Qq is for queen

This week your packet includes lots of activities centered around the letter Qq and the queen and other royal folk and castles!

In your packet, you have a crown to color and decorate, a shield to design, a sword to design and decorate.

You also have some lavender playdough to create a crown with along with some gems and sequins to make the crown bejeweled! You also have some sand dough to create a sandcastle. I would suggest doing this project outside or on a plastic sheet. There are some seashells included to decorate your castle. You can also use sticks or a little washi tape or stickers to make a flag with a toothpick or stick. If you leave the sand to air dry it should become a permanent sand castle!

I have also included a little castle kit to color and decorate with stickers! Here's an example of how it goes together, along with a sword and can you see in the back- The Schneck Coat of Arms! (Thanks to my mother-in-law;) It is a snail on three green hills, since schneck means snail in German. You can share what your surname means or your child's first name to give them some inspiration for their shield design.

There is also the letter Qq cut out of sandpaper in your packet. Your child can trace the shape and say the /kw/ sound. We try to emphasize the sound the letter makes more than it's name. It helps to sound out words later on since some letters don't sound like their names (W, for example).

The Key Developmental concept for this week is Sense of Competency- Children feel they are competent. Doesn't mean they'll get it right every time, they just can't quit. Keep trying, keep working, take a deep breath and try again! Some of the activities can be frustrating. Making a sandcastle look like what you see in your imagination, for example, but don't give up!

Update- We received our caterpillars on Friday, March 13th. I showed them to you on Monday, March 16th and they had already grown. Now they are all in their chrysalises- I put them in the butterfly net garden and maybe next week we will have painted lady butterflies!

Our Jesus time for this week is Jesus entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. We celebrate Palm Sunday on April 5th! Jesus had been preaching and teaching and healing people. He had just been called to Mary and Martha's home, some of his very good friends who lived in Bethany, just a few miles outside Jerusalem. He was called there because their brother Lazarus was sick. Jesus didn't go right away. In the time it took for him to get there, Lazarus died. Mary and Martha were very sad and upset. If Jesus had only come sooner! He told them to take them to where they had placed Lazarus. It was in a cave. Jesus had them open the cave and called, "Lazarus, come out!" and he did! Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. 

Now he was on his way to Jerusalem for the last time. He told two of his disciples to get a donkey for him to ride. It was fulfilling the words of Zechariah 9:9 

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!

    Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
    righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

As he road into Jerusalem, people began to recognize him. They took off their coats and laid them on the street. They cut palm branches and waved them saying, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna to the Son of David." Hosanna means 'save us'. The people seemed to recognize Jesus as their Savior. Unfortunately, their savior from Roman occupation, not from their sins. Jesus' enemies were plotting to have him arrested and killed during this time. Many people were in Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover and they knew they could influence the Roman leader to do what they wanted with all these people here. Jesus loved all the people, whether they loved him or not and he would die to save them.

I know Holy Week will be different for everyone this year. Use this time to really contemplate freedom. We are giving up our freedom for other people's safety. What if we didn't have a choice or we didn't see freedom returning for us. Jesus set us free from sin, death and the power of the devil by giving up his freedom for us and his life for us. We are free indeed!

We won't be doing our storytime in the park as things have become tighter, but Mrs. Oetzel and I will send you a video of us reading you a story each day this week! We miss you bunches and hope that we'll get to see each other again before the school year ends!!