Blog for October 30, November 1 and 3

This week we are looking at spiders. Many of the students love playing with the rubber bugs, so we did an emergent theme this week. That means, I look at what the children are interested in and center our activities around that.

So, this week it is Ss for spiders!!

Our table activities are grasping spiders with tongs through a yarn web, playing with spiders and floss web, spider ring stacking on straws, painting with webbing (yarn), looking at cards to identify spiders and making a glittery web with glue and glitter.

Our small motor activities this week included making a snack with a gummy spider this morning, making a model of a spider with airdry clay, using the rim of a paper plate to "sew" a spider web.

The KDIs we are concentrating on this week are-

Body awareness: Children know about their bodies and how to navigate them in space.- As we work our way through a yarn web this week, we'll see how we have to move our bodies to get through.

Phonological awareness: Children identify distinct sounds in spoken language. -We will make the Ss sound and each week we review the letters and sounds we have already talked about.

Classifying: Children classify materials, actions, people, and events. - We talked about the difference between spiders and insects. How many legs? How many body parts?


Books for the week are "The Very Busy Spider" by Eric Carle and "Diary of a Spider" by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Harry Bliss.

Jesus Time- This week we continue the story of Moses. Moses was raised as an Egyptian prince, but he never forgot that he was an Israelite. When he saw one of his countrymen being mistreated by an Egyptian slavemaster, he took matters into his own hands and killed him. Then he had to flee the country. In the countryside, he met some shepherdesses who took him to their home. He married one of them, Zipporah and became close to his father-in-law, Jethro. Moses also became a shepherd and one day, at the ripe old age of 80, he spotted a bush that was on fire, but not burning up. As he went over to investigate, the LORD called out to him. Letting him know that he was standing on holy ground, God called on him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. After refusing several times, Moses finally accepted the job. He went to visit Egypt and Pharaoh. God used Moses to save the Israelites. It took a lot of courage and faith to do Moses' job.  Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go and God sent ten plagues to convince Pharaoh to do what he asked him, through Moses, to do. Pharaoh often relented and then changed his mind at the last minute. 
God used Moses to save the Israelites, God uses Jesus to save us. God also calls us to do somethings that we may not want to do, He will give us the strength, courage and faith to accomplish what he has set before us to do!


Parent Teacher conferences are this Thursday and Friday afternoon/evening. If you haven't signed up yet, please do at the following link- http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0c45afa72fa3fe3-1stquarter.

Zoo field trip a week from Wednesday!

Have a great week!!

Mrs. Schneck

Blog for October 23,25 and 27

Pumpkins everywhere!!

This week we are looking at pumpkins and listening and looking for the letter Pp.

Table activities this week are pumpkin slime, fall sensory bin with foam pumpkins, leaves, acorns, corn and wheat, paper jack o'lanterns, pumpkin stamping, pumpkin beading and pounding golf tees into pumpkins.

Small group activities are pumpkin explore- we cut open a pumpkin and look at the skin, flesh, seeds and gooey bits, pumpkin decorating and Pp is for pumpkin page for our journal.

Large group activities include singing along to "5 Little Pumpkins" and walking the balance beam with a pumpkin in each hand.

Books for the week are "The Pumpkin Patch Parable" by Liz Curtis Higgs, "The Berenstain Bears and the Prize Pumpkin" by Stan and Jan Berenstain and "The Pumpkin Patch" , a non-fiction book, by Elizabeth King.

KDIs we are concentrating on this week are-

Engagement: Children focus on activities that interest them- When we do our planning, children sometimes focus on what someone else chooses instead of what interests them. Sometimes they choose something different that they've seen someone else having fun with. When they choose a table activity to do in the morning, we encourage them to try them both to see which one they'd like to do. They don't have to stick with it until morning meeting, they can try the other activity also. They find what interests them.

Book knowledge: Children demonstrate knowledge about books. - This week we are looking at a non-fiction book that share information and two storybooks with pretty complicated story lines. They are being read to from many different genres to see books in different ways.

Sense of competence: Children feel they are competent. -As the weather gets colder, we are working on getting our own coats on, changing out our own shoes. Knowing we can do it!


Jesus Time- Many years have passed since we left Joseph and his family. The Pharoah who put Joseph in a high position has died and the following Egyptian generations don't know what those Israelites did for them. They just see them as a strange people living in the land of Goshen and as a possible threat if an enemy army ever attacks Egypt. Whose side would these strange people take? The Egyptians begin to make the Israelites their slaves. They treat them badly, but the Israelites stay strong and there are a lot of them! The Egyptian Pharoah tries to keep the Israelites down by instructing the Egyptian midwives to take any boy babies born to the Israelites and throwing them in the Nile River to be eaten by crocodiles. One mother, Jochabed, keeps her pregnancy a secret, she gives birth to a boy and hides him for three months. Then when he is getting too big to hide, she makes a basket boat, coats it with tar so it's waterproof and sets it afloat. The baby's sister, Miriam, watches closely as the basket floats down the river to where the Egyptian princess is bathing. When the princess hears whimpering coming from the basket, she tells one of her maids to fetch it. She discovers a little boy whom she names Moses, which means "drawn out of the water". Miriam offers to find someone to care for the baby for her and runs to get her mother. Moses' own mother takes care of him until he is 5 years old. He is then returned to the Egyptian princess to be raised as a prince of Egypt. God was getting Moses equipped to lead his people out of slavery. Moses had no idea that was his future. Sometimes we wonder why things happen to us, maybe God is getting us ready for something we will do years down the road!

Time to bring in those inside shoes as the weather gets messier and wetter everyday. Some have brought them already, thank you! Slippers or soft shoes with your child's name on them somewhere are great!

Zoo information-(sorry none of this was on the slip!!)

We will meet at the zoo at 10 am, when it opens. Parking is $7 per car. There is no formal program at the zoo, we will just go in together to get the group rate. You are free to stay as long as you like- the zoo is open until 4 pm.

Have a terrific week!
Mrs. Schneck

Blog for October 16, 18 and 20

Leaves are falling, leaves are falling to the ground, to the ground, red, orange and yellow, red, orange and yellow all around, all around.

This week we are looking at leaves and the letter Ll.

Table activities this week are painting with leaves, making button trees, leaf rubbings, leaf matching, continuing leaf patterns and leaf exploring with magnifying glasses.

Our small group activities are making leaf people, autumn leaf absorption (using leaves made out of coffee filters to see how food travels through leaves) and adding a journal page, Ll is for leaf.

Our large group activities are making a bark rubbing and leaf toss and pick up.

Patterns: Children identify, describe, copy, complete, and create patterns.- We do this every day in calendar. We will look at the patterns of leaves, the pattern of seasons and the patterns in numbers this week.

Observing: Children observe the materials and processes in their environment. - We are looking for leaves on the trees and on the ground. We look at different parts of the tree, branches, trunk, leaves, bark. What do they do?

 Reading: Children read for pleasure and information. -Two of our books this week are fictional and one is talking about a leaf collection. We can read to be entertained and to learn.

Jesus time- This week we hear the rest of Joseph's story. When we left Joseph last week, he had just been made second in command of Egypt and helped to plan the storehouses of food that would last through the seven years of famine. Egypt wasn't the only place that was experiencing a famine. Joseph's brothers had no food either. So, when Jacob heard that there was food that could be bought in Egypt, he sent his sons. Joseph's first dream was about to come true. Ten of his brothers approached him seeking to buy food. He knew them, but they had no idea who he was. He accused them of being spies and imprisoned his brother Simeon. He told them he would keep Simeon in prison until they brought their youngest brother, Benjamin, along with them to Egypt. He then gave them their food, placing the money they had paid for it back inside the bags of grain. When they returned home and told their father what had happened, he didn't want to send Benjamin, he had already lost Joseph! Finally, the brothers convinced him. They went back to Egypt along with Benjamin to purchase more food. When they arrived, Joseph had them escorted to his home where he had a meal laid out for them. They were told which seats to sit in and they were arranged according to age. As the portions were passed out, Joseph's servants gave Benjamin more than the rest. Joseph was listening behind the scenes to see if there was any jealousy or hatred of Benjamin because he was favored. He heard none. To give the brothers one final test to see if they had really changed, Joseph sent them back home with sacks full of grain. He placed the money back in their sacks, but in Benjamin's sack, he placed his own silver chalice. He let the brothers get a head start, and when he caught up with them, along with his soldiers, he accused them of stealing the silver cup from his home. The brothers reassured him that they had not stolen anything. The bags were searched and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack! The older brothers spoke up, offering to take Benjamin's punishment, no matter what it was. Then Joseph finally revealed himself to them and told them that God had placed him in this place to accomplish the saving of many lives. He also assured them that he forgave them for what they had done to him. Joseph asked them to go get their father so that they could all live in Egypt and have all the food they needed. So Jacob and his family settled in the land of Egypt in a place called Goshen. God has a plan for us! To get us to be in heaven with Him, along the way we can share what He has done for us and keep our eyes focused on Him and hopefully others will see that trust and ask us why. And we can share our journey with them!

Have a fantastic week!

Look for an attendance slip for the zoo and a sign up genius for 1st quarter parent-teacher conferences coming your way this week!!

Mrs. Schneck

For the week of October 9, 11 and 13

One more week for camping in this beautiful fall weather. We are looking at and listening to the Tt in tent this week!

KDIs we are concentrating on are-

Cooperative play: Children engage in cooperative play. - Two tents and lots of kids, we figured out how to play together. Friends also grouped up to do the Nature Scavenger Hunt. We'll be working together a lot this week.

Reading: Children read for pleasure and information.- Great books for pleasure and information! Kids love to be read to!


Morning/Tabletop activities are tent play, a wilderness scene to play with playmobile in, campfire art, forest playdoh and camping play.

Our small group activities this week include making a triangle shaped tent, a lantern craft and adding a Tt for tent to our journals.

Our large group activities this week include a nature scavenger hunt, playing in a real tent, and the action song "Going on a Bear Hunt".

Our Jesus Time this week includes a large portion of Joseph's life. Joseph was Jacob's favorite son, born from his wife Rachel. Joseph was one of his younger sons, but he was put in charge of the elder sons, in fact Jacob often sent him out into the fields to make sure his older sons were doing a good job watching the sheep and goats. Joseph also had dreams that he shared with his family. One dream was that Joseph dreamed each brother was a sheaf of wheat, all the brothers sheaves bowed down to his sheaf. He also had a dream where he was standing in the night sky and 11 stars and the sun and the moon all bowed down to him. His father showed his favoritism by gifting Joseph a beautiful, multi-color coat. This time, when he went out to check on his brothers, they decided to get rid of him. Some of them even thought about killing him. When he arrived, they grabbed him, pulled off his beautiful coat and threw him in a pit. When traders on their way to Egypt passed by, they pulled him out and sold him into slavery.
 Meanwhile, they ripped up his coat, killed a goat or sheep and dipped the coat in its blood. When they returned home, they showed their father the coat as proof that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. 
Joseph is sold into slavery in Egypt where he works hard and is made head over the slaves, until his owners wife accuses him of doing something wrong. Then Joseph is thrown into jail, where he again works hard and becomes the one in charge of the prisoners. At one time, there are two prisoners in jail who both worked for Pharaoh. They have strange dreams and heard that Joseph could interpret dreams. He prays and asks God to give him the meaning to their dreams and when what he says comes true, he asks the former prisoner to remember him and tell Pharaoh about him.
Time passes and Pharaoh has some crazy dreams about cows and wheat. Finally, his official remembers Joseph and they get him out of prison. Pharaoh demands that Joseph tell him his dreams and what they mean. When Joseph is able to tell Pharaoh and gives suggestions to solve the problems the dreams foretell, Pharaoh makes Joseph second in command of all Egypt.

An Amazing Story!! God is with us wherever we go and whatever happens to us!

Our books this week are "Charlie Goes Camping" by Carrie Weston and Tim Warnes, "Explorers of the Wild" by Cale Atkinson, "Don't Blink" by Tom Booth and "Duck Tents" by Lynne Berry.

Have an awesome week!!
Mrs. Schneck