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!

Ii is for ice.

 

I am so excited to have everyone back at school and we are ready to have a great time in 2022!!

This week we are looking and listening for the letter Ii and exploring with ice. 

The KDI for the week is problem solving- Children solve problems encountered in play. Much of that problem solving is figuring out how to share and work together. As we explore ice this week, children will be given intentional opportunities to work together to free dinosaurs from ice, build with ice and experiment together. Who gets what roles as they work through the problems they encounter and how can we ask for help and communicate clearly?

Table Activities- This week our table activities include ice sensory bins, making ice "castles" with sequins and glitter, freeing dinosaurs trapped in ice, ice and orbeez, making icicles out of beads, arctic animals in ice, melting ice with different warm water and clear ice in colored water.

Small Group Activities-  This week our small group activities include painting ice, painting with frozen watercolor paints, adding Ii is for ice to our journals and melting ice with pipettes filled with salt water.

Large Group Activities- Hopefully the weather will allow for some ice outside, pushing ice with a broom, safely breaking ice, pretend ice skating  and bringing some inside ice outside to play with.

Books of the Week- "Ice Boy" by David Ezra Stein and "Tacky and the Winter Games" by Helen Lester are our books this week.

Bible Story- This week we will review the Christmas Story from Jesus' birth through the arrival of the Wise Men. With all of our Christmas practice, I want to make sure they really know this story and I don't think we gave it enough time in the weeks before Christmas. There's no story sheet, but if you have the last few, you can review them all!

Merry Christmas!!

 

Merry Christmas!! This week we are going to concentrate on the story of Christmas and Jesus' birth!

Our KDI for the week is community-Children participate in the community of the classroom. This week we will work together to present you the Christmas service, we will exchange gifts, we will wish each other a "Merry Christmas" and share in all the blessings that Christmas brings!

Table Activities- This week table activities include Christmas experiments with vinegar and baking soda, jingle bells and magnets, painting with bows, Christmas coloring pages, invite to create gingerbread, ornament making and a Christmas sensory bin.

Small Group- This week small group includes making a cover for our Christmas service, cookie decorating, making a nativity ornament and gift opening and our service!

Large Group- This week we will follow the star like the wise men and have a Christmas hide and seek.

Books of the Week- "Snowmen at Christmas" by Caralyn and Mark Buehner and "Star Bright, Christmas Night" by Hannah C. Hall.

Bible Story- This week we hear about the Magi who came from the east to worship Jesus. We aren't sure how the wisemen knew about Jesus or the star. Some speculate that Daniel in the Old Testament could have shared the prophecies about Jesus, others think maybe the Queen of Sheba who visited King Solomon could have brought the prophecies back with her. We don't even know specifically which countries they came from. The Bible doesn't even tell us there were three, just that they brought three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We do know that they came from the east and they followed the star to Jerusalem and then Bethlehem. It took them a long time to come, maybe even a year. By that time, Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus were no longer in the stable, but living in a house. The wisemen asked in Jerusalem if anyone had heard of a new king being born. That put everyone in Jerusalem in a state of panic, since crazy Herod had already killed a brother and other relatives so that he could remain king without challenge. The wisemen were directed to the small village of Bethlehem where the star stopped over the house where Jesus was. The wisemen worshipped him and gave him their gifts. The wisemen were warned in a dream not to go back and tell Herod where Jesus was like he had asked. The wisemen were safe and Jesus was kept safe by fleeing to Egypt. I kind of like to think God had the visit of the shepherds and the wisemen recorded to show us that Jesus was the Savior for all of us! Who could be more different- a small village shepherd, poor, dirty, not very well educated and a rich magi with resources to travel by camel for a year and well educated. Jesus came for us all- rich or poor, wise or not, from every land, language, color, people- all the world!

Joy to the world, the LORD has come!!

Merry Christmas!

Dd is for decorate!

 

This week we will listen and look for the letter Dd and decorate our classroom and outside for Christmas!!

Our KDI of the week is Art- Children express and represent what they feel, think, imagine and observe through two and three dimensional art. We will be making decorations, decorating objects and getting ready to celebrate Christmas!

Table Activities- This week table activities include making an ornament suncatcher, Christmas playdough, decorating giant gingerbread people, Christmas themed dot painting, decorating wooden ornaments, stamping Christmas lights, invite-to-create Christmas trees, Christmas clay mats and a wrapping paper and ribbon cutting bin.

Small Group Activities- This week we will make a beaded candy cane to hang on our tree, pinecone or snowman ornaments, adding Dd is for decorate to our journals, and decorating our own little Christmas tree.

Large Group Activities- Decorating each other, decorating our fence outside, dancing with ornaments and tinsel.

Books of the Week - "Mooseltoe" by Margie Palatini and "Mortimer's Christmas Manger" by Karma Wilson.

Bible Story- Our Bible Story this week is The Angels appear to the Shepherds. On the hills outside Bethlehem, shepherds were out with their flocks of sheep and goats in the middle of the night. This wasn't necessarily normal, it may have been lambing season, so the shepherds were extra protective of their flocks. Shepherds could have been men, boys and girls, we don't know exactly who was out there. An angel, just one, appeared to the shepherds and they were terrified! Usually an angel means judgement, but not this one! The angel told the shepherds not to be afraid because they have great news of great joy! Their Savior has been born!! The angel told the shepherds to look for a baby lying in a manger! Then suddenly 1000's or 1,000,000's of angels appears praising God and saying "Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to mankind, on whom his favor rests!" I always imagine it this way- the dark of night is like a curtain on a stage. One angel peeks out of the curtain to give the audience a message and then the curtain opens and you see the whole choir singing at the top of their lungs! I can't imagine how the shepherds felt!! As soon as the angels left, the shepherds said to each other, "Let's go and see this child" So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby! We don't know how long they stayed, but we do know that when they left, they told everyone they saw what had happened to them that night! They couldn't keep quiet about it! We have seen the same thing and your children will present it to you on Thursday, December 16th!! We can't wait!!

Some pics from our healthy eating week-