Blog for March 27 and 29

This week we celebrate Easter!

Our table activities include an Easter sensory bin, jelly bean graphing, egg towers and playdough eggs.

Small group this week is making watercolor eggs and matching the letter on the egg.

KDIs of the week are-

Alphabetic knowledge: Children identify letter names and their sounds.- Matching letters and the letters in our names.

Writing: Children write for many different purposes- We are going to start working a little harder to trace our names in the morning and holding in the right grip.

Jesus Time- This week we hear sad and glad news! We start off on Maundy Thursday, when Jesus shares a final meal with his disciples and gives them a new commandment- "Love one another". He also gives them his body and blood with the bread and wine at the institution of communion. He sends Judas on the way to betray him and takes his remaining disciples into the Garden of Gethsemane. In the garden, Jesus asks his disciples to keep watch with him as he goes further on to pray. Jesus prays and asks God the Father if there is any other way that he can pay for the sins of the world. He is in agony over his coming death. Even though he wishes there were another way, he submits to the will of the Father. He prays three times, each time coming back to check on his disciples, who have fallen asleep. Finally, he wakes them up and lets them know that it is time for him to be arrested. Jesus is arrested, taken before the court of the Jews and the Gentiles and he is condemned to death for claiming to be the Son of God. The Roman soldiers beat him and mock him, put a crown of thorns on him and force him to carry his cross. Jesus is nailed to the cross and hung between two thieves. Even now, he forgives those who nail him to the cross, he forgives and dies for the sins of those who mock him. He assures the thief who repents that he will see him in paradise. He suffers for the sins of all people of all time, your sins and my sins. The sky turns dark, the earth quakes, the thick curtain in the temple is torn in two, dead people rise and come out of their graves. "It is Finished!"
Jesus commends his spirit into his Father's hands. Two of Jesus secret disciples, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, take Jesus body, wrap it in linen and put it in a new tomb carved from the rock, like a small cave and roll a stone in front of the opening. Roman soldiers are sent to guard it so no one can steal his body and claim that he rose. Some women who are followers of Jesus plan to come and complete the preparation for his burial. When they return early Sunday morning, they worry about who will roll the stone away. When they arrive, the stone is gone and so is Jesus. One of the women is frantically looking for the gardener to ask him what happened. The other women approach the tomb. When they do, they see angels as bright as lightning who ask why they are looking for the living among the dead? "He is not here, he is risen just as he said. Go and tell his disciples." They do just that! Mary, who was looking for the gardener, sees a man and asks him where Jesus' body has been taken. The man says, "Mary." and Mary sees that it is Jesus!! He is risen!! He is risen, indeed!

Books of the week- "The Easter Story" by Allia Zobel Nolan, "Happy Easter, Little Critter" by Mercer Mayer and "An Easter Alleluia!" by Anita Stohs.

Next week- NO SCHOOL-SPRING BREAK! Classes for 3's resume April 10th!

Have a wonderful Easter! He is risen! He is risen indeed!
Mrs. Schneck

Blog for March 20 and 22

This week we are listening for quiet. Qq is for quiet, and what is quieter than a butterfly? Soft and silent, we'll learn about butterfly life cycles, their symmetry and colors.

Table activities this week include butterfly collage, butterfly matching, The Very Hungry Caterpillar hole punch activity and making a butterfly suncatcher on contact paper.

Small group activities are painting and folding a symmetrical butterfly and making a butterfly life cycle.

KDIs of the week are-

 Phonological awareness: Children identify distinct sounds in spoken language- focusing on the unique sound of Qq

Natural and physical world: Children gather knowledge about the natural and physical world.- We will learn about symmetry and life cycle this week. 

Jesus Time- This week our story takes us to the beginning of Holy Week. Jesus is welcomed as a King on Palm Sunday. Jesus plans to go to Jerusalem with his disciples where he knows he will be put to death. The disciples don't really understand what is happening yet. Jesus asks his disciples to go borrow a donkey for him to ride into Jerusalem on. A King riding on a donkey symbolized that he was coming in peace. Jesus was coming to make peace between us and God. Jesus rode into Jerusalem, people lined the streets and waved palm branches at him, shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord." They thought that Jesus was coming to overthrow the Romans, but he was really coming to overthrow death, hell and the power of the devil for us. As he rode into the city further, some Pharisees (men who opposed Jesus) criticized his followers. Telling Jesus that he needed to tell them to be quiet. Jesus told them if they were made to be quiet, the very rocks would cry out! Hosanna means 'save us'. Jesus was ready to go to the cross to save us all!

Books of the week- "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle and "The Butterfly Book" by Michael Berenstain.

There is a lot going on this week-

Tomorrow, Tuesday is Kindergarten Round-up. Invite friends to come see what our program is all about from 6:30-8:00pm. 

Thursday and Friday- Parent Teacher Conferences- if you wish to have a conference, please sign up at
 http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4aa8a82fa6fc1-parent

Saturday- Easter for Families- Come start your Easter celebration together with the Easter story, crafts, songs, snacks and games that the whole family can enjoy! 9:30-11:30am

Have a fantastic week!
Mrs. Schneck

Blog for March 13

Even though it is a short week, we still filled today with fun experiments!

Table activities were mixing oil and water, a marble track and some sensory bottles.

Our small group activity today was "The Humpty Dumpty" experiment. We took hard boiled eggs and each student chose a substance to put in a ziploc baggie, we then added Humpty and predicted whether he would break or not. Then we dropped him to see if our guesses came true. We had bags filled with playdough and jingle bells, pompoms and foam balls, duplo people and feathers and rocks! We had fun experimenting!

Our KDIs for the week are-
Observing: Children observe the materials and processes in their environment.
Classifying: Children classify materials, actions, people, and events.
Experimenting: Children experiment to test their ideas. 
Predicting: Children predict what they expect will happen. 

Jesus Time- This week we hear about the ten lepers that Jesus healed. Leprosy was a horrible disease in ancient times. There was no cure, you had to leave your family and friends for the rest of your life so they wouldn't catch the disease. You lost your ability to provide for your family. It was horrible. Ten lepers had heard the stories of Jesus of Nazareth healing people and they thought it was worth the chance to ask to be healed. They came upon Jesus and his disciples walking along the road and called out to him, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us!" Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priest, that way they could be made clean. As they walked toward the priests, they were healed. Only one man turned around and ran back, fell at Jesus feet and thanked Jesus for healing him. Jesus asked, "Weren't ten men healed? Where are the other nine?" Jesus told the man his faith had made him whole. 
How often aren't we like those nine men, so busy to be on our way that we forget to thank Jesus for all the little miracles he gives us every day. Thank you Lord for this fine day, right where we are!

Our books for this week are "Ada Twist, Scientist" by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts and "What is a Scientist?" by Barbara Lehn.

Field trip to the Michigan Science Center on Thursday. Book order due Friday.

Also, Saturday, March 24th we are having Easter for Families! This is a family Easter event- we are having storytelling, songs, games, a craft and a snack- all for free. It will run from 9:30-11:30am. Tell your friends! A flyer will be sent home next Tuesday!

Have a great week!
Mrs. Schneck

Books of the week for experiments

Our books for this week are "Ada Twist, Scientist" by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts, "What is a Scientist?" by Barbara Lehn, and "Odd Boy Out, Young Albert Einstein" by Don Brown.

Also remember to sign up for Parent Teacher conferences if you wish to at- Parent Teacher conferences

Thanks!!

Ee is for Experiments

Ee is for experiments! We are going to be doing a lot of experimenting this week and having our visit to the Michigan Science Center!

Table activities this week include- magnet play, baking soda and vinegar play, ramps and friction, oil and water play, blocks and balances and static electricity with balloons and tissue paper butterflies.

Small group activities are all experiments this week- We always start with a guess- what do you think will happen if...? Then we test our guess. We did learn the word hypothesis today!
Lava lamps- we poured baby oil and colored water together, learned that oil and water don't mix and added fizzing cold tablets to make the water go up like a lava lamp.- Why it works-The cold tablets react with the water to produce carbon dioxide gas bubbles. These stick to the water droplets. The water/gas combo is less dense than the oil, so they rise to the top of the glass.
No Leak Bag- We will poke sharpened pencils through a quart ziploc bag filled with water and, viola, no leaks! Why it works -The ziploc bag is made out of a polymer whose molecules are like long strands of spaghetti, when the sharp pencil tip pushes through, the flexible strands form a temporary seal around the pencil.
Rain Cloud experiment- We will partially fill a container with water, then spray shaving foam "clouds" on the top. We will use pipettes to put colored water on top of the clouds and it will eventually leak through the clouds to come out in the clear water, just like rain falls out of clouds when enough water molecules join together for gravity to pull it down.

KDIs of the week-
Experimenting: Children experiment to test their ideas. 
Predicting: Children predict what they expect will happen. 
Drawing conclusions: Children draw conclusions based on their experiences and observations. -
It's all about the scientific method this week!

Jesus Time- This week our story is not about a miracle, but about how Jesus reaches out to all sorts of people, even people we don't think he should. Jesus was walking through Jericho and a short man named Zaccheus wanted to see him. Zaccheus was a tax collector, working for the enemy of Rome, and often collected more than he was supposed and pocketed the extra. Zaccheus was too short to see Jesus, so he climbed a tree. As Jesus passed by, he looked up in the tree and called to Zaccheus, "Come down, I'm coming to your house today." The people were surprised! Did Jesus know who this man was and what he had done? After Jesus and Zaccheus visited, Zaccheus was sorry for the way he had lived. He gave half of his goods to the poor and paid back anyone he had cheated four times the amount he had cheated them out of. 
Jesus came to save sinners, there is no one past his grace. He loves people we may think unlovable and he can change their hearts! 

Field trip to the Michigan Science Center on Thursday. Book order due Friday.

Kindergarten round-up on Tuesday, March 20 from 6:30-8:00. We have a terrific kindergarten program so check it out!!

Also, Saturday, March 24th we are having Easter for Families! Look for a flyer with more information on that coming home on Wednesday!

Have a wonderful week!
Mrs. Schneck

Fun with yarn

This week the 3 year olds are playing with yarn and listening and looking for and making the sound of Yy.

Table activities are cutting yarn, painting with yarn, wrapping sticks with yarn and stringing beads on yarn.

Small group activities are sewing with yarn and cutting and gluing yarn on a big Y.

KDIs of the week are-

Sense of competence: Children feel they are competent.- From using scissors to open snack packages, putting on boots and coats themselves, they are learning to master their world!

Fine-motor skills: Children demonstrate dexterity and handeye coordination in using their small muscles. - sewing, cutting, gluing-a lot of little work this week.

Jesus Time-
This week we see Jesus come out to his disciples while they are taking a boat across the Sea of Galilee. 
    Jesus had just finished feeding more than 5000 people with two fish and five loaves and people wanted to make him King so they would never have to find food again, not because he would save them from their sins! Jesus sought solitude. He went off by himself to pray and told the disciples he would meet them on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. 
    As the disciples were crossing the sea, a storm blew up and during the storm, a figure began to walk across the water to them. They thought it was a ghost! But Jesus called out to them who he was. Peter called back, "If it really is you, call me out to walk across the water to you." Jesus said, "Come!" Peter began to walk across the water, keeping his eyes on Jesus. Then a huge wave came and Peter took his eyes off his Lord and he began to sink. He cried out for help and Jesus saved him. Jesus reminded Peter that if he would have kept his eyes on Jesus, he wouldn't have started to drown. Jesus got into the boat and the seas calmed.
    How often do we do just that, we take our eyes off Jesus and the storms and cares of this life start to pull us down and drown us in worries, anxiety, anger, you name it! Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, he is there for you! And if you do glance away, call out for him and he will rescue you!

Books of the week- "Extra Yarn" by Mac Barnett, "the dot" by Peter Reynolds and "Edward Gets Messy" by Rita Meade.

The permission slip for the Michigan Science Center and Scholastic book orders were available today.

Have a super week!!
Mrs. Schneck