Blog for March 26, 28 and 30

Happy Easter!! This week we are listening and looking for the Ee for Easter.

Table activities include egg stacking, egg cutting, an Easter sensory bin, painting with plastic Easter eggs, making a bead carrot and spring dot painting.

Small group activities this week- Monday-using liquid watercolors to paint on fabric to make an egg shaped fabric suncatcher, Wednesday- egg letter recognition, Friday- add Ee is for Easter to our journal.

Our KDIs of the week are-

Emotions: Children recognize, label, and regulate their feelings-This week we see it in conjuction with our Jesus time- things that make us feel happy or sad- a very serious, yet joyous story!

Reflection: Children reflect on their experiences.-What Easter traditions do you have? What do they mean?

Building relationships: Children build relationships with other children and adults.- We are going to try to make new friends even as we get closer to the end of the year!


Jesus Time- This week we hear sad and glad news! We start off on Maundy Thursday, when Jesus shares a final meal with his disciples and gives them a new commandment- "Love one another". He also gives them his body and blood with the bread and wine at the institution of communion. He sends Judas on the way to betray him and takes his remaining disciples into the Garden of Gethsemane. In the garden, Jesus asks his disciples to keep watch with him as he goes further on to pray. Jesus prays and asks God the Father if there is any other way that he can pay for the sins of the world. He is in agony over his coming death. Even though he wishes there were another way, he submits to the will of the Father. He prays three times, each time coming back to check on his disciples, who have fallen asleep. Finally, he wakes them up and lets them know that it is time for him to be arrested. Jesus is arrested, taken before the court of the Jews and the Gentiles and he is condemned to death for claiming to be the Son of God. The Roman soldiers beat him and mock him, put a crown of thorns on him and force him to carry his cross. Jesus is nailed to the cross and hung between two thieves. Even now, he forgives those who nail him to the cross, he forgives and dies for the sins of those who mock him. He assures the thief who repents that he will see him in paradise. He suffers for the sins of all people of all time, your sins and my sins. The sky turns dark, the earth quakes, the thick curtain in the temple is torn in two, dead people rise and come out of their graves. "It is Finished!"
Jesus commends his spirit into his Father's hands. Two of Jesus secret disciples, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, take Jesus body, wrap it in linen and put it in a new tomb carved from the rock, like a small cave and roll a stone in front of the opening. Roman soldiers are sent to guard it so no one can steal his body and claim that he rose. Some women who are followers of Jesus plan to come and complete the preparation for his burial. When they return early Sunday morning, they worry about who will roll the stone away. When they arrive, the stone is gone and so is Jesus. One of the women is frantically looking for the gardener to ask him what happened. The other women approach the tomb. When they do, they see angels as bright as lightning who ask why they are looking for the living among the dead? "He is not here, he is risen just as he said. Go and tell his disciples." They do just that! Mary, who was looking for the gardener, sees a man and asks him where Jesus' body has been taken. The man says, "Mary." and Mary sees that it is Jesus!! He is risen!! He is risen, indeed!

Books of the week- "The Easter Story" by Allia Zobel Nolan, "Happy Easter, Little Critter" by Mercer Mayer and "An Easter Alleluia!" by Anita Stohs.

Next week- NO SCHOOL-SPRING BREAK! Classes resume April 9th!

Have a wonderful Easter! He is risen! He is risen indeed!
Mrs. Schneck

Blog for March 19, 21 and 23

Qq is for queen is our letter this week! We are having a royal time!

Our table activities include building castles with blocks and playing with castle figures, making a crown, making a castle from paper shapes, castle coloring sheets and digging for treasure for our color castle.

Small group activities are making a shield, making a sand castle that will last and adding Qq for queen to our journal.

KDIs of the week are-

 Phonological awareness: Children identify distinct sounds in spoken language- Q is a tricky letter and we made its sound and talked about it's partner, u.

 Pretend play: Children express and represent what they observe, think, imagine, and feel through pretend play.-As we build and play in our castles, we take on different roles. We even pretended to joust today on our scooters.

History: Children understand past, present, and future.-The kings and queens of long ago and the kings and queens of today.


Jesus Time- This week our story takes us to the beginning of Holy Week. Jesus is welcomed as a King on Palm Sunday. Jesus plans to go to Jerusalem with his disciples where he knows he will be put to death. The disciples don't really understand what is happening yet. Jesus asks his disciples to go borrow a donkey for him to ride into Jerusalem on. A King riding on a donkey symbolized that he was coming in peace. Jesus was coming to make peace between us and God. Jesus rode into Jerusalem, people lined the streets and waved palm branches at him, shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord." They thought that Jesus was coming to overthrow the Romans, but he was really coming to overthrow death, hell and the power of the devil for us. As he rode into the city further, some Pharisees (men who opposed Jesus) criticized his followers. Telling Jesus that he needed to tell them to be quiet. Jesus told them if they were made to be quiet, the very rocks would cry out! Hosanna means 'save us'. Jesus was ready to go to the cross to save us all!


There is a lot going on this week-

Tomorrow, Tuesday is Kindergarten Round-up. Come see what our program is all about from 6:30-8:00pm. Also, last year I gave the preschoolers a chance to have a Kindergarten Sneak Peek where they went to kindergarten in the morning and stayed until about 10am, then they came over to preschool. We haven't done that yet this year because our kindergarten teacher has been on maternity leave. She is returning soon and we will get the chance to have our sneak peeks then!

Thursday and Friday- Parent Teacher Conferences- if you wish to have a conference, please sign up at
 http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4aa8a82fa6fc1-parent

Saturday- Easter for Families- Come start your Easter celebration together with the Easter story, crafts, songs, snacks and games that the whole family can enjoy! 9:30-11:30am

Have a fantastic week!
Mrs. Schneck

Ee is for experiment

Sorry that I originally blogged this under the three year old's blog page!


Ee is for experiments! We are going to be doing a lot of experimenting this week and having our visit to the Michigan Science Center!

Table activities this week include- magnet play, baking soda and vinegar play, ramps and friction, oil and water play, blocks and balances and static electricity with balloons and tissue paper butterflies.

Small group activities are all experiments this week- We always start with a guess- what do you think will happen if...? Then we test our guess. We did learn the word hypothesis today!
Lava lamps- we poured baby oil and colored water together, learned that oil and water don't mix and added fizzing cold tablets to make the water go up like a lava lamp.- Why it works-The cold tablets react with the water to produce carbon dioxide gas bubbles. These stick to the water droplets. The water/gas combo is less dense than the oil, so they rise to the top of the glass.
No Leak Bag- We will poke sharpened pencils through a quart ziploc bag filled with water and, viola, no leaks! Why it works -The ziploc bag is made out of a polymer whose molecules are like long strands of spaghetti, when the sharp pencil tip pushes through, the flexible strands form a temporary seal around the pencil.
Rain Cloud experiment- We will partially fill a container with water, then spray shaving foam "clouds" on the top. We will use pipettes to put colored water on top of the clouds and it will eventually leak through the clouds to come out in the clear water, just like rain falls out of clouds when enough water molecules join together for gravity to pull it down.

KDIs of the week-
Experimenting: Children experiment to test their ideas. 
Predicting: Children predict what they expect will happen. 
Drawing conclusions: Children draw conclusions based on their experiences and observations. -
It's all about the scientific method this week!

Jesus Time- This week our story is not about a miracle, but about how Jesus reaches out to all sorts of people, even people we don't think he should. Jesus was walking through Jericho and a short man named Zaccheus wanted to see him. Zaccheus was a tax collector, working for the enemy of Rome, and often collected more than he was supposed and pocketed the extra. Zaccheus was too short to see Jesus, so he climbed a tree. As Jesus passed by, he looked up in the tree and called to Zaccheus, "Come down, I'm coming to your house today." The people were surprised! Did Jesus know who this man was and what he had done? After Jesus and Zaccheus visited, Zaccheus was sorry for the way he had lived. He gave half of his goods to the poor and paid back anyone he had cheated four times the amount he had cheated them out of. 
Jesus came to save sinners, there is no one past his grace. He loves people we may think unlovable and he can change their hearts! 

Field trip to the Michigan Science Center on Thursday. Book order due Friday.

Kindergarten round-up on Tuesday, March 20 from 6:30-8:00. We have a terrific kindergarten program so check it out!!

Also, Saturday, March 24th we are having Easter for Families! Look for a flyer with more information on that coming home on Wednesday!

Our books for this week are "Ada Twist, Scientist" by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts, "What is a Scientist?" by Barbara Lehn, and "Odd Boy Out, Young Albert Einstein" by Don Brown.

Also remember to sign up for Parent Teacher conferences if you wish to at- Parent Teacher conferences

Thanks!!
Have a wonderful week!
Mrs. Schneck

Underground

This week we are looking and listening for the letter Uu in underground.

Our table activities include digging for worms and bugs in dirt, painting with rubber worms, playing with worm playdoh, mud bricks and gummi worms and "dirt".

Our small group activities are garden in a glove- so we can see the roots that usually grow underground when we hang our glove in a window and the seeds start to grow, exploring roots and adding Uu for underground to our journals.

The KDIs for the week are-

Problem solving: Children solve problems encountered in play- and in work. Getting those cotton balls down to the tips of the gloves was not easy! We are working better at how to share space when we play

Tools and technology: Children explore and use tools and technology.-using shovels, gloves, rakes, magnifying glasses, tweezers all help us to learn and explore.

Ecology: Children understand the importance of taking care of their environment. - What do plants need to grow? How do worms make our soil healthy?

 Jesus Time- This week we hear about the ten lepers that Jesus healed. Leprosy was a horrible disease in ancient times. There was no cure, you had to leave your family and friends for the rest of your life so they wouldn't catch the disease. You lost your ability to provide for your family. It was horrible. Ten lepers had heard the stories of Jesus of Nazareth healing people and they thought it was worth the chance to ask to be healed. They came upon Jesus and his disciples walking along the road and called out to him, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us!" Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priest, that way they could be made clean. As they walked toward the priests, they were healed. Only one man turned around and ran back, fell at Jesus feet and thanked Jesus for healing him. Jesus asked, "Weren't ten men healed? Where are the other nine?" Jesus told the man his faith had made him whole. 
How often aren't we like those nine men, so busy to be on our way that we forget to thank Jesus for all the little miracles he gives us every day. When each friend today said their thank you prayer of one thing they were thankful for, it was mostly you! Mom and dad and my family, some my little sister, a few toys or a nice warm house. I did tell them that when I am in a grumpy mood, it is usually because I have forgotten to be grateful, sometimes I need reminding! I said that we all need to be reminded of just how blessed we are, from warm beds, clean clothes, food for breakfast and snack, a warm car that drives us to work or school. So if you are in a grumpy mood sometime, and your little one asks if you're thankful, remember just how much God loves you and all of us!

Books of the week-"The Great Fuzz Frenzy" by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel, "Inch by Inch" by Leo Lionni and "Swirl by Swirl" by Joyce Sidman.

Permission slip for Michigan Science Center came home today. Due next Monday!

Have a terrific, thankful week!

Mrs. Schneck