Ww is for winter woods.

This week our theme is winter woods and the letter Ww.

Table activities this week include making beaded icicles or bracelets, paper snowpeople, playing with snow inside, tinker items to make a snowflake, snow playdough, and cut snowflakes.

Small group activities include painting on snow, making a snowy tree suncatcher, adding a Ww is for winter woods page to our journals.

KDI for the week is Natural and Physical world: Children gather knowledge about the natural and physical world. We look at snow and snowflakes, how animals hibernate, why is it winter and answer other questions and think of more about this time of year.

Jesus Time- This week we hear the story of Jesus healing the paralyzed man. Jesus was preaching in a house in Capernaum and people filled the house to the door. Four men came carrying their friend who had somehow become paralyzed for Jesus to heal. There was no way for them to get in the house. In Jesus' day, the roofs on houses in Israel were flat, used for drying grain and storage, so the friends carefully carried the man to the roof of the house, lifted up the roof tiles and lowered him down, right in front of Jesus. Jesus' first words to the man were, "Son, be happy, your sins are forgiven." Some who were listening to Jesus thought, "Who does this man think he is, to forgive sins?" It was then that Jesus told the man to get up, roll up his mat and walk home. And the man did! Just like that, his atrophied muscles became strong and well again and he was healed. He was forgiven. We need to be forgiven too. And that is why Jesus came to live and die and rise again on earth, so we could be forgiven!

Books of the week- "Over and Under the Snow" by Kate Messner,  "Stranger in the Woods" by Jean Stoick and Carl R. Sams II, and "Best in Snow" by April Sayre.

Tomorrow is our field trip conducted by Leslie Science and Nature Center, but held at Gallup Park! If you haven't signed up, you can still come! It is $6 per participating child. We'll meet at 10:00am at Gallup Park, 3000 Fuller Road, Ann Arbor, MI.

Have a great week!

Our snow creations!

Dd is for dinosaur

This week we are learning about dinosaurs and listening for the letter Dd!

Table activities include playing with dinosaur toys, painting with dinosaur cookie cutters, trays with baking soda, dinosaurs and "volcanoes"  and dinosaur pattern blocks.

Small group activites include excavating a dinosaur skeleton and dinosaurs, baking soda and "volcanoes".

Our KDI of the week is-
Drawing conclusions- Children draw conclusions based on their experiences and observations.- We take a look at dinosaur fossils and try and figure out what part goes where, what are we missing, what did this dinosaur look like, move like, eat? Scientists do a lot of drawing conclusions without much evidence.

Jesus Time- This week we are listening to the story of the great catch of fish. Jesus was talking to his disciples who happened to be fishermen. They had just been out for a long night of fishing and had caught nothing. Jesus had a crowd of people following him, listening to his teaching. He asked the fishermen, Simon, Andrew, James and John to take him out in their boat so he could talk to the people more easily and they couldn't crowd him. As they were out in the boat, Jesus told them to let down their nets. Simon balked, they hadn't caught anything! This wasn't the right place or the right time, but Lord, because you say so, we'll let down our nets. There was an immediate tug and so many fish were caught in the nets that they began to break and the boats began to sink. Simon Peter fell to his knees, and said, "Lord, go away from me, for I am a great sinner!" He knew for sure that Jesus was God, and what right did he have to stand before him, especially since he just doubted him. Jesus then told Simon, no longer will you catch fish, but you will catch men. Simon left fishing, and followed Jesus. How often do we doubt, thinking, "I know what I should do, God, but that's not going to work right now." And God says, "Trust me!"

Books of the week are "How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You?" by Mark Teague and Jane Yolen, "We Love Dinosaurs" by Lucy Volpin and "Dinosaurs A-Z for kids who really love dinosaurs" by Roger Priddy.

Next week, Tuesday, January 28th is our field trip to Gallup Park, 3000 Fuller Rd. Ann Arbor, for our "Winter Woods" presentation by Leslie Science and Nature Center- hope to see you there!

Have a great week!

This week we are listening for the letter Ll and all the other letters too!! All our activities have to do with the sights and sounds of the ABCs!

Table activities this week include magnetic letters on baking trays, letter stamps, letter playdoh mats, foam sticker letters, bathtub letters, letter dot painting and waxy strips on letters.

In small group we are listening for letter sounds and matching letter sounds to letter shapes as we try to identify objects that start with a certain sound or which sound starts each object in our ABC boxes. We will also try writing the shapes of the ABCs.

Our KDI for the week is Alphabetic Knowledge- Children identify letter names and their sounds. We are working on both this week and every week!

Jesus Time this week brings us to the story of the first miracle. We talked about Jesus baptism today, but will finish the week with the story of Jesus turning water into wine. Jesus and his disciples had been invited to a wedding in Cana. In those days, wedding feasts lasted 7 days and the families provided food, clothing and shelter for all guests. And we think weddings are expensive today! As the week was drawing to an end, they ran out of wine. Jesus' mother was also at the wedding and she told Jesus, hoping he would do something. He would, but when it was the right time. He called a servant to him and told him to fill the huge empty wine jugs with water. Then he told him to take a cup of "water" to the master of the feast. When he tasted it, he asked why they saved the best wine for the end? Jesus told the servants not to say who brought or turned the water into wine. Jesus disciples saw what was happening and wondered at who they were following. There was something very special about Jesus!

Books of the week - "Animalia" by Graeme Base, "A was once an Apple Pie" by Edward Lear and "Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z" by Lois Ehlert.

Two field trips coming up- Tuesday, January 21st is an all school field trip to AirTime, a trampoline park on Warren Rd. and Tuesday, January 28th will be a preschool field trip to Gallup Park in Ann Arbor to a Winter Woods field trip presented by Leslie Science and Nature Center.

Slips for Airtime go home the beginning of the week and slips for Gallup Park will go home Thursday and Friday. Both are in the email today.

A reminder that there is No School on Monday, January 20th for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Have a great week!

Uu is for upside-down

This week we are doing things upside down and listening for the sound of Uu.  Being upside down can be great for kids, research shows it can calm and center kids who are upset - This piece of advice comes from the website- "the inspired treehouse" informing why kids need upside down play-

Has your little one ever peered at you from between her legs as she takes in the world from an upside down point of view?  Funny and cute, right?

Well, it turns out that experimenting with being upside down (beginning around the age of two) is more than just cute!  As kids grow, they have the ability to contort their bodies into all kinds of crazy positions to get the sensory input they need to regulate their bodies and behavior and to lay the foundation for the development of important motor skills.  

We may be too old or too proud to hang our heads over the side of the bed or off of the edge of the couch, but some of us like to get adventurous with crazy yoga poses that provide us the experience of being upside down.  The benefits of this gravity-defying feat include better posture, improved circulation, improved mood, better flexibility, better balance, improved upper body and core strength and more!

When you see your little one hanging upside down, don’t redirect her!  Instead, supervise and encourage as she gives her vestibular, proprioceptive, visual, and tactile systems the input she needs to get in sync!

We won't be doing all our play upside down, but here are some of the activities we will be doing-

Table time includes stacking with upside down cups, putting rubber bands on upside down chair legs, drawing on an upside down table, dumping things upside down in water play, coloring upside down, putting orbeez on upside down bath grippers and sticky upside down play.

Small group activities include coloring upside down, making an upside down picture of ourselves, and an upside down journal entry.

Our KDI for the week is Body Awareness- Children know about their bodies and how to navigate them in space. Being upside down and seeing things from a different perspective helps us figure out how our bodies work!

Jesus Time- This week we hear about the boy Jesus in the temple. When Jesus was 13 years old, he went with his family for the first time to worship in the temple in Jerusalem. This was a huge celebration time and Mary and Joseph and Jesus traveled with a large group of family and friends to Jerusalem. There were huge crowds there to celebrate as well. They spent 7 days going and worshiping and celebrating at the temple. Each evening getting together to share a meal and sleep. Mary and Joseph prepared to leave to return to Nazareth, but Jesus wasn't with them. They assumed he was with family or friends, but when evening came and they were a day's journey away from Jerusalem, he wasn't there. Worried, they searched among their fellow travelers. When he could not be found, they returned to Jerusalem. They searched the city for 3 days. When they returned to the temple, they heard a familiar voice talking with the teachers and scribes. They had found Jesus! He was questioning and learning with the most learned men in the temple. They were amazed at his wisdom and knowledge. Mary and Joseph were upset that he had not told them where he was. He gently reminded them who he was, not just their son, but the son of God. He had work to do here on earth, this was part of it. He went obediently with them back to Nazareth where he grew in wisdom, stature and favor with God and man. 

Books of the week- "Stellaluna" by Janell Cannon, "Silly Sally" by Audrey Wood and "Round Trip" by Ann Jonas.

More information on our January field trip should be coming soon!

Have a super week!