Jj is for Jesus

This week we are listening and looking for Jj for Jesus. Our theme is candy canes because they are an upside down Jj.

Morning activities include experimenting with candy canes, coloring wooden ornaments, painting with candy cane cookie cutters, candy cane sensory boxes, ribbon and wrapping cutting, and candy cane patterns.

Small group activities include making a beaded candy cane ornament, decorating cookies, foam nativities and opening gifts.

On Wednesday, December 18th, the Monday/Wednesday/Friday class will be decorating cookies. I have enough for each child to decorate four cookies to take home or you can bring your own cookies to decorate. Parents, grandparents, etc., are encouraged to come, but they don't have to if they are not able to make it! I have powdered sugar frosting and lots of sprinkles. We will start decorating around 10:30. They will be doing their gift exchange on Friday.

On Thursday, December 19th, the Tuesday/Thursday class will decorate cookies at about 10:30. I have enough for each child to have four cookies to take home or they can bring their own to decorate. Parents, grandparents, etc. are welcome to attend! After we decorate cookies, they will be doing their gift exchange.

Jesus Time- This week we hear the story of the Wise men coming to see Jesus in Bethlehem. At the time Jesus was born, magi in the East saw an unusual star. They had been taught about the promised Messiah by people who had been around at Daniel's time. He shared the good news of a promised Savior with them. When they saw the star, they decided to follow it to see the new king. It took them about a year of traveling to make it to Jerusalem, the capital city of Judea, where they assumed the king would be. When they questioned citizens of Jerusalem, King Herod was alerted of a new king's birth and he was not happy. He, and he alone, was the king. Herod had  the wise men brought in and questioned them concerning the star. He had his wise men look up prophecies to see where the king would be born. They came upon a prophecy in Micah that said the king would be born in Bethlehem. He set the wisemen from the East on ahead to find the newborn king, with instructions to return and tell him where the child was. The wisemen continued to follow the star when it came to stop over a house where Mary, Joseph and Jesus were living. The wisemen entered, worshipped Jesus and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Then they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod because he wanted to harm the child. Joseph and Mary were also warned in a dream of Herod's coming and they fled to Egypt until King Herod was dead.

Books of the week are "Once Upon a Clear, Dark Night" by Jeffrey Burkart, "Candy Cane Christmas" by Helen Haidle and " J is for Jesus; The Sweetest Story Ever Told" by Crystal Bowman.

On Sunday, please come to church 15 minutes before your chosen service! We will meet in the 1st and 2nd grade room, which is down the hall, across from the girls' bathroom.

I will not be at school Wednesday-Friday this week because one of my daughters is graduating from college in Minnesota. I will be here on Sunday for the Christmas Service. If I don't see you, have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year! See you in 2020!!

Happy Holidays!!

Happy Holidays! This week we are listening for and looking at the letter Hh for holiday. Holiday originally came from the words Holy Day. Christmas is a day set apart for celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Table activities include making an ornament suncatcher, stamping lights, trimming a paper tree, Christmas dot painting, creating an ornament and Christmas playdoh mats.

Small group this week includes making a star popsicle stick ornament, a glitter tree ornament, some Christmas experiments and adding an Hh page to our journal.

Our KDI for the week is Art-Children express and represent what they observe, think, imagine and feel through two- and three-dimensional art.

Jesus Time- This week we hear about Jesus' birth. Mary and Joseph are married and in Nazareth when an order comes down from the Roman emperor. He wants everyone to return to the town of their birth to be counted. That means Mary and Joseph will have to make the trip to Bethlehem, a small village outside Jerusalem. It takes them at least three days to walk or slowly ride a donkey. When they arrive, there is no open space for them to stay in any houses, they village is packed full of people. Finally, they find someone who has space in a stable, probably a cave in the side of a hill, used to keep animals. It's smelly, but dry and warm as Mary is about to give birth. She gives birth to a son and he is named Jesus!  She lays him, swaddled in a manger, in the stable. Some shepherds who were out watching their sheep were startled by the appearance of an angel. After the angel tells them not to be afraid, they proclaim the good news of Jesus birth and how to find him- You will find the baby, wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.  Suddenly, millions of angels appear, as if the curtain is drawn back to catch a glimpse of heaven! All singing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests!" After the angels went back into heaven, the shepherds ran into Bethlehem to find this baby the angels had told them about! They found him and praise him and returned to their fields, telling everyone along the way what they had seen and heard! Mary quietly thought about everything that had happened. Pondered, is the word our Bible translation uses- thought about over and over again.

Books of the week- "Mortimer's Christmas Manger" by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman,     "Snowmen at Christmas" by Mark and Carolyn Buehner and "A Night of Great Joy" by Mary Engelbreit.

This Saturday, December 14th, from 9-11am is the Christmas Service Practice. Please drop your child off by the flagpole entrance and pick them up in the Multi-Purpose Room close to the kitchen. (You'll see when you drop off) 

Also, there is a sign up for which service you would like to attend on the bulletin board in preschool. If you are unable to attend, just write that, along with your child's name on the sign up!

Thanks so much! Have a fun, festive week!

Gg is for gingerbread!

This week we are listening for and looking at the letter Gg. We are mainly focusing on the soft or /j/ sound of Gg, but we do talk about the fact that Gg makes two sounds.

Table activities include dramatic play, gingerbread playdoh, decorating paper gingerbread people, clay mat gingerbread, decorating wooden gingerbread, gingerbread coloring pages and lacing gingerbread.

Small group activites include making felt gingerbread ornaments, decorating and eating gingerbread cookies and adding a Gg is for gingerbread page to our journals.

KDI for the week is-
Body Awareness- Children know about their bodies and how to navigate them in space.- This week as we play with gingerbread, we ask how many legs, arms, etc. , where do their eyes go? We'll also play some games moving our body parts in certain ways.

Jesus Time- This week we move into the New Testament as we prepare for the birth of Jesus. This week we hear about the angel Gabriel coming and announcing Jesus birth to Mary. Mary was a young woman living in the town of Nazereth. She was engaged to a man named Joseph, but they weren't yet married. The angel Gabriel came to her and told her that she would have a baby. She didn't know how this could be, since she had never been with a man. The angel explained that the child would be from the Holy Spirit. When she told Joseph that she was pregnant, he was going to let her not marry him. Then an angel also came to Joseph in a dream and explained to him what was happening. Mary willingly gave herself over to God's will, trusting that God would do what was best for her and through her, do what was best for the world!

Our books of the week are "Gingerbread Friends" by Jan Brett, "The Gingerbread Man" a folktale, and "Maisy Makes Gingerbread" by Lucy Cousins.

I will be pulling names for our Christmas gift exchange later this week. The Christmas parties will be held the last week of school before Christmas, the Tuesday/Thursday class on Thursday, December 19 and the Monday/Wednesday/Friday class will be on Friday, December 20. The gift should be no more than $5 and brought the day of the party with the child's and your child's name on it.

Preschoolers also participate in the Peace Lutheran School Christmas Service on Sunday, December 22nd. We have two services, one at 8:30 and one at 11:00. Preschoolers are not expected to be at both services, so you can choose which one you would like to attend. There will be a sign up on the table for you to indicate which service you will be attending. We also have a Saturday practice for this service on December 14th. I believe it will be from 9-11am. I will let you know for sure by the end of the week!

Have a sweet week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Have a wonderful time with family and friends!

Our table activities this week include activities with candy corn, turkey create, pattern blocks Thanksgiving theme and dot painting.

Small group activities are making a Mayflower to set sail- on Monday we experimented with sail shape and placement to see if we could get a "Mayflower" to sail. We are also making a pine cone turkey.

Our KDI for the week is History- Children understand past, present and future.- This is a concept that continues to develop. We talked and read about the Pilgrims' first voyage almost 400 years ago and used literature to see the differences. How Thanksgiving that we celebrate is different from the Thanksgiving celebrated in the past.

Jesus Time- This is our last Old Testament story. This week we hear the story of Daniel and the lions' den. The Israelites had been taken captive by the Babylonian nation. King Nebuchadnezzer took the most promising young men and trained them to be his advisers. When the Persians conquered the Babylonians, King Darius kept Daniel on as his adviser. Daniel was in his old age by then. He continued to worship the true God and with God's help, gave good advice to King Darius. Daniel was the king's favorite. The king's other advisers were jealous. They plotted to get rid of Daniel. They encouraged the king to sign into law a decree that commanded everyone to worship only the king for the next month. They knew this would get Daniel into trouble because he wouldn't stop worshiping the one, true God. They did get Daniel into trouble and the punishment was for Daniel to be thrown into a pit with hungry lions. King Darius couldn't change the law, and he was regretting the choice he had made. He wished Daniel well and told him to pray for protection from his God. Daniel was calm and trusting. He knew that if he died, God would take him to heaven and if he lived, God had saved him. King Darius returned to his palace, but he paced the floor all night and would not eat or drink. In the morning, he hurried to the pit to see if Daniel's God had kept him safe. When he called in, Daniel answered that angels had come and shut the mouths of the lions. God had protected him and kept him safe! The King Darius had the jealous advisers thrown into the pit. God keeps us safe here on earth and at last home in heaven! Something to be thankful for!


Books of the week- "Oh, What a Thanksgiving!" by Steven Kroll, "Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving" by Dav Pilkey, "Clifford's Thanksgiving" by Norman Bridwell and "My First Thanksgiving" by Tomie dePaola.

May God bless you with a happy Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for!!

Oo is for opposites

This week we are listening for the short sound of Oo and looking at the shape of Oo as we work with opposites.

Table activities include experimenting with sink or float, painting with black paint on white paper or white paint on black paper, sorting soft or hard, playing with warm and cold, empty and full, in and out, upside-down and right-side-up and matching opposites.

Small group activities include matching opposites, making a day/night plate, adding an Oo is for opposites to our journal.

The Key Development Indicator for this week is comprehension- Children understand language.- There are many different concepts children have to grasp to actually understand language. They can repeat or sound out, but until words have meaning in relation to one another, they can't understand. Synonyms and antonyms build connections between words to build better understanding.

Jesus Time- This week we hear the story of Jonah. Jonah was a prophet who God gave the job of preaching to the people of Ninevah. This was the capitol city of Israel's enemy Assyria. Jonah didn't want the job. In fact, he got on a boat going in the opposite direction of Ninevah. Emotionally and physically and spiritually exhausted from running away from God, he went below deck and fell asleep. A violent storm quickly came up! The sailors panicked, throwing cargo overboard, fastening the sails, anything to keep the ship from sinking. They were sure that someone had angered the god of the sea. Which one of them was it? They woke Jonah and brought him on deck to draw straws to see whose fault this storm was. Jonah drew the short straw! He admitted to running from God and his will and instructed the sailors to throw him overboard. They were very reluctant to do it, but they finally did. A huge fish came up from the deep and swallowed Jonah and the sea calmed. Jonah lived in the belly of the huge fish for three days. He was finally spit out on dry land and after three days of prayerful repentance, went on to preach at Ninevah and the whole city repented and was saved. Jonah went on to show his dissatisfaction with God's will later, but we leave the story here.

Books of the week- "Dinosaur Roar" by Henrietta and Paul Stickland, "Opposites" by Eric Carle, "Big Bear, Small Mouse" by Karma Wilson and "Marta! Big and Small" by Jennifer Dussling.

Just a reminder to pack snowpants, boots, mittens, hats and slippers if you haven't yet! Winter surprised us, but now it's here!

Have fun and read every day!!

Fish are friends!

This week we are listening for the sound of Ff and studying fish!

Friday is our field trip to Belle Isle Aquarium and Conservatory! Let me know if you are coming! They have sea horses, stingrays, clown fish like Nemo! It's lots of fun to take our time and look around!

Table activities include making foil fish, creating a playdough rainbow fish, catching fish with a net and cleaning up the oceans activities.

Small group activities include designing a fish bowl and observing fish and their body parts.

The KDI for the week is-
Ecology: Children understand the importance of taking care of their environment.- One of our read-alouds this week is called "Oil Spill". It talks about what happens to animals and plants and our oceans after there is an oil spill. One of our table activities will have students look for garbage to pick out of the see and sponges to clean up a pretend 'oil spill'. God created this world for us to take care of, we should be good stewards of His gift!

Jesus Time- This week we hear about a brave, young girl. We have skipped ahead again and now we are at the point in Israel's history when the nation has been invaded and foreign troops have carried off people to be slaves. This young girl was taken from her home and was a slave in the home of a foreign general named Naaman. Naaman was renowned for his skill and strategy in battle. Somewhere along the way, Naaman had contracted the disease leprosy. In those days, there was no cure. Naaman was destined to live his remaining life in a leper colony, away from family and friends and no longer a national hero. When the young girl who was a slave in his household heard this, she suggested to his wife that he should go see the prophet in Israel, Elisha. Naaman's king was willing to pay whatever the cost to have his star general healed. Israel's king was scared when they entered the country and order Elisha to see him right away. Elisha sent his servant to tell Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan River. Naaman was insulted! First Elisha himself didn't come out to see him, then he told him to wash in the muddy, dirty Jordan, when they had sparkling clean rivers at home! He refused to do what he had been asked. His fellow soldiers and company encouraged him to do what he was told. Wouldn't he do what he was asked if it was a difficult task? Naaman finally relented. He washed seven times in the Jordan and when he emerged the seventh time, his skin was as fresh and clean as a baby's. Naaman proclaimed, "Now I know that there is no god except for the God of Israel." Because of her bravery, God's power was seen by many people and the leaders of a foreign nation praised the one, true God. 

Books of the week- "The Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister, "Swimmy" by Leo Lionni and "Oil Spill" by Melvin Berger.

As the snow flies- a reminder to pack hat and gloves or mittens and bring a pair of slippers to change into so clunky boots don't step on fingers or track in slush!


Have a fantastic week!