This week we are listening and looking for the letter Ww and talking about our world. How are we the same and different from others around the world and how is the world itself different and the same?
Our KDI of the week is Natural and Physical world- Children gather knowledge about the natural and physical world. We will look at the world and children's daily lives around it. Talk about different weather and topography and culture.
Table Activities- Table activities this week include foreign money exploration, passport play, continent clay mats, gourd painting from Brazil, Chinese New Year dragons, globe coloring pages, kids from around the world paper dolls, and building wonders around the world.
Small Group Activities- We will take a couple days to make a small papier mache globe, add Ww is for world to our journal and do a map puzzle.
Large Group Activities- We'll have fun with globe beach balls in our parachute and make a chalk map of the world.
Books of the Week- "One World, One Day" by Barbara Kerley and "A Ticket Around the World" by Natalia Diaz and Melissa Owens.
Bible Story- This week we hear about the prophet Jonah. Parts of our world are hostile to God, even today. Jonah was asked to go to such a place. The huge city of Nineveh was an unbelieving city, full of wickedness, but God told Jonah to go there and preach repentance. Instead Jonah got on a boat going the opposite way. He was so exhausted, he went below decks and fell asleep. While he was sleeping, a huge storm sprung up and the boat was in danger of sinking. The sailors were terrified! They woke Jonah up and they all drew straws to see whose fault the storm was and Jonah got the short straw. He admitted that he was running from God's command. He convinced the sailors to toss him overboard. When they did, the storm stopped and Jonah was swallowed by a huge fish. Jonah prayed in the belly of the fish for three days. He prayed and asked forgiveness for not doing what God had asked him to do. He committed to going to Nineveh. God had the fish throw Jonah up on dry land and Jonah did indeed go to Nineveh.
He spent three days going through the city, warning them of God's wrath and that if they did not repent they would be destroyed in 40 days. When the people of Nineveh heard this message, they did repent and even their king sat in sackcloth and ashes as a sign of repentance. Because of this, the Lord did not destroy them like he said he would. He showed grace and relented.
Jonah was angry! They deserved God's wrath! Why didn't it come? He had said it would. God is a God of grace and mercy, He does not treat us as our sins deserve. The Ninevites responded when confronted about their sin with contrition and repentance. They were forgiven and saved. I pray that we rejoice and love those who come through an encounter with God's law with a repentant heart.
We won't talk much about Jonah's response in preschool. The Bible doesn't give an ending to Jonah's story, except that he was mad at God's grace. Pray to use the Law when needed and embrace with the Gospel when needed too!
Pics from this last week-