knows? Perhaps some of you will plan a trip to visit and help as this project unfolds.
Thanks in advance for your ideas. The curriculum guidelines are attached.
Yours in Christ,
Markie