Blog for November 7 and 9

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo. How about you, you, you? You can come too, too, too! We're going to the zoo, zoo,zoo!!

We are headed to the Detroit zoo tomorrow! We will meet there at 10am. I will be near the ramp from the parking structure to the main gate, near the water tower parking lot. We will go in as a group, members in the rear. After we get through the gate, I will give you your parking ticket, a map and an animal checklist and then you are off on your own!

This week we are talking about the zoo and the sound of Zz!

Table activities this week are building block cages for plastic animals, making cages for little plastic animals out of playdoh and popsicle sticks, animal cookie cutter paint printing and using animal print paper cut in different shapes to make animals.

Our small group activities this week are painting our favorite animal with watercolors in an upright position and sorting animal crackers.

Books of the week- "1,2,3 to the Zoo" by Eric Carle, "Goodnight, Gorilla" by Peggy Rathman, and "Put Me in the Zoo" by Robert Lopshire.

KDIs we are concentrating on this week are-

Classifying: Children classify materials, actions, people, and events.- We will sort our animal crackers into animals and then talk about each group, which ones eat plants, which ones eat other animals.

 Art: Children express and represent what they observe, think, imagine, and feel through two- and three-dimensional art- As we tried using models for our painting of animals, we used colors that suited us and painted as we saw.

Jesus Time- This week we have one last story with Moses before we skip ahead. The Israelites are safely out of Egypt. God provides water from a rock and food in the form of manna and quail as they are traveling through the desert. Because God wants them to be a people set apart, he meets with Moses on Mt. Sinai and gives him many rules for His people to live by. One section of that still helps us today and that is the Ten Commandments.

We talked about how we are not able to keep the Ten Commandments perfectly, but Jesus did and he shares that obedience with us. We also talked about how the commandments show us how we can show love to God and to others. We talked about the two tables of the law- You should have no other Gods, Use God's name to pray, praise and give thanks, and worship God! Those are all showing us how to better show love to God. Honor and obey your parents and others in authority, do not murder or hurt anyone, do not steal, honor marriage, do not tell lies about people, do not want something someone else has so badly that you plan a way to get it or complain constantly how it's not fair they have it and you don't.

We can't do any of these things all the time, we sin all the time. But thank God that He sent Jesus who did and suffered our punishment in our place!

I would like to share a great graphic that I saw about the importance of reading at home- We do read at school, but what a way to help your little ones get a great start! And books are FREE!! All you need is a library card!

Have a terrific week!

Mrs. Schneck