Wonderfully Designed

Our 2019-2020 school year programs have begun! This year, we’re hosting two Reading & Homework Clubs in Sycamore and DeKalb. We have 14 adult volunteers committed to serving these students each week. We invite you to take a sneak peek into the first reading curriculum the students will be going through!

Wonderfully Designed was developed to help show kids that each of us have our strengths, and sometimes those strengths are very different from our peers. Our hope is that the books included in this curriculum will inspire students to look at themselves with a sense of pride and purpose, knowing that God intended them to be exactly as He made them!

Each week, the students will have an engaging read aloud, many of which are true stories, and will do activities to go along with what they are learning.

Here’s a few of the texts the students will be reading:

God’s Very Good Idea by Trilla Newbell

“God's very good idea is to have lots of different people enjoying loving him and loving each other. This stunningly illustrated journey from the garden of Eden to God's heavenly throne room shows how despite our sinfulness, everyone can be a part of God's very good idea through the saving work of Christ. This book will help children see how people from all ethnic and social backgrounds are valuable to God and how Jesus came to rescue all kinds of people. It will also excite them about being part of church.”

Rescue and Jessica by Jessica Kensky

“Based on a real-life partnership, the heartening story of the love and teamwork between a girl and her service dog will illuminate and inspire. Rescue thought he’d grow up to be a Seeing Eye dog — it’s the family business, after all. When he gets the news that he’s better suited to being a service dog, he’s worried that he’s not up to the task. Then he meets Jessica, a girl whose life is turning out differently than the way she'd imagined it, too. Now Jessica needs Rescue by her side to help her accomplish everyday tasks. And it turns out that Rescue can help Jessica see after all: a way forward, together, one step at a time. An endnote from the authors tells more about the training and extraordinary abilities of service dogs, particularly their real-life best friend and black lab, Rescue.”

The Girl Who Thought in Pictures by Julia Finley Mosca

“When young Temple was diagnosed with autism, no one expected her to talk, let alone become one of the most powerful voices in modern science. Yet, the determined visual thinker did just that. Her unique mind allowed her to connect with animals in a special way, helping her invent groundbreaking improvements for farms around the globe!”

Lailah’s Lunchbox: A Ramadan Story by Reem Faruqi

“Lailah is in a new school in a new country, thousands of miles from her old home, and missing her old friends. When Ramadan begins, she is excited that she is finally old enough to participate in the fasting but worried that her classmates won’t understand why she doesn’t join them in the lunchroom. Lailah solves her problem with help from the school librarian and her teacher and in doing so learns that she can make new friends who respect her beliefs.”