Gg is for group.

 

This week we are listening and looking for the sound of Gg and working together as a group. 

The KDI for the week is Cooperative Play- Children engage in cooperative play. Playing and working together is so important to learn as a child- how to listen to each other, take turns, share ideas and blend ideas, valuing another person's voice. Humans are naturally egocentric- thinking about themselves first. We have to learn how to put others first. We will be working on this skill this week.

Table Activities- This week our table activities include making sticky faces, building with cups and blocks together, stringing giant beads, making unifix trains, playing games and doing puzzles together and working to balance and build with rocks and popsicle sticks.

Small Group- This week we will be making a pass-around picture, build together, add Gg is for group to our journal and create together.

Large Group- Hopefully this week we will do some parachute play, play catch, bean bag and stick passing as a group.

 Books of the Week- "Fox Makes Friends" by Adam Relf and "Bear Feels Sick" by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman.

Bible Story- Our Bible Story for this week talks about working as a group! Jesus was healing and preaching in a house. People had come from all over Galilee to hear Jesus and bring those who needed to be healed to him. The Pharisees (a sect who insisted on following many laws to be saved) were there listening also. A group of men came carrying their friend on a stretcher. Their friend couldn't walk and they were looking for a way to get him inside the house for Jesus to heal him. When they couldn't find a way because of the crowd, they carefully climbed to the roof with him. Roofs in this era and area were flat and often treated as an extra room in their house. When they got to the roof, they removed several tiles and carefully lowered their friend down in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw him, he said, "Son, be happy, your sins are forgiven!" The Pharisees were irate! Only God could forgive sins! Who did Jesus think he was? Jesus knew their thoughts and he confronted them-"Why are you thinking these things? What is easier to say? Your sins are forgiven or get up and walk? But just so you know who I am , young man, take up your mat and walk!" The man immediately got up, took his mat and went home praising God. People were amazed! They had seen miraculous things that day! Miraculous things! We have testimony that Jesus is the Christ throughout scripture! Let's share the miraculous things we have seen and heard to let others know and bring people to know Christ, just like this man's friends brought him to Jesus and laid him right in front of him!

Some pictures from our letters week-

Now I Know My ABC's

 

This week we will be concentrating on all our ABC's. We are almost through all our letters, only a few left to concentrate specifically on! So we will review and listen for what letter makes what sound this week!

Our KDI for the week is Alphabetic Knowledge- Children identify letter names and their sounds. We will work on both names and sounds this week. We will continue to work on both upper case and lower case letters.

Table Activities- This week our table activities include a letter sensory bin, letter dot painting, letter clay mats, magnet letters, foam sticky letters, letter beads, letter bubble bath and letter stamping.

Small Group- Our small group activities this week include unscrambling and gluing our names, matching the letter to the initial sound of items, adding ourselves to our journal, ie. Nn is for Nancy.

Large Group- This week we will make our bodies into letter shapes, have a letter scavenger hunt, draw letters with sidewalk chalk and do a letter dance.

Books of the Week- "Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin and John Archambault and "Aa, You're Adorable" by Buddy Kaye, Fred Wise and Sidney Lippman.

Bible Story- Our Bible Story this week is the Great Catch of Fish. Jesus had been preaching on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The crowds began to press in on him, so he asked some fishermen who were there cleaning their nets to let him stand in one of their boats and preach. They pushed out from shore and Jesus continued teaching and preaching. When he was finished, he told the fishermen to let their nets out. The fishermen told Jesus it was a useless idea. They fished at night, in fact, they had fished all night and caught nothing. Peter, one of the fishermen, said that since Jesus said to do it, they would, but he wasn't hopeful. They put out their nets and caught so many fish that their nets started to break! They signaled their partners on shore to come and help them!

Peter was overwhelmed! He realized he was standing in front of the Messiah and he fell to his knees! "Go Away from me Lord, for I am a sinner!", he told Jesus. Jesus told him to stand and that he would be catching men with the Gospel instead of fish with a net! 

Jesus didn't choose the smartest, richest, strongest or most influential people to be his disciples! He chose fishermen, tax collectors, even a zealot!! Ordinary people to spread the news that Jesus is the Messiah! Ordinary people like us! We can be fishers of mankind too!

Some pics from our jungle week-

Jj is for Jungle

 

This week we are listening and looking at the letter Jj and investigating the jungle! What animals live in it? What is it like? Where in the world are jungles located?

Our KDI for the week is Geography- Children recognize and interpret features and locations in their environment. We will talk about what makes someplace a jungle?

Table Activities- This week we will have the opportunity to create animals out of animal print paper, create a jungle with playdough, craft sticks, leaves, etc., explore a jungle habitat, color some jungle pictures, explore the layers of the rain forest and play with jungle animals.

Small Group Activities- We will be making a rainstick, coloring and cutting a paper plate snake and adding Jj is for jungle to our journals.

Large Group Activities- This week we will move along to the song "Animal Action", toss a dice to do an animal movement and make some jungle noise to guess what the animal is!

Books of the Week- Our books this week are "The Umbrella" by Jan Brett and "Welcome to the Green House" by Jane Yolen.

Bible Story- Our Bible story this week is Jesus' first recorded miracle. Jesus has grown up in Nazareth, become known as the carpenter's son. His cousin John has begun to preach repentance and Jesus comes to him to be baptized in the Jordan River. He then begins his public ministry and people begin to follow him. He is attending the wedding of friends or family in Cana. His mother is also at the wedding, as are some of his followers. Weddings in Bible times lasted for days, people traveled long distances by foot to get there, so it wasn't a quick wedding ceremony and reception. Food and clothing and lodging were all provided for days or a week. Usually the best food and wine were served at the beginning, with resources dwindling as the time went by. At this wedding, they ran out of wine before the party was over. This was a huge embarrassment to the family! Mary approached Jesus, knowing he could do something, and told him there was no more wine. Jesus told her the time was not yet right. Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to. Jesus later approached the servants and told them to fill up the huge water jugs. Once they had done that, he told them to scoop some out and  present what they had scooped to the master of the feast. He tasted it and went to speak to the groom- usually the best was served first and the lower quality wine towards the end, but you have saved the best for last!!

No one but the servants and Jesus followers knew what had happened. Jesus had changed the water into wine!

Sometimes it seems like we save prayer for the really big things- a friend gets cancer, a job is lost. But Jesus wants us to come to him in prayer for everything! He saved his friends from embarrassment by providing wine, and not just any wine- the BEST wine! He will give us what is best for us and he tells us to ask- for anything that we need!

May we continue to talk to the Lord in prayer all the time, every day for needs big and small and to thank him for all he does for us!!

AM Class- I forgot to send your safety googles home with you! You can take them home on Tuesday!

NO CLASS MONDAY, JANUARY 17th FOR MLK, Jr. DAY! We'll see you Tuesday!

Not as many pictures this week with all our experimenting! Grown up assistance required for some activities!

Ee is for experimenting

 

This week we will look and listen for the letter Ee as we learn about the scientific method and experiment!

Our KDI for the week is experimenting- Children experiment to test their ideas. We will make guesses or hypotheses and then test to see if our idea was correct. 

Table activities- Table activities for the week include mixing colors, magnets, mixing oil and water, seeing what effect different solutions have on colors and ice (salt water, sugar water, warm water, cold water), investigating using magnifying glasses, using geoboards and rubber bands to make shapes, dissecting fruits and vegetables and cup building.

Small Group Activities- This week we will practice using the scientific method as we do some experiments with milk, food coloring and Dawn soap, a water-filled ziploc bag and sharpened pencils, and lava lamps. We will also add Ee is for experiments to our journal.

Large Group Activities- Hopefully the weather will warm up to let us get outside and experiment with energy transfer and bouncing balls, frozen Orbeez and painting snow.

Books of the Week- "Rosie Revere, Engineer"  by Andrea Beaty and "What Is a Scientist?" by Barbara Lehn are our books this week.

Bible Story- This week our story is about Jesus as a 12 year old boy. When Jesus was 12, he and his family went from Nazareth to the temple in Jerusalem. They went every year for the Festival of the Passover and this year Jesus was old enough to go with them. They went with family and friends, traveling as a group to Jerusalem. Often they would set up camp as a group and would visit with one another, like camping in a large group. After the festival, Mary and Joseph began the long trip back to Nazareth, but they didn't realize Jesus had stayed behind. When they didn't see him when they set up camp for the evening, they began to worry. They returned to Jerusalem the next day and spent three days wandering through the city. looking for Jesus. On the third day, they were in the temple when they overheard Jesus talking to the teachers and scribes. He was asking and answering questions and those who were talking to him were amazed at his knowledge!

Mary and Joseph were also astonished, but they were also worried. Mary said to him- Why have you treated us this way? Don't you know that your father and I were worried sick about you? 

Jesus replied, "Didn't you realize I had to be in my Father's house?" He knew who he was. They knew too! They had forgotten that while he was their son, he was also God's Son and had work to do here on earth.

Jesus went with them and continued to be obedient to them and his Heavenly Father. 

Sometimes we look at this incident and it seems sinful, but it wasn't. The Bible says Jesus was without sin and he was. He had to obey his Father God, even before his earthly parents. He wasn't disobeying them, he was obeying God. 

Mary treasured all these things up and kept them in her heart. How hard her job was! Hard to be a mom, but mother to the Son of God! Thank goodness Jesus was her Savior too!

We are trying Scholastic once again, hopefully things will go better in 2022 for them!

And a reminder that there is no school on Monday, January 17th for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

Some pictures from Ice Week!