Oo is for opposites

 

This week we are listening for the sound of Oo and talking about opposites.

The KDI for the week is comprehension- Children understand language. Understanding conceptual language and the idea that words have more than one meaning, for example- dark and light are opposites, so are heavy and light- continue to enhance and develop the skills needed for comprehension.

Table Activities- Table activities for the week include experiencing hot and cold, wet and dry, painting with black paint on white paper and white paint on black paper, sorting pompoms by big and little, playing with hard and soft blocks, making a long or short dog, matching and coloring opposites.

Small Group Activities- This week we examine sink or float again, make day/night plates, add Oo is for opposites to our journal and play memory with opposite cards.

Large Group Activities- This week we demonstrate loud and soft, moving high/low, fast/slow. and big/small and move to some action songs.

Books of the week-  "Marta! Big and Small" by Jennifer Dussling and "Stop, Go, Yes, No" by Mike Twohy.

Bible Story- Our Bible Story is the last story we will have this year from the Old Testament, next week we will start getting ready for the Christmas Story! This week we will hear the story of Daniel in the Lions' Den. The country of Israel had been invaded and taken over by the Babylonians. It was the Babylonians' custom to take the most promising individuals from each country they conquered back to Babylon and give them positions in their government. Daniel had been one of those young men. He came to Babylon, but stayed close to the one, true God of Israel all his life. He continued to dress, eat and behave as a believer in the Lord. He was also a trusted advisor to the Babylonian kings he served under. Then, when Babylon was taken over by Persia, Daniel continued to serve the king of the Persians, whose name is recorded as both Darius and Xerxes. Daniel was an old man by this time, probably in his 80's. He had seen a lot in his life and was a most trusted advisor to King Darius. He also continued to pray, facing Jerusalem, toward the temple in the morning and evening. Some of Darius' advisors were jealous that an old, Israelite man would be Darius' favorite advisor so they came up with a plan to get rid of Daniel. They talked the king into making a law that no one should bend the knee or pray to anyone except the king himself for the next 30 days. If anyone was found to do so, they would be thrown into a den with hungry lions. Darius agreed with the decree and put it in writing- that according to the Law of the Medes and the Persians- could not be changed! Then they set up their sting and caught Daniel praying to his God. They brought Daniel before the king and the king reluctantly had Daniel thrown into the den. King Darius paced all night, worried about his friend, Daniel. When he went to the pit in the morning, he asked Daniel if his God was able to save him. Daniel said God had sent angels to close the mouths of the lions and he was not hurt at all. Darius had the men who had plotted against Daniel thrown into the pit, and the hungry lions ate. Darius then proclaimed that Daniel's God was the one, true God! God was with Daniel and saved him from seemingly impossible circumstances. God saved us from the worst situation of all, being condemned to death for our sins! Just like the preschoolers are learning to sing- Jesus, My Savior, himself did offer, Jesus, my Savior, paid all I owe, Therefore I'll say again, God loves me dearly, God loves me dearly, loves even me!

God loves us! Even in what seems like an impossible time! He is with us always! Immanuel- God With US!

Have a wonderful week!

Pictures from our Thanksgiving fun-

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Happy Thanksgiving! This week we are going to focus on the holiday and turkeys!

Table Activities- This week's table activities include a paper turkey creation, candy corn shapes, counting and patterns, playdough turkeys, Thanksgiving pattern blocks, Thanksgiving dot painting and corn, feathers and leaves sensory bin.

Small Group- This week our small group activities include making a turkey with feathers that spell out our name, adding an "I am thankful for..." page to our journals, and making Mayflower boats.

Large Group- This week we are playing "Pilgrim" on the boat, playing some of the games they played that first Thanksgiving and seeing if we can get our Mayflowers to float!

Bible Stories- This week's story is the story of Jonah. Jonah was a prophet in the Old Testament and God told him to go to the large city of Nineveh to call that city to repentance. Jonah was given the job to walk in and around the city calling out their sins and telling them that God's judgement was at hand. Jonah decided he didn't want to go, so he boarded a boat going in the opposite direction. Exhausted by his efforts to flee the Lord's will for him, he fell into a deep sleep once he was on the boat. While he was sleeping, a huge storm came up. The sailors began to throw cargo overboard, hoping to keep the boat from sinking. They knew that a god was angry with someone on the boat, so they woke Jonah up and everyone drew straws to see who was the cause of the storm. Jonah got the short straw. He admitted to going against the one and only God's will and told the men to throw him overboard. They were reluctant to do so, thinking they would be responsible for Jonah's death. Jonah told them they must throw him off the ship! They did, and he was swallowed by a giant fish. Jonah spent three days in the belly of that fish, praying and asking God for another chance. God did give him another chance. The fish threw him up on a shoreline close to Nineveh. Jonah went and preached God's message. The Ninevites repented and God didn't bring judgement down on them. Our story ends there, but Jonah's doesn't. Once he preached repentance, he went outside the city to wait for fireballs to come down from heaven and destroy Nineveh. There was a plant that was shading him as he waited. God caused a worm to come and eat that plant so that it died and Jonah was given no shade. Jonah complained bitterly, here he had done what God had commanded, Nineveh wasn't destroyed and he was roasting in the sun, how unfair!! The Bible doesn't tell us where and how Jonah ended up, but it does give us a reality check about "not fair!" God loves us, even though we don't deserve it. Jesus dies for us, even though he's done nothing wrong. God is a God of unfair- thank goodness he is! He blesses and loves us at our worst, even when we hate or don't even acknowledge his existence. Thank Him for all the unfairness in your life this Thanksgiving!!

Books of the Week- "Oh, What  a Thanksgiving!" by Steven Kroll and "A Plump and Perky Turkey" by Teresa Bateman.

We didn't get to do all our fish activities, but we will come back to it later on this school year! 

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!!

Ff is for fish.

 

This week we are looking and listening for the Ff sound and learning about fish!

Our KDI for the week is ecology- Children understand the importance of taking care of their environment. We will be talking about cleaning up garbage and not littering and cleaning up our oceans.

Table Activities- Table activities this week include fish printing, fish in the water table, cleaning up an "oil" spill, playdoh rainbow fish, dot painting ocean creatures, color sorting goldfish, rainbow fish coloring pages and painting fish.

Small Group Activities- This week our small group activities include coloring a foil fish, observing a fish and identifying its body parts, adding Ff is for fish to our journal and using our senses with fish.

Large Group Activities- This week we have under the sea yoga, singing "Baby Shark", pretending to fish outside and playing sharks and minnows.

Jesus Time- This week our story again jumps ahead several generations. We are learning about a young Israelite girl who was taken into slavery. She became the slave of a Syrian army commander named Naaman. Naaman was a great commander, but his career was ended because he had leprosy. The young girl told Naaman's wife that he should go to the prophet in Israel. Naaman's king sent a letter to the king of Israel with a great deal of money asking that Naaman be cured of his leprosy. The king was upset, he didn't know how to cure him and thought this was a plot to declare war on Israel. When the prophet Elisha heard about it, he sent word to the king to have Naaman come to him. Naaman went to Elisha's house with chariots and gifts, asking to be cured. Elisha sent his servant out to Naaman with the message to wash in the Jordan River seven times. Naaman was furious, here he was an army commander, and the prophet doesn't even come out to see him personally and then he tells him to wash in the filthy Jordan River when they have sparkling clean rivers in Syria! He refused to do what he was told. Some of his servants were bold enough to point out to Naaman how ridiculous he was being. If the prophet had told you to do some huge, difficult thing, would you have done it? Just go and wash and see! So, Naaman did. When he rose out of the water the seventh time, his skin was pink and as fresh as a baby's. He had been cured. He went back to Elisha's house and offered him gifts, which Elisha refused. He directed Naaman to who had really cured him, the one true God of Israel! Naaman worshipped that one true God with thanks! Even when we are in a terrible situation, we can still point to God, just like the little girl in our story did! God uses simple things to bring us to faith, a baby in a manger, a Savior crucified like a common criminal, people like us, we are all part of God's story of salvation!!

Books of the Week- "Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister, "Swimmy" by Leo Lionni, and "Oil Spill!" by Melvin Berger.

Here are the lyrics to the songs we have been learning for Christmas- 

God loves me dearly, gives me salvation, God loves me dearly, loves even me.

Chorus:

Therefore I'll say again, God loves me dearly, God loves me dearly, loves even me.

He sent forth Jesus, that true Redeemer, He sent forth Jesus and set me free.

Chorus

Jesus, my Savior, Himself did offer; Jesus, my Savior, paid all I owed.

Chorus

In a little stable, far across the sea Was a little Baby Just like you and me.

Not a bed or cradle, not a pillow deep, but a lowly manger was his place to sleep.

Shepherds stood around him, Angels watched with care, For this Babe was JESUS, lying, smiling there.

Oh, I love this Jesus, Who was little then, For I know he loves me, Little though I am.

We also learned one this week about David and Goliath-

Only a boy named David, only a little sling, 

Only a boy named David, but he could play and sing,

Only a boy named David, only a bubbling brook,

Only a boy named David, but five little stones he took.

And one little stone went into the sling and the sling went round and round.

And one little stone went into the sling and the sling went round and round.

And round, and round, and round, and round, and round, and round, and round.

And one little stone went up in the air ---

And the giant came tumbling down.

Some pictures from our week about balls-

Bb is for ball.

 

"Bb is for ball" is our theme this week. We will listen and look for the letter Bb and play and create with balls!

This week's KDI is Body Awareness- Children know about their bodies and how to navigate them in space. As we incorporate balls into our body movement, bouncing them, playing catch, dancing with them above below, next to and under body parts, we become aware of the space we use and move in.

Table Activities- This week's table activities include painting  by moving a little ball(marble) around, balancing balls on golf tees, threading pipe cleaners through wiffle balls, playing with pretend spaghetti and meatballs, pompom balls on sticky paper, balls in water, painting with cotton balls and bowling.

Small Group Activities- This week's small group activities include adding sticker gumballs to a gumball machine, making a ball out of model magic, adding Bb is for balls to our journal and making a picture out of balls.

Large Group Activities- This week we will play catch, put a ball on different body parts, bounce balls, balls in a parachute and ball free play.

Jesus Time- Our Jesus Time this week is the story of David and Goliath. Last week we heard the story of Samuel and his work for the Lord in the tabernacle with Eli. This week we hear how Samuel anoints David, a lowly shepherd, to be the second king of Israel. David is the youngest of the sons of Jesse. When Samuel arrives at the house, the older brothers all line up to be anointed, but Samuel passes them by. The youngest son, David, comes in from watching the flocks and surprisingly, he is the one chosen by God to be the next king. Saul is king at the moment and David remains a shepherd at this time. Saul chooses to go to war against the Philistines and David's older brothers join the army and go to war also. The Israelites are camped on one side of a valley and the Philistines are camped on the other side. Once a day, a huge Philistine, Goliath, 9 feet tall, comes into the valley to challenge the Israelites. He shouts up at their camp, daring one of them to come and fight him, he mocks their one and only God, he belittles them. The Israelites are terrified and hide in their tents every time Goliath comes out! During one of these challenges, David is visiting camp to bring supplies to his brothers. He cannot believe what he is hearing and seeing! This Philistine is mocking God and God's people and no one is standing up to him??!! He tells his brothers that he is going to fight Goliath. They mock and discourage him. Word comes to King Saul that a young shepherd boy is willing to take up the fight against Goliath and he calls David into his tent. Saul commends David for his willingness to fight and tries to talk him into at least wearing his armor to protect himself- I always wondered if Saul had ulterior motives for this, maybe making it look as if Saul himself were fighting Goliath. David refuses, he can't even move in Saul's armor! David tells Saul that he has protected his father's sheep from wolves, lions and bears with a slingshot and stone and he will use that weapon and his faith that God is with him to defeat Goliath. So David goes to meet Goliath, a boy and his sling and 5 smooth stones he has collected. Goliath comes to meet David with a Shield bearer, himself fully protected with armor, including a helmet and a sword, javelin and spear. Goliath laughs as he sees David, his voice booming and laughing, "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" David bravely says, "You come at me with sword, spear and javelin, but I come at you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, who you have defied!"  David takes one stone, puts it in his sling, winds it up, lets it go and the stone sinks deep into the temple of Goliath. Goliath falls and David takes Goliath's own sword and cuts off the giant's head (we'll leave that gory detail out of the story for preschool). The Philistines are astonished! They run and the Israelite army gives chase and thoroughly defeats their enemies! David is lauded for his heroic act! He gives credit to the one and only God of Israel. He defeated Goliath, he made the stone fly to its mark and defeat those who would mock God! God continues to defeat his enemies and the enemies of his people- sin, death and the devil. God is watching over us and giving us the victory in his name. We don't need to worry about this world and what is going on in it right now, though it is so hard not to be frustrated, worried, insecure and helpless. God is on our side and the real battle for our souls is already won! May God give you the confidence to feel victorious over our spiritual enemies!

Books of the Week- "Froggy Plays T-ball" by Jonathan London, "Snail Saves the Day" by John Stadler and "Franklin Plays the Game" by Paulette Bourgeois.

A reminder that book orders are due the end of this week on November 17th.

Have a winner of a week!

Here's some pictures from last week's ice cream fun!

Ii is for ice cream

 I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

This week we are looking for the letter Ii and listening for its different sounds.

The KDI of the week is counting- children count things. We will be counting scoops of ice cream!

Table Activities- The table activities this week include dramatic play ice cream shop, painting with ice cream cones, playdough ice cream, counting the scoops and invite to create an ice cream cone or sundae.

Small Group Activities- Small group activities this week include an ice cream number stack, making ice cream, adding Ii is for ice cream to our journals and painting an ice cream cone.

Large Group Activities- We will have an ice cream relay, add to the sundae race, an outdoor ice cream shop and sand ice cream.

Jesus Time- This week we jump ahead several hundred years again. The Israelites had settled into the promised land of Canaan after many years of wandering in the desert with Moses, wars and battles when entering the promised land with Joshua and unfortunately being influenced by the pagan worship around them as they began to worship false gods and live in ways contrary to God's desire for them. Israel was a theocracy, ruled by God, through judges that communicated God's will directly to the people. Israel went through many judges, some good, some bad. The judge in our story is named Samuel. When we are introduced to Samuel, he is just a baby. We are learning the story of how he came to be the last judge Israel was ruled by. A woman named Hannah was Samuel's mother. She was married to a man named Elkanah. Elkanah had two wives, Hannah had not been able to have any children and the other wife teased her about it mercilessly. Hannah and the rest of her family were visiting the tabernacle to worship when the old priest, Eli, saw her. Hannah was sobbing at her failure to have a child. She was begging God to give her a child. When Eli saw her, he was very concerned. He didn't know what was wrong with her. When she calmed down enough to explain, he promised her that she would have a child by this same time next year. She did, and that child was Samuel. Because of the Lord's favor on her, she promised to dedicate her child to the Lord's service. When Samuel was five years old, she brought him with her to the tabernacle and gave him into the Lord's service. She then made him a new coat each year and came to visit him to deliver it. This seems so strange to us! Our pastors would not want you to drop off your five year old so that they can clean church and he would make them sleep on a cot in the back room and you would come to visit them once a year! As moms and dads, we sometimes only think of our children as ours, not God's. What plans and dreams we have for them! How we want to hold on to them and make sure everything goes perfectly for them their whole life. We don't want anything bad to befall them or them to struggle in any way. It's hard to give your children to the Lord and let Him direct their paths. Our job as parents is to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That means making sure they know the Bible, know how God wants them to live and most importantly, know what God did for them. WE give our children to God, but HE gave his child, his one and only Son, for us. He loves our children more than we ever could!

Books of the Week- "Groovy Joe: Ice Cream and Dinosaurs" by Eric Litwin, "Gorilla Loves Vanilla" by Chae Strathie.

Book Orders went home today for November. Lots of great books!! And books make great Christmas gifts! In Iceland, everyone receives a book on Christmas Eve and everyone reads!! Make books a special part of your life!

As I mentioned to most of you at Parent-Teacher's Conferences, we are planning on having a Preschool Only Christmas Program on the Thursday before Christmas break, which is December 17th. It will be about 20 minutes long. The AM class will have theirs at 10:40 and the PM class will have theirs at 2:40. We will have a little time to get fancy dress on before that if you want!

Have a delicious week!

Here are some pics from last week's pumpkin fun!