Insects!

This week our packet is all about insects! We have some wonderful Painted Lady Butterflies that have come out of their cocoons. I am feeding them paper towels saturated with sugar water. Hopefully the weather will warm up soon and I can let them go! Our praying mantis egg case hasn't opened yet, but I will post pictures as soon as it does!

In your packet-

- a butterfly sun catcher- grown-ups can put the butterfly outline on the clear contact paper, you can fill it with tissue paper, try to use your pincer fingers to take one piece at a time! Then, grown-ups can put the other piece of contact paper on and trim it!
- pieces to create a paper bug- remember three body parts and six legs!
- bug stickers to create a bug scene
- bug fossils- a piece of gray playdoh with a couple plastic bugs- press the bugs into the playdoh and pull them out, then let the playdoh dry so you have bug fossils!
- Butterfly matching game
- tissue paper butterflies to catch- your grown-up can drop them from up high and you try to catch them as they flutter down
- model magic and pipe cleaners to make a bug- you can color the model magic once it dries- three body parts- head, thorax, abdomen and six legs
- butterfly life cycle- first the butterfly lays eggs on a leaf- so glue down the leaf and grains of rice for the eggs, then a caterpillar hatches- use the pompoms to make a caterpillar, then the caterpillar makes a chrysalis- glue down the stick and crunch up some of the brown paper to make a chrysalis, then a butterfly comes out of the cocoon- use the butterfly shape and the black piece of paper to make a body(you can color the butterfly)
-bug action cards to move around with
- a little jar to catch a bug in and take a closer look at- don't forget to let them go!

You also received the book of the month which is "Fly Guy Presents: Insects" by Tedd Arnold- I thought it fit very well with our theme this week. This book is yours to keep, so I hope you can learn about insects all summer long!!

Our Bible story is about Jesus resurrection. Last week, our story seemed pretty hopeless and sad. Jesus had died and was buried. After Jesus was buried, the women who followed Jesus decided that they would go and prepare his body better. That Friday afternoon they had to rush and didn't give Jesus the treatment they felt he deserved. They made plans to get up early Sunday morning and go to the tomb to wash and anoint his body and wrap it in clean linen. On their way there, they suddenly remembered- The Stone! How are we going to move the huge stone that was rolled in front of the entrance to the tomb? They walked on, hoping guards or gardeners would be able to help them. When they arrived at the tomb, they were shocked! The stone was rolled away and Jesus' body was no longer there!! Then an angel spoke to them, "Why are you looking for  the living among the dead? He isn't here, go tell his disciples he has risen from the dead!" The women ran back to tell the disciples. One woman, Mary Magdalene, hadn't seen the angel, she walked into the garden sobbing, wondering where Jesus' body could be, looking for answers. A man asked her why she was crying. She said that she was looking for the body of her Lord. The man said, "Mary," and she looks up. It is Jesus!! He is risen from the dead!

Also included in your packet is an Easter activity book. I had hoped it would have been here last week, but things are a little different right now! I hope you can still enjoy it!!

Watch for Mrs. Oetzel and I to still read stories and take a look at our Facebook page-https://www.facebook.com/groups/1325982474252262/ I think you can join, because I invited everyone. If I missed an email address- just request to join and I will include you! We are mostly posting pictures from the past year and you are very welcome to post pictures of what you are doing during this time!!

Love and miss you all!!

Easter Celebration!

Happy Easter!

This week our activities all center around the Easter celebration.

In your packet this week you have

- a set of watercolor paints and q-tips to paint a white construction paper egg and an egg garland.
- a plaster egg and set of paints to decorate
- directions to make 2 Easter lilies with a handprint and chenile stems
- colored construction paper to practice your scissors cutting
- a bag of jelly beans to graph- sort by color and count
- two white plastic eggs to color - you can use any markers
- Easter slime
- eggs to hide in your yard
- a set of Resurrection Eggs to lead you through the story of the Holy Week

The Bible story enclosed is the story of Jesus crucifixion. Last week we heard the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem. Jesus spent the week in Jerusalem preparing for the Passover. He spent time in the temple and with his disciples. On Thursday night, he and his disciples sat down in a rented room for the Passover meal. Many unusual things happened that night. Jesus acted as a servant and washed his disciples feet. He showed that we should serve others through his actions and put others above ourselves. He instructed his disciples in a new command- Love one another as I have loved you.
He took unleavened bread or bread without yeast and wine and introduced communion to his disciples which we still practice today. He sang a hymn with his disciples and they went to a garden called Gethsemane. While they were there, Jesus went to pray. After he had prayed, he woke his disciples. He knew that his betrayer had come. A group of soldiers met them in the garden with one of his disciples named Judas. Judas came up to Jesus and gave him a kiss. The soldiers than arrested Jesus and brought him first before the Jewish leaders, where they falsely accused him. They then passed him over to the Roman ruler named Pontius Pilate. He condemned Jesus to death based on the charges brought against him. All these things happened because Jesus willingly gave himself up to die. He could have called down any number of angels at anytime to stop what was happening. He was quietly accepting of the punishment that was meant for humankind. On Friday morning, Jesus was given a large cross bar to carry to a hill outside Jerusalem to be crucified on. He was so weak that he couldn't do it. A stranger from Cyrene was enlisted to carry the cross the rest of the way. Once Jesus arrived, he was crucified between two thieves on a hill outside Jerusalem. Above him were printed the words, Jesus of Nazereth, King of the Jews. He spoke only seven times. 1)Father, forgive them, they don't know what they are doing- said about the soldiers who were nailing him to the cross, 2) Today you will be with me in paradise- said to one of the theives who became a believer on the cross, 3)Woman, behold your son, Son, behold your mother- said to his mother and his disciple, John, as they were with him at the foot of the cross. He was making sure his mother would be taken care of. 4)My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? - God the Father had left Jesus alone, he was carrying the sins of the entire world. 5)I thirst- this was said to fulfill an Old Testament prophecy in Psalm 69:21. 6)It is finished- Jesus completed the sacrifice necessary to pay for our sins. 7) Father, into your hands I commit my spirit- Jesus trusted his Father to care for him again.

Just know that Jesus loved us enough to give up his life for us so that we can go to heaven to be with him!

May God bless your Easter celebration!!

Next week, I'll give packets on Tuesday from 11am-3pm and Wednesday from 8-11am so we have Easter Monday off!

We miss you so much!

Strega Nona

Today I thought it might be easier to put the video up on the blog. Still learning technology!

I am also planning to begina private Facebook page to post announcements and share pictures of all of us during this quarantine time!

You should be able to access the video here!

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPhgNAXMmXnD3nOMrhsS9c836gmYA8AVhzTpaZm

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