談山神社の紅葉を見に行ってきた。

I went to see the fall colors at Tanzan Shrine.

神社　Shinto shrine
談山神社　Tanzan shrine in Nara prefecture.

紅葉　もみじ／こうよう　fall colors; fall foliage

今日、初めてすき焼きを作ってみた！
I made sukiyaki for the first time today!
I tried my hand at making sukiyaki for the first time today!

初めて　for the first time
作る　つくる　to make

V-teみる　try to, attempt to, give it a whirl, try one’s hand at…

2007年にカンボジアのジャングルで女性が発見されました。
In 2007 a girl was discovered in the Cambodian jungle.

発見　はっけん　discovery
女性　じょせい　girl; woman; female

良博は中学校の同級生を介して今の彼女を知り合った。
Yoshihiro met his current girlfriend through a his junior high school classmate.

良博　よしひろ　Yoshihiro (man’s name)

中学校　ちゅうがっこう　junior high; middle school
同級生　どうきゅうせい　classmate
中学校の同級生　classmate from back in JHS

今　いま　now
彼女　かのじょ girlfriend (literally means “her”)

介して　かいして through; by means of

新しいブログを始めました。

I started a new blog!

Satan, the adversary of every Christian, will one day be bound and utterly defeated. At that point he will no longer have the ability to harass and torment the children of God. Today, however, he is tirelessly at work doing all he can to rob God of glory, and to destroy the creatures that God loves. Dr. Frank M. Kepner, the Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Long Beach, California, from 1956-1979, once wrote: “Yes, when we have been brought close to Christ by some high spiritual experience or by some noble decision, we may always expect great temptation to follow. For Satan never surrenders a life to God without a desperate struggle.”

Of course, the faithful Christian who studies his Bible is not ignorant of Satan’s devices, weapons, schemes, or persistence. When he is tripped by Satan, and stumbles into sin, he need not fret or wallow in defeat. In fact, Christians have access to a great promise concerning God’s compassion on His children even when they have shamefully stumbled.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Ephesians 4:32

When you have been “born again” – that is, born into the family of God – your past sins are forgiven, your current sins are forgiven, and even your future sins are forgiven. The “tense” of your sins is not the important thing. The tense of God’s forgiveness is. The sins of believers were dealt with on the Cross of Christ and they “hath” been (past tense) forgiven.

A believer who is dealt a blow by Satan, and who gives in to sin, grieves the Holy Spirit of God.

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Ephesians 4:30

This would have been the perfect place for God to tell us that our sins can cause the Spirit to be grieved to the point that He leaves us, and that we lose our eternal salvation. But He does not. Instead, He reminds us that, though we may grieve the Holy Spirit, He still seals Christians unto the day of redemption. Satan is strong. Some men are strong. But no one can break the seal of God.

Retell: A kindergartner reflects on how much she has grown.

Topics: kindergarten, growing up, babies, sharing

Units of Study: Authoring an Independent Reading Life, (This could be used during the editing process of any unit of study.)

Tribes: mutual respect, attentive listening

Writing Skills: using past tense

My Thoughts: I almost dismissed this book as being too young to be used in a fourth grade classroom.  Though I probably wouldn’t read it aloud to the entire class, I would read it to a small group of writers who struggle with past tense.  When the main character is looking back to her life as a baby and as a “little kid”, she uses only past tense verbs:  “I wore diapers.  I took two naps…Sometimes I had a hard time.”  When she reflects on her current behavior she uses present tense verbs:  “I can make up stories!  I can listen to my friends tell stories, too.”  This book has inspired me to dig deep into the libraries of my lower-grade colleagues to search for more grammar read alouds.