Ee is for eggs.

This week we are talking about eggs and the letter Ee.

Table activities include balancing egg shells on popsicle sticks, playing with plastic eggs and playdoh, matching eggs, painting egg shapes, painting with eggs, making egg patterns and peeling hard boiled eggs.

Small group activities include egg explore- we crack an egg and see the different parts, decorate a fake egg and add Ee is for egg page in our journals.

The KDI for the week is Observing:Children observe the materials and processes in their environment.- We eat eggs, we know chicks come from eggs. Who lays the eggs we eat? What are the parts of an egg? We'll take a closer look at eggs this week.

Jesus Time- This week we hear about another miracle, but the focus is on those who were healed and not Jesus. Leprosy was a horrible disease, even not that long ago, you were ostracized and separated if you had this disease. In Jesus' day, it meant leaving your life behind and moving to a leper colony, never to touch or hug your spouse or children again. Ten men at a leper colony had heard about Jesus and they found hope again. They approached Jesus from a distance, calling out to him to have mercy on them and heal them. He instructed them to go show themselves to the priest (he could announce that they were clean again). As they went, they noticed that they were healed. One man stopped and turned around and ran back to Jesus to say thank you. When he thanked Jesus, Jesus said, your faith has made you whole. And he asked, "Weren't there ten men I healed? Where are the other nine?" Only one came back to say thank you. How often do we thank God for all the mercies he shows us everyday? Say thank you today, because you are blessed with some amazing children!

Books for the week- "An Egg is Quiet" by Dianna Hutts Aston, "Chickens Aren't the Only Ones" by Ruth Heller and "egg" by Kevin Henkes.


If you are hearing  the strains of "Mary had a little lamb" from your preschooler, it is because we are preparing for our preschool/kindergarten musical which will take place on Thursday, April 16th. More information to follow!



Have a super week!!

Magnets!

On this short week, we are investigating magnets!

Table activities include making magnet monsters and building with magnets, oatmeal magnet sweep, magnet letters and making a refrigerator magnet.

Small group activities include investigating whether something is magnetic or not and making a magnet tower to see how far the power or force of the magnet extends.

KDI of the week is Classifying- Children classify materials, actions, people and events- we will test our ideas about magnetism, what is magnetic and breaking them into groups.

Jesus Time- Our story this week is Jesus feeding the 5000. Jesus is teaching a huge group of people, over 5000, that's just the men. They walk as Jesus teaches and they find themselves out far from town and nowhere to get food. Jesus tells his disciples to find food to give to the multitude. They are flabbergasted, where would they get food, how would they pay for it? One disciples finds a young boy with two fish and five small loaves of bread and he brings this to Jesus. Jesus blesses the food and begins to break it apart to hand out to the crowd. Everyone gets enough to eat and Jesus even instructs the disciples to pick up the leftovers and there are 12 baskets leftover. The disciples and people are amazed!! Jesus provides for all our needs, sometimes in the most unusual way!

Books of the week- "Magnet Max" by Monica Lozano Hughes and "Magnets Push and Magnets Pull" by David A. Adler.

Have a super week!

Vv for Valentine's Day!

This week we are listening and looking for the letter Vv for Valentine's Day.

Our table activities include Hole Punch hearts, Valentine's bins, experimenting with frozen baking soda hearts, stacking Valentines cups, Valentines coloring pages, pipe cleaner and bead hearts, foam hearts and Valentine's slime.

Small group activities this week include painting giant hearts, decorating our bags for our Valentines and passing out Valentines.

Our KDI of the week is Community- Children participate in the community of the classroom.- This week we are including everyone in passing out and receiving Valentines. Hopefully, we'll get to know everyone better and recognize their names as well.

Jesus Time-
This week our story is about Jairus and his daughter. Jairus was a synagogue official who had a very sick little girl. They had tried everything but she did not get better, so he found Jesus and begged him to heal her. Jesus was on his way to the house when those who had been there came out and met them. They told Jairus not to bother Jesus anymore, his daughter was dead! Jesus told Jairus that she was only sleeping. When the mourners heard this, they laughed at Jesus and Jesus sent them outside. He then entered the house, took the little girl by the hand and said, "Little girl, get up!" and she did! They were amazed! Jesus told them not to tell anyone, but to give her something to eat. Even when all seems hopeless, Jesus still brings hope!

Books of the week are "Hedgehugs and the Hattiepillar" by Steve Wilson, "I Love Hugs" by Camille de la Bedoyere and "Love Bugs" by David A. Carter.

Just a reminder that we will celebrate Valentines on Thursday, February 13 for the Tuesday/Thursday class and Friday, February 14 for the Monday/Wednesday/Friday class.

Also, there is no school next Monday and Tuesday- Monday is President's Day. Both Monday and Tuesday we have a conference that we are attending, so we'll see you Wednesday or Thursday!

Have a great week!

Play times 2!

This week we are doing what is called "emergent" themes. We are observing what the children are interested in playing and making a week concentrating on that theme.

For the Monday, Wednesday, Friday group, that theme is Hide and Seek. They have loved playing hide and seek, hiding the treasure and games like that. So this week we are playing hide and seek and introducing nature's way of hide and seek which is camouflage!

Table activities include searching for items hidden in rice, making hidden pictures by drawing with a white crayon and painting over it in watercolors, searching for hidden treasure, playing memory, camouflaging plastic animals and bugs on different backgrounds and good, old hidden pictures.

Small group activities include painting a hidden polar bear, finding the hidden letter and adding a page of hidden pictures to our journal.

Our KDI for the week is Cooperative Play. You can't play hide and seek alone! Someone has to hide or hide the treasure and someone has to look. We practice taking turns, making sure there is someone for every necessary role and include those who want to play in the game. We remind each other, kindly, of the rules and we play!

Books of the week are - "Mouse Paint" by Ellen Stohl Walsh, "A Color of His Own" by Leo Lionni and "How to Hide an Octopus" by Ruth Heller.



For the Tuesday and Thursday crew, we have loved playing pretend! Whether its "adventure" in the tent, "princess" with crowns and wands, sometimes doctor, kitchen and sometimes everything mixed together!

Table activities include exploring more dress up, water play, paper dolls, and tent play.

Small group activities include making props- each child gets a dowel to make into whatever they would like, magic wand, fishing pole, etc., then on Thursday we can make crowns and/or binoculars to help in their make believe play!

Our KDI is Initiative- Children demonstrate initiative as they explore their world. They showed what they liked to play and I hope concentrating on it will help bring it to the next level, really using their imaginations and building storylines!

Books of the week are "Harold and the Purple Crayon" by Crockett Johnson, "Pretend" by Jennifer Plecas and "Princess! Fairy! Ballerina!" by Bethanie Deeney Murguia.

Jesus Time is the same for both classes-
This week we hear the story of Jesus Calming the Storm. Jesus and his disciples have had a very busy day, preaching and healing the crowds that followed Jesus everywhere! They decide to take a boat across the Sea of Galilee. Many of Jesus disciples are experienced fishermen, so sailing at night was nothing new for them. When they got into the boat, Jesus lay down in the back, put his head on a cushion and fell asleep. As they began to cross, the wind and waves picked up. Even the experienced sailors began to get anxious. They wondered how Jesus could sleep through all this! He was testing them. Finally, they woke him up, asking "Don't you care that we're about to drown?" Jesus chided them- "Oh, you of little faith!" He stood on the prow of the boat and said. "Quiet! Be Still!" and it was! The disciples were amazed, even the wind and waves obeyed him!  They just needed to learn to trust, as we still do!

Have a great week!