Ll is for letters.

 

This week we are listening for the sound of Ll and looking at all the letters of the alphabet.

Our KDI of the week is Alphabetic Knowledge- Children identify letter names and their sounds. We have been concentrating on letter names and sounds each week as introduce each letter. We will continue to do so, but this week we will base each activity around letters, their names and their sounds.

Table Activities- Our table activities this week include letter magnets, letter pasta sensory bins, letter clay mats, letter beads, letter coloring pages, making letters on contact paper with yarn and with waxy sticks, letter stamps and letter bubble bath.

Small Group Activities-The small group activities this week include getting to know the letters in our names and putting them in the correct order using a capital/upper case to begin our name and lower case/common for the remaining letters, decorating the letter our names begin with, adding Ll is for letter to our journal and learning about another meaning of the word letter as we "write" ourselves a letter. (Look for it coming in the mail).

Large Group Activities- Large Group may include letter body shapes, letter hide and seek and making letters out of natural materials like stick, pinecones and rocks guided by sidewalk chalk letters.

Books of the Week- "Dr. Suess's ABC's" by Dr. Suess and "Z is for Moose" by Kelly Bingham.

Bible Story- Our Bible story this week is Daniel and the Lion's Den. Years have passed and the nation of Israel has been broken apart. First the Babylonians and then the Persians have taken control. This story takes place while the Persians are the "rulers" of the world. Daniel had been taken into captivity by the Babylonians and became an advisor to their king. When the Persians defeated the Babylonians, the Persian king named Darius, kept Daniel on as an advisor. By this time, Daniel was getting older, he was around 80, during this event. Some of the Persian advisors were jealous of the respect King Darius gave to Daniel and they hatched a plan to get him in trouble. They knew that Daniel prayed to the one, true God each day. They told the king, "Make a new law that everyone should pray only to you, oh King! If they don't follow the law, they should be thrown into a den of hungry lions." King Darius believed himself to be a god and signed on to the new law. According to their customs, the law could not be changed. Daniel could not obey God and the new law, so he continued to pray to the one true God. Those advisors caught him in the act and brought him before the king. The king had no choice but to have Daniel thrown in the lion's den. The king was very upset, he loved and trusted Daniel, but he made the law, so he had to enforce it. That night, the king did not eat or sleep. At first light, he rushed to the den and called out, "Daniel, did your God save you?" Daniel answered, "My God sent angels to shut the mouths of the lions. They didn't hurt me at all!" The king was overjoyed!! He had Daniel pulled out of the lion's den and had the advisors who had plotted to kill Daniel thrown in. 

It seems like we may soon be faced with the choice to obey God or government. There really is no choice, we follow God. This government is temporary, God is eternal. We do what he wants us to do and he will deal with the government. Hold fast to the faith! There are many who have gone before us, courageous Christians who have held on to their faith and lost earthly possessions and life, but gained eternity. Some are martyrs today in other countries. God is with us, He will not fail!

Some pictures of our week of wetlands-

Ww is for wetlands

 

This week we are talking about wetlands and the look and sound of the letter Ww. We will visit and explore a wetland at Lake Erie Metropark on Wednesday!

Our KDI for the week is Natural and Physical World- Children gather knowledge about the natural and physical world. We hope to do that this week with some books, play and real life knowledge gathering and experience.

Table Activities- This week our table activities include playing in a marsh/ wetland with lily pads, frogs, fish, turtles and snakes, playdough wetland modeling, coloring pages, moss, bark and critter wetlands, frog play, building beaver dams and muskrat push-ups.

Small Group- Our small group activities include a frog craft, adding Ww is for wetland to our journal and painting a wetland.

Large Group- Playing in a pool wetland and our field trip.

On Wednesday we are taking a field trip to the Marshlands Museum that is part of the Lake Erie Metropark and participating in a Wetland exploration program. If you are unable to attend the field trip, we will not have school that day. We will meet at the museum at 9:50am, our program begins at 10am and should be finished by 11:30.

Books of the Week- "Who Lives Here? Wetland Animals" by Deborah Hodge, "Babies in the Bayou" by Jim Arnosky.

Bible Story- This week we hear about Jonah. Jonah was a prophet of God, which means his job was to tell people God's Word. God instructed Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and tell them about the one true God. Jonah didn't want to go. So, he got on a boat going the opposite direction of Nineveh. While he was on the boat, he fell into a deep sleep, running from God is exhausting! While he was sleeping, a huge storm came up. The sailors threw cargo overboard, did everything they could to lighten the load the ship was carrying, they seemed doomed to be wrecked! Finally, they woke Jonah, they knew he was a worshipper of the Israelite God. They asked what they should do to keep from drowning. He told them to throw him overboard. At first they thought that would make Jonah's God angrier, he would destroy their ship for sure. But Jonah convinced them. As soon as they threw Jonah overboard, the waves and winds calmed and they were safe. God sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah was in the belly of the fish for 3 days, praying and thinking. After those days inside the fish, Jonah had a change of heart, as soon as the fish spat him out on shore, he was on his way to Nineveh. He walked through Nineveh for three days speaking the word of the Lord and the city of Nineveh repented and came to faith! Amazing! 

That's not where the story ends. God had promised to destroy Nineveh in 40 days if they didn't come to faith and repent. Jonah was convinced that that was going to happen. He sat outside waiting for fire and brimstone to fall from the sky. He complained that it wasn't happening and that he was getting scorched by the sun waiting for Nineveh's demise. God provided a plant that grew up and provided shade for a day to ease Jonah's suffering. Then a worm came and ate the plant and destroyed Jonah's shade. Jonah was angry! How dare the people of Nineveh get off free when they were so evil, how dare a worm come and eat the plant that was giving him shade! IT'S NOT FAIR! God rebuked Jonah, why are you more angry about a plant dying than you are happy that thousands of people who didn't know God, now know God! The people of Nineveh didn't know any better, they didn't know their right from their left, God said. 

That's where the book of Jonah ends. I don't know if Jonah ever changed his mind- he actually used the words, "I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity" as an insult to God. A God who is full of grace, abounding in love, who doesn't punish sinners as they deserve.

Sometimes we don't see ourselves as the ones who benefit from that- I'm not treated as my sins deserve. We often look at the world and think- it is horrible, they don't deserve grace, just judgement. Yet, how many of them don't know their right hand from their left, they don't know the difference between good and evil. God saved them and loves them too!! They don't know it, even if they've heard it before, as long as they are still here, they still need to hear! One Bible character not to be like is Jonah- be glad to go and tell, and tell, and tell, again and again, until the end!

Pictures from our noodle week-