Ww is for wind.

 

This week we are listening and looking for the letter Ww and the effects of the wind! We will hopefully have some breeze to help us!

Our KDI of the week is movement- Children express and represent what they observe, think, imagine and feel through movement. As we see how the wind moves things, we can move with the wind ourselves and see how making our own wind by blowing feels.

Table Activities- This week we will get the opportunity to make pinwheels, paint with wind, make wind socks, use straws to make underwater wind, color a fan, bead a kite tail and pin scarves to a clothesline in the wind created by a small fan.

Small Group- We will experiment to see what the wind blows, make a kite, add Ww is for wind to our journal and create a large wind painting outside.

Large Group- Hopefully we will get the opportunity to fly our kites and experiment with the wind with other objects outside.

Books of the Week- "Feel the Wind" by Arthur Dorros and  "The Wind Blew" by Pat Hutchins.

Bible Story- This week our Bible story is about a road trip. On Easter Sunday, two of Jesus followers were walking to the town of Emmaus, about 8 miles outside Jerusalem. As they were walking, they were talking about all that had happened that week. A third man asked if he could join them. As they all walked together, he asked what they were talking about. They were surprised that he hadn't heard everything that had gone on in Jerusalem that week. They filled him in about Jesus arrest, death and burial and the fact that some women claimed that they had seen Jesus alive that very day. 

They didn't know what to believe! The third man was Jesus, he kept his identity hidden. Jesus talked to them and opened up the Scriptures to them, showing them how everything that happened fulfilled what had been prophesied. As the disciples reached Emmaus, they invited this stranger to have the evening meal with them. As he said the blessing, he let them see who he was and then he disappeared!

They were astonished- didn't our hearts burn with in us?? They ran back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples that they had indeed seen the Lord!

How amazing! Jesus shows us himself through his Word even today! Read it and walk with Jesus your whole life through!

 Some pictures from box week-

  

Xx is for box

 

This week we are playing with boxes and listening and looking for the letter Xx.

Our KDI for this week is gross motor skills- children demonstrate strength, flexibility, balance and timing in using their large muscles. We'll enjoy moving big boxes, balancing boxes, knowing how to move ourselves around to prevent boxes from falling over!

Table Time- This week we will color inside and outside large boxes, make a box, play with boxes of all shapes and sizes, pound golf tees into boxes, decorate boxes, "Not a Box" coloring sheets, enjoy a nail and hair salon on the boxes, use our boxes inside and out!

Small Group Time- We will use our imagination to create with a box, make a gift to go inside a box, add Xx to our journal and complete a "Not a Box" activity.

Large Group Time- We will play with boxes!

Books of the Week- "What To Do With a Box" by Jane Yolen, "Not a Box" by Antoinette Portis, and "Boxitects" by Kim Smith are our books this week. 

Bible Story- This week we hear about Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene. Mary was a follower of Jesus whom he had healed! Her life was completely changed through the love of her Lord and she followed him loyally! She had been at the cross, watching Jesus die and was with the other women who came to the tomb to better prepare Jesus' body. 

As soon as the women came to the tomb that Sunday morning, they saw the stone rolled away. It seems that Mary ran back to tell the disciples that someone had stolen Jesus body right then. The other women looked closer and that is when the angel appeared and told them that  Jesus was no longer dead. Mary didn't get to hear the good news, she was distraught. 

When she returned from telling the disciples that Jesus body had been stolen, she looked in the tomb and saw two angels. It seems she was so sorrowful that she didn't recognize them as angels and when they asked her why she was crying, she said that her Lord's body had been taken and she didn't know where they had put it! 

As she turned from the grave, she saw a man she thought was the gardener. He asked her why she was crying and who she was looking for. She begged him to tell her where they had put Jesus' body. Jesus said, "Mary."

Immediately Mary knew it was Jesus! She fell at his feet with happy tears now! She didn't yet touch his, but ran to tell the disciples that she had seen the Lord and he was alive!!

What Joy! Jesus is alive!!

Some pictures from our Tacky week-

Helen Lester Author Study

 

This week we are diving into Tacky the Penguin books and the author Helen Lester! She tackles many childhood situations with humor and wit!

This week's KDI is reading- Children read for pleasure and information. We'll take a look at Tacky books and also read a non-fiction book about penguins to see how books are the same subject matter, but such different purposes!

Table Activities- This week you can make a penguin, enjoy a penguin sensory bin, play with penguins and fake ice, make some Winter Games Olympic medals, color some Tacky coloring pages, paint with Tacky, make some Hawaiian shirts and leis and have fun with some Tacky clay mats.

Thursday will be a "Dress Like Tacky Day", so wear your Hawaiian shirt and get a lei at school! We'll be "Tacky" all day!

Small Group Activities- This week we'll act out some Tacky stories at our tables, add Tacky to our journals and learn to draw a penguin.

Large Group Activities- We'll play some games like the penguins played at their Winter Games!

Books of the Week- "Tacky the Penguin" various titles by Helen Lester.

Bible Story of the Week- This week we are going to hear about Jesus resurrection!

 After Jesus died on the cross, a man named Joseph from Arimathea volunteered to give Jesus his tomb. It was a cave in which Joseph and his family would be buried some day. Another man named Nicodemus, who had visited Jesus in the night, also came forward and helped prepare Jesus body for burial. They had to rush because it would soon be Passover Sabbath. They quickly washed Jesus and wrapped him in strips of linen. The women who had watched agreed to return early Sunday, when the Sabbath was finished. They wanted to do a more thorough job and give Jesus the burial that he deserved!

All was quiet on Saturday. The Chief Priest demanded that Pilate put a guard on the tomb since Jesus had said he would rise on the third day. They thought that perhaps his disciples would come and steal his body and say he had risen.

Sometime in the early hours of Sunday morning, an earthquake shook the tomb. The stone rolled away from the entrance and an angel came out and sat upon the stone. The guards fainted like dead men! When they woke, they fled. The women were on their way with spices and new linen, when they arrived at the tomb, they saw the angels who told them that Jesus was not dead, he was alive! They were to go and tell his disciples that he was risen, just as he said he would be!

The guards went to the Chief Priest and Pharisees and told them what had happened. They bribed the guards and told them to say that his disciples had come and stolen the body. They would run interference with Pilate so the guards wouldn't get in trouble for leaving their post.

Jesus was risen! These were the first of his appearings! He would go on to appear to over 500 people. Jesus is alive still today! What a blessing to know that because he lives, we also will live!

Happy Easter!

 

Happy Easter! This week we are playing with symbols and traditions of Easter! For us Easter means Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! New life is ours in Christ Jesus our risen Lord!

No KDI this week!

Table Activities- This week we will decorate eggs and crosses, play with Easter slime, play in an Easter sensory bin, color Easter coloring pages, paint Easter dot paintings, sort some jelly beans and paint egg shaped paper.

Small Group- Our small group activities this week include a cross suncatcher, a cross necklace, adding "Jesus is Risen" coloring to our journal and making a hand Easter Lily.

Large Group- We will have an outside Easter egg hunt this week and play with sidewalk chalk to write some Easter messages in picture.

Books of the Week- "Sad News, Glad News" by Lois Rock and "The Easter Lily Parable" by Liz Curtis Higgs.

Bible Story- This week we hear the account of Jesus' Crucifixion. Even though it's hard to hear or understand for young children, we begin their understanding here. Jesus did nothing wrong, no sins he had to pay for. Jesus suffered and died for our sins and the sins of the entire world. It was hard and horrible, painful and humiliating. Jesus did all this because he loves us!

After Palm Sunday, Jesus remained in Jerusalem with his disciples, preaching at the temple, answering questions. On Thursday evening, Jesus and his disciples celebrated the Passover meal in a rented upper room. It was at this meal that Jesus revealed that someone would betray him and Judas Iscariot went to do what he had planned. Jesus washed his disciples feet before the meal and gave them a new commandment- Love one another. He also instituted the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. After this meal, Jesus and his disciples went into the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed desperate for another way, but he submitted himself to God's will. In the garden, Judas came with guards and kissed Jesus on the cheek, which showed that that was the man who should be arrested. The guards arrested Jesus and the disciples fought back a bit, but ended up running away.

Jesus was taken to the high priest, Pilate and Herod over the night. He was beaten, whipped, mocked and eventually sentenced to death by crucifixion. 

On Friday morning, Jesus was to carry a portion of his cross to a hill outside the city of Jerusalem. He was too weak to do it. A man visiting Jerusalem named Simon of Cyrene, was forced to carry his cross for him. Once they reached the hill, Jesus was nailed by his hands and feet to the cross. He spent hours there, speaking only seven phrases. His first was "Father, forgive them, they don't know what they are doing." This was spoken about the soldiers who nailed him to the cross. "This day you will be with me in paradise." This was spoken to the thief on the cross next to him. As they were being crucified, the thieves were mocking Jesus, but one repented and confessed his faith. "Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother!" Even as Jesus was dying on the cross, he made sure his mother. Mary, would be taken care of by his disciple John. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" In the darkness that covered the earth, Jesus was abandoned by his Father as he paid for all of our sins on the cross. "I thirst." To fulfill Scripture, Jesus asks for a drink of wine vinegar. "It is finished." He did it, He paid in full the punishment for all sins of all time! "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." Back into the Father's hands to be taken care of and mark paid in full. Jesus died in the peace of knowing he had made peace between God and man.

What wondrous love is this, Oh my soul!

That's as far as we will be going, make sure to tell your child the rest of the story and celebrate it!!