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!!

Author Study Week

Welcome to this weird couple of weeks! Hopefully everything will be back to normal in April!!

Thank you so much for making the effort to come pick up packets. Most things in them should be self explanatory, but here's the rundown, just in case!

The Monday/Wednesday/Friday group is looking at Mo Willems! In your packet, you have some cookies to cut out to practice your cutting skills, and cookies to pick up with a pigeon and duckling clothespins from the book "The Duckling Gets a Cookie!?" which is hilarious if you have it or can find it read online. You'll notice some cookies have nuts, some do not, which is a integral part of the story. You also have some paper shapes to use and make the shape of Piggie, Gerald the Elephant and the Pigeon- you may need to use some crayons, markers or pencils to add details. There is also a laminated pigeon you can take in the bath with you for a bit from the book "The Pigeon needs a Bath!" There is a tutorial and some blank paper to try your hand at drawing the Pigeon and some Piggie and Elephant playdoh to try and scuplt your friends, Gerald and Piggie!




The Tuesday/Thursday group has a lot of shape activities to go with Lois Ehlert's use of shapes and cut paper for her illustrations. There is a sheet of laminated shapes to use wax sticks with to make the shape, a bag of shapes to sort, some larger shapes for water play and some pieces of construction paper to make into animals from Lois Ehlert's books "Color Zoo" and "Color Farm". We were going to sponge paint with shapes, but I couldn't really figure out how to send that home.

Both groups received the story of Zaccheus. We are getting closer to the stories that will take us to the cross and resurrection. This story takes place in Jericho where a tax collector named Zaccheus lived. Zaccheus was interested in Jesus, he had heard about Matthew, a disciple of Jesus, who had been a tax collector. No one liked tax collectors, they were seen as traitors to their people, collecting money for the occupying Romans. Many of them were dishonest and collected more than the government required and pocketed the difference. Pretty friendless, except for other tax collectors. Zaccheus was also short! He wanted to see Jesus, but couldn't because of the large crowd gathered around him. So he hurried down the street until he came to a sycamore tree he could climb. He climbed up and saw Jesus! When Jesus reached the tree, he stopped, looked up and addressed Zaccheus, much to Zaccheus' surprise. Jesus invited himself over to Zaccheus' house. When Zaccheus heard that Jesus wanted to stay with him, he hurried down the tree. Many people began to grumble and complain, didn't Jesus know what kind of person Zaccheus was. Zaccheus was thrilled that Jesus chose to befriend him, he promised to give half of his possessions to the poor and if he had cheated anyone, he would pay them back four times the amount he had taken. How quickly the Holy Spirit made a difference in his life! How often are we and I include myself, tempted to judge someone based on their life or occupation! Jesus loves and died for all!! I have often heard the thought that before Zaccheus was even born, God made sure a sycamore tree was planted and grew just where he would need it to see Jesus! Even with everything going on in the world right now, we don't know how God will use it to help someone see Jesus, but we know he will!! Maybe it's us and our actions and love for our neighbor or something we are willing to give up to help someone else. God has a plan! So stay healthy and safe, don't worry, love each other (which I know will be difficult at times) and trust that God holds us in the palm of His hand!

See you Wednesday for storytime at 10am at Mies Park or see you Monday, March 30 from 11am-3pm or Tuesday, March 31 from 8:30-11:30 to pick up packets for that next week!

Mrs. Schneck

Kk is for kangaroo, koala and kookaburra

This week we are listening for the letter Kk and learning about Australia and the animals that live there.

Table activities include pocket play, water play with a foam topographic map of Australia and sea shells, kangaroo cookie cutter painting, decorating boomerangs, Australia coloring pages, playing with Australian animals, and Australian stickers.

Small group activities include painting a kangaroo in the Aboriginal style, rock art and adding a Kk for kangaroo page to our journal.

The KDI for the week is geography- Children recognize and interpret features and locations in their environment. We are looking at Australia, surrounded by oceans, with a desert, grasslands and rainforest. We look at the big rock of Uluru and the coral like that in the Great Barrier Reef. We are surrounded by water in Michigan too!

Jesus Time- This week we hear another parable Jesus told to help his disciples understand God's great love for us. It is part of a series of parables that Jesus told about lost things. The first story was about a lost coin and how the woman swept the house from wall to wall until she found that coin. Then the story about the lost sheep, how the shepherd had 99 of his sheep, but one was missing, so he left the 99 and looked until he found the one and carried it home on his shoulders. Then the story of the lost son. A wealthy man had two sons. When he died, the inheritance would be split between his two sons. His older son was faithful, liked working with and for his father, content to be in the country, helping on the estate. The younger son was not content. He wanted to move to the city where life was more exciting. He brashly asked his father for his share of the inheritance now, he didn't want to wait until his father died. The younger son took his share of money and went to the city and spent it on riotus living, until it was gone. The realization of what he had done finally came over him and he was too ashamed to return home. Starving, ragged and penniless, he took a job feeding pigs to keep body and soul together. When the food he was feeding the pigs looked good enough for him to eat, he swallowed his pride and began his journey home, hoping his father would at least let him be a servant on the estate. Meanwhile, the father mourned his lost son and hoped every day that he would return. He constantly scanned the road, hoping to see the figure of his son returning home. One day, it happened! The man walking down the road was filthy and dressed in rags, but the father recognized it as the walk of his son! He ran down the road to meet him! The son, ashamed, fell to his knees, ready to beg his father to hire him on as a servant, never dreaming that he could be restored to be his son. The father lifted him to his feet, placed his ring on his finger and placed a cloak about him. He then instructed his servants to prepare the fattened calf for a celebration! The son he thought was dead, was alive! Time to party!! The older son was jealous, why had he never gotten a party? He was faithfully working with his father the whole time! The father reassured him of his love and told him he would have just had to ask and he would have given him anything he wanted, but he wanted him to rejoice because the one they thought was dead was alive and the lost was found!! God loves us so incredibly much! There is nothing we can do that he won't bring us back from! WE were lost and now we are found!

Books of the week - "Marsupial Sue" by John Lithgow, "Animals in the Wild- Koala" by Vincent Serventy, "Over in Australia" by Marianne Berkes.

Next Tuesday we have a field trip to the Westland Library! It is free, just let me know if you are coming. We will meet there at 10am!

Have a beaut of a week!!

Nn is for noodles

This week we are having fun with noodles and the letter Nn.

Table activities include threading thin spaghetti noodles into colander holes, playing with cooked noodles, sorting noodle types and colors, painting with spaghetti, threading buttons onto spaghetti and making noodle art with glue.

Small group activities include making a noodle sculpture, making a noodle necklace and adding Nn is for noodle to our journal.

The KDI for the week is Fine-motor skills- Children demonstrate dexterity and hand-eye coordination in using their small muscles. From threading noodles through small holes and onto pipe cleaners or yarn, we are working fine motor this week!

Jesus Time- This week we are listening to one of Jesus' parables- an earthly story with a spiritual meaning. The Good Samaritan is a story Jesus told to reveal who a neighbor is and how one shows love for their neighbor. The 10 commandments can be summed  up in these two statements- Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and Love your neighbor as yourself. Those opposed to Jesus wanted to know who their neighbor was- who did they have to love? A little historic background- the Jews and the Samaritans lived very close to one another, in fact Samaria was in between Judea and Galilee, the two provinces of Israel. Instead of going through Samaria to get from one place to the other, most Jews would take the long way around because they disliked the Samaritans so much. Jesus told the story of a man traveling from Jerusalem in Judea to Jericho which was in Samaria. As he traveled, he was attacked by robbers, who beat him and stole all he had, leaving him for dead on the side of the road. Two Jewish religious leaders came by, saw the man and walked as far away from him as they could get and did not help him at all. Then a Samaritan came, saw the man, cleaned him up, loaded him on his horse, took him to an inn where he paid for his care to be continued until he was able to leave. He asked nothing in return. Jesus asked , "Who was this man's neighbor?" The answer, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus commanded his followers to go and do likewise. Anyone we come across who has a need is our neighbor, we love them like ourselves. We have patience with them, whether they look like us, talk like us, smell bad, whatever. We are all neighbors to one another!

Books of the week are "Noodles" by Sarah Weeks and David A. Carter, "Today is Monday" by Eric Carle and "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" by Judi Barrett.

This week is Spirit Week and each day has a theme- Today was duct tape day and we made sure everyone had a bit of duct tape. Tuesday is Story book character day. Wednesday is Western Day and Thursday is Black and Red day. The K-8 school does not have school on Friday due to a basketball tournament. Preschool will be having classes! If you would like to come, you are very welcome!

Also, in a couple of weeks, Mrs. Oetzel will be having surgery to repair her knee! Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers! We will be having a substitute during her recovery, Miss Hanselman.

Have a super week!

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!!