Nn is for noodles.

 

This week we are having fun with noodles and numbers! 

The KDI we are concentrating on this week is counting- Children count things. We'll be counting noodles, making number shapes out of noodles and stringing numbers of noodles.

Table Activities- Table activities this week include playing with cooked noodles, painting with dry spaghetti paint brushes, exploring in a dry noodle sensory bin, making noodle numbers, practicing fine motor skills by threading dry spaghetti in colanders, making noodle necklaces, and combining playdough and dry noodles.

Small Group - This week we will be making a noodle sculpture, counting noodles, adding Nn is for noodles to our journals, and making a noodle dish.

Large Group- On Monday, we'll use our large group time to trick or treat to the other classrooms, we'll also play with pool noodle beads and dance to "Noodle Dance".

Books of the Week- "Noodles" by Sarah Weeks and "Today is Monday" by Eric Carle.

Bible Story- This week we are skipping way ahead historically. I wanted to finish up Old Testament stories so we can do Christmas stories when it gets close to Christmas. I also chose stories that had a child as part of them to give my students someone like them to relate to in our stories. This week our story is about a young girl and a soldier named Naaman. Israel had been at war with Naaman's country and this young girl was captured and became a servant for Naaman's wife. At this time, Elisha was a prophet in Israel and his ability to heal people was well known in Israel. Naaman became sick with leprosy and the servant girl mentioned to his wife that he should go and see the prophet Elisha in Israel because he would be able to heal Naaman. Naaman went to his king and asked him to write to the king of Israel on his behalf, the king did and Naaman traveled to Israel with gold, silver and valuable sets of clothing. The king of Israel was panicked! He thought the king of Aram was picking a fight with him, how was he supposed to heal Naaman?! Elisha heard about this and told the king to send Naaman to him, he would heal him. Naaman came to Elisha's house and Elisha sent out his servant to tell Naaman to go and wash himself in the Jordan River seven times and he would be cleansed. Naaman was insulted- the prophet himself hadn't come out to see him, the Jordan River was filthy compared to the rivers in his home country, he wasn't going to do it!! His servants came to him and asked, "If the prophet had asked you to do a difficult thing, you would have done it! Just wash and be cleansed!" So Naaman was convinced, he went to the Jordan River and washed himself seven times and his skin was made fresh and clean, like an infant's! Now Naaman knew that the God Elisha served was the one, true God. He went back to Elisha's house and confessed his faith and offered Elisha the treasure to thank him for healing him. Elisha would not accept it because it was the LORD who healed Naaman. Naaman then asked for as much earth as his mules could carry because he was no longer going to worship the false gods of his country, but only the one, true God of Israel and he wanted the ground of Israel to worship on. He asked Elisha if he could be forgiven for helping his king walk into the temple of his false god, but Naaman himself wouldn't worship. Elisha told him to go in peace. 

One small suggestion from one small girl who was taken as a prisoner made it possible for a powerful enemy soldier to become a believer! Who knows what one word of witness can make happen! The Holy Spirit works in amazing ways! Never count any effort out!

Some pictures from this week's fun- I apologize for the lack of afternoon pics- I remember in the morning, but then the day gets rolling and I get to the end and have forgotten to take pictures in the afternoon!

Hh is for Halloween!

 

This week is Hh is for Halloween- nothing spooky! Mostly pumpkins and dressing up. We will be listening and looking for the sound of Hh. 

The KDI for the week is empathy. Children demonstrate empathy towards others. We will be using the faces seen on jack o'lanterns to see if we can tell feelings through facial expressions. How do we look when we feel happy, sad, scared, angry, surprised, etc.? Can we tell when our friends feel those emotions? How do we act towards them depending on how they are feeling? As parents, we know that preschoolers are very ego-centric or self centered. This week we are going to try to focus outside ourselves and on others.

Table Activities- This week our table activities include pumpkin slime, pumpkin sensory bin, pumpkin play dough, golf tees and pumpkins, create a pumpkin, pumpkin puzzles, dot painting, clay mats and using tongs to move pumpkin candy.

Small Group Activities- We will make a bead pumpkin, explore the inside and outside of a pumpkin, add Hh is for Halloween to our journal and decorate a small pumpkin with tissue paper.

Large Group Activities- This week we will bowl with pumpkins, wash the squash and dance to some fun music.

Books of the Week- "Pumpkin Heads" by Wendell Minor and "Pumpkin Jack" by Will Hubbell and "The Pumpkin Patch Parable" by Liz Curtis Higgs.

Bible Story- This week we hear about David and Goliath. Samuel from our story this week is Israel's last judge. Israel decides they want a king, like the nations around them. God gives them the chance to have a king and they choose a man named Saul. Samuel anoints him king and he leads Israel for a time. While he is ruling, Israel is a war with the country of Philistia. The army of Israel and the army of the Philistines are camped on hilltops with a valley between them. Each day several times, a giant of a man, some say 9 feet tall, comes out of the Philistine camp and challenges the Israelite army. He mocks the one, true God and calls his people cowards. No one from the Israelite army challenges him, they hide in their tents when he comes out! 

One day, a boy named David(who Samuel had already anointed as the next king) comes to visit his brothers who are in the army. He brings food and supplies. While he is there, Goliath, the giant, comes out and challenges the army. He is shocked!! This is how the army reacts to a man mocking the one true God? He decides he will fight the giant. His big brothers are embarrassed, their little pipsqueak of a brother is going to fight the giant? They are also a bit ashamed that they are not challenging him. Word reaches King Saul that a young boy is willing to challenge the giant. He calls David to his tent and questions him. David tells him he is a shepherd and there are times he has fought off bears or lions to protect his flock. God has been with him and kept him safe! King Saul tries to convince him to wear his armor to protect him. David refuses, he can't even move with it on! 

Goliath comes out with a sword and helmet, a shield bearer stands in front of him with a shield to protect him. David comes out with no armor, a slingshot and 5 smooth stones. Goliath laughs, "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks? Come, I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and beasts of the field!" David replies, "You come at me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come in the name of the Lord God of Israel who you have mocked! Today the Lord will give you into my hands, as well as the rest of the Philistine army! All will know it is the Lord who gives you into our hands, not by sword or spear!" 

David took one smooth stone, put it in his slingshot and it hit Goliath in the forehead, sunk in and the giant fell down dead! The Israelite army routed the rest of the Philistine army through the power of the Lord!

God is with us, there is no room for fear! We look around at the world and feel overwhelmed at times, but our God is so much greater!! May we be encouraged to know God will never leave us or forsake us!

Pictures from our painting week-

Pp is for painting!

 

This week we are going to paint. We will mix colors, talk about primary and secondary colors. We will paint and mix colors with watercolors and tempera. We will experiment with all sorts of color!

The KDI of the week is predicting- Children predict what they expect will happen. What do you think will happen when we mix yellow and blue, red and yellow, green and blue? 

Table Activities- Table activities this week include watercolor painting, playing with color paddles, mixing blue and yellow playdough, making color telescopes with different colored cellophane on the ends, water wash with washable markers, mixing clay colors, using little mice to mix paint and food coloring mixing.

Small Group Activities- This week our small group activities include mixing colors inside a ziploc with shaving cream, watercolor painting, adding Pp is for painting to our journal and painting with primary colors, black and white paint.

Large Group Activities- Playing "Mother, May I?" with color recognition, watercolor mixing in the water play table.

Books of the Week- "Little Blue and Little Yellow" by Leo Lionni, "Cat's Colors" by Jane Cabrera and "Mouse Paint" by Ellen Stoll Walsh.

Bible Story- This week we move way ahead in time. The Israelites have had their long journey to the promised land with Moses, 40 extra years of wandering because of their lack of faith. They have settled in and the time of the judges is where we will land. God gave Israel judges to keep them where and how he wanted them to be. He wanted them to be different than the people around them. Many of those people worshipped idols, not the one true God. The judges spoke to the people and told them what God desired. Some of the judges were good and some not so good, but each had a part in God's plan for his people. Our story this week is about the beginning of the last judge's life. We are learning about Samuel. There was a woman named Hannah, who was married and very much wanted a child. Her husband had another wife who had children and she wanted to have a child also. Each year her family went to the tabernacle to worship and while she was there she prayed desperately for a child. She said if she was given a child, she would give it back to the Lord! The priest whose name was Eli saw her praying and asked what was wrong. She told him that she wanted a child. Eli told her that the next year she would have a baby and she did! She named that little boy Samuel which means "God has heard". She and Samuel stayed home from the tabernacle until Samuel was about 5 years old. Then she and Samuel came to the tabernacle and went to Eli. She asked Eli if he remembered her. This was the little boy that God had blessed her with and she was keeping her promise to give him back to the Lord. Samuel lived at the temple with Eli and helped him take care of the special place where the Lord was worshipped. Once a year, Hannah came and visited Samuel and brought him a new coat. Samuel lived his life dedicated to the Lord. 

It would be hard for us to give up our child, but they really belong to God even if they live with us! May God help us to remember that these are His children we are raising and we pray that they stay his children their whole lives through!

Sorry, no pictures this week! We had a lot of active learning!

Bb is for ball!

 

Bb is for balls! We'll explore balls this week, make some, play with some, create with some and even look at the science of bouncing balls!

Our KDI for the week is body awareness- Children know about their bodies and how to navigate them in space. We are adding in movement with a ball, how to throw, catch and bounce it with our bodies.

Table Activities- The table activities this week include marble track, spiky ball painting, marble painting, straws and wiffle balls, balls in water, spaghetti and meatballs, bowling, balancing ping pong balls on golf tees, and cotton ball painting.

Small Group activities- We will make a ball with Model Magic, roll, bounce and dance with balls, add Bb is for ball to our journal, and work on ball handling.

Large Group Activities-  Balls in our parachute, pool noodle baseball and throwing and catching balls will be our large group activities this week.

Books of the week- "Franklin Plays the Game" by Paulette Bourgeois and "Snail Saves the Day" by John Stadler are our books this week.

Bible Story- This week our Bible story sees Moses grow up and God gives him a big job! Moses grows and knows who his people truly are. He leaves Egypt after getting in trouble for defending and Israelite slave. He gets married, has children and works as a shepherd. He is now in his 80's. One day he is watching over his flock when he sees a bush on fire, but not burning up. He approaches the bush and is told to take off his shoes because he is standing on holy ground. God calls him to return to Egypt to lead his people, the Israelites to freedom. Moses refuses, God's got the wrong guy! There is no way he can bring the Israelites out of Egypt- he can't even speak well! God won't take no for an answer and so Moses returns to Egypt. Along with his brother Aaron, Moses goes to Pharaoh and asks him to release God's people so they may go out to the desert and worship Him. Pharaoh refuses and the plagues begin. Ten times God visits the land of Egypt with different plagues, the water turns to blood, then frogs cover the land, then gnats, then flies, then a plague on livestock, then boils or sores on the people, then hail, then locusts, then darkness. Each time Moses and Aaron warn Pharaoh what is coming, it comes, Pharaoh says if you ask your God to take the plague away, then I'll let them go. Each time Pharaoh changes his mind. Finally, the tenth and worst plague comes, the death of the firstborn. The Israelites are told what to do so the angel of death will Passover their house and they do it. The Egyptians don't have that option and even Pharaoh's first born son is killed. Pharaoh tells the Israelites to go, leave Egypt, the other Egyptians give the Israelites gold and jewels to leave their land. So much sorrow and loss because the leader would not bow the knee to the one, true God. Even in this instance, Pharaoh changes his mind. The Israelites leave and camp for the night near the Red Sea. In the morning, they see a cloud of dust in the distance, it is Pharaoh and his army. They are coming to get them. God confuses them with darkness and quicksand while the Israelites get ready to go. God tells Moses to hold out his staff and the sea parts and every Israelite makes it across on dry land. God tells Moses to let his hand down and the Egyptian army is swept away and drowned. God makes a way when there seems to be no way! At conference this week a saying really brought this home to me- Don't tell God how big your problems are, tell your problems how big your God is! He is the God of Deliverance, not just from the Red Sea and angry Egyptians, but from sin, death and the devil who try to keep us from Him. He saved us through his death on the cross!

Sorry, no pics from this short week!