At ESD we have several objectives, the most important of which is to see our students come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The second most important objective is language development.
Some students arrive at school by 7:30 a.m. They are met by the morning staff on duty. The kids enjoy some free time until flag raising at 8 a.m. By the raising of the flags and repeating of the Pledge of Allegiance, we seek to instill in our students a love and respect for their country and their government.
Following flag raising, we go to chapel where we spend the first part of our day singing, sharing prayer and requests, reviewing Bible memory verses, participating in Bible drills, learning Bible lessons, and for the little kids, learning how to sit still in a group setting. Many ASL discourse level skills are learned in the process of chapel times.
From chapel, we go to our classrooms. Each class has time to pray together in small groups or individually. Since our students come in daily, we have added devotional times to our class schedule so that each student has some time to read God's Word and pray. This year, the older students are viewing the daily devotional from the Deaf Missions website followed by time to reflect and record their thoughts on the message for the day. For the younger classes, each child has an opportunity to pray for their day in a small group with a teacher who helps to keep them focused. We encourage them to pray in a respectful way to show God our love.
By 9 a.m., we launch into our academic work. Vocabulary, reading and mathematics take much of the morning followed by Handbell Choir and Lunch. After lunch the students have some free time and then we move into afternoon classes : Bible, Social Studies, Science, Language Arts, and other miscellaneous subjects. We end the school day when the students are picked up by their parents between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m.
The staff spend their after-school hours in the office - writing letters, processing finances, preparing newsletters, updating the school website - or in their classrooms preparing lessons, cleaning up from the day, organizing for the next day, assisting students who need special attention.
Mondays and Thursdays, the staff meet for prayer and planning as well as Bible study together. Every morning before classes, the staff meets at 7:15 for prayer and a brief discussion of any special issues or events for the day before them.
We hope this little glimpse of our days helps you to pray more effectively for our ministry.