Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! May God richly bless your gatherings of friends and family!

This week we are listening for and looking at the sound of Ww for wishbone. Each child will receive a little wishbone to take home on Wednesday. They are pretty little, so keep an eye out for little siblings.

Our table activities are playdough and bead and seed play, create a turkey with paper parts, Thanksgiving themed dot painting and Thanksgiving pattern block pictures.

Our small group activities are making the Mayflower and trying it out to see if it is sea-worthy and adding Ww is for wishbone to our journals.

Our books for the week are "Thanksgiving Day Thanks" by Laura Malone Elliot, " 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving" by Dav Pilkey and "One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims" by B. G. Hennessy.


The KDIs we are looking at this week are-

History: Children understand past, present, and future.- We are talking about pilgrims and the Wampanoag tribe, family traditions, things that link us from past to present and to future.

Vocabulary: Children understand and use a variety of words and phrases- Lots of holiday words and new Bible story words that we don't really use any more like 'manger' or 'tabernacle'


Jesus Time- This week we are hearing about Samuel who is Israel's last judge. The Israelites had conquered the promised land and had established themselves as it's residents. God was their ruler and he made his will known through judges that he chose. The priests were from the tribe of Levi and they ran the worship in the tabernacle, kind of a tent church, that many Israelites went to for the special celebrations. One Israelite family that attended worship there was a man named Elkanah and his two wives, one of which was named Hannah. Hannah had not been able to have any children and Elkanah's other wife teased her about it. The priest Eli found Hannah sobbing in the tabernacle and asked her what was wrong. When she told him, he assured her that she would have a child by the next time they would visit the tabernacle. That son was Samuel. When Hannah again came to the tabernacle with Samuel when he was 5 years old, she presented him to Eli and told him that she was giving the boy back to God for service in the tabernacle. Samuel lived with Eli and his family and his mother made him a new coat and brought it when she visited each year. One night as Samuel was sleeping, God called to him and told him that the Israelites would soon fight a battle in which Eli's sons would die. Samuel would then be responsible for Israel's worship at the tabernacle and telling the Israelites God's word. Eli's sons were not honoring God in the way they lived their lives and Eli had not disciplined them, teaching them right and wrong. Because we love God and love our children, we want them to know what God says and hold them accountable for their actions before it leads to consequences that are life changing! 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!- NO SCHOOL on Friday, November 24 for Thanksgiving.

Mrs. Schneck

Blog for November 13, 15 and 17

Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite! What kinds of phrases or poems do you put your kids to bed with? What phrases did your parents say to you? This week one of our books, "Good Night, Sleep Tight" by Mem Fox explores a lot of bedtime rhymes.

This week our theme is Night time and the letter Nn.

Our table activities this week are nightime rice with glitter stars, decorating black paper with white or metallic crayons and star stickers, star cookie cutter printing, coloring pajamas, starry night slime and decorating a star.

Our small group activities are a watercolor resist painting- we colored with a white crayon on white paper and then painted over it with night sky colors and we could see where we colored, making constellations by connecting the stars with chalk and adding Nn is for night time to our journal.

Our books are "Good Night, Sleep Tight" by Mem Fox, "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late" by Mo Willems and "Rise the Moon" by Eileen Spinelli.

The KDIs we are concentrating on this week are-

Emotions: Children recognize, label, and regulate their feelings.- Mo Willem's Pigeon books are great at expressing emotion. We ask how the pigeon feels and why does he feel that way? Feelings are okay to have,what do we do when we have them?

Natural and physical world: Children gather knowledge about the natural and physical world.- We are learning about the night, nocturnal animals, constellations, lots of different night time words.

Sense of competence: Children feel they are competent. - Getting coats, hats, gloves, outside shoes on are great things to be able to do ourselves. We use some different tricks, but promote independence. 

Jesus Time- This week we are hearing the story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho. The Israelites had entered into the Promised Land and God told them to take over. They were not an army and the cities in the Promised Land were well fortified. They came to the city Jericho which was surrounded by a wall so thick that people lived in it. After spies came back and told them how strong a city it was, God gave them marching orders. The people were to march around the city once a day for seven days, then on the seventh day they were to march around it seven times, then shout and blow the trumpets. When they did this, the walls of the city came crashing down. God gave them the victory and He gives us the victory too! Not over cities or people on earth, but over sin, death and the devil through the life and death of his Son, Jesus Christ!

A reminder that Wednesday is Pajama Day!!

Also, we have worked it out with the big school that they wait for us and we are able to join them for chapel each week. Each of your children has a chapel buddy that walks them to chapel and helps them follow along. Chapel lasts about 20 minutes, from 8:30-8:50. Once a quarter, we will also have a project we will do with our chapel buddies. This last week we made poppy magnets to give to Veterans to thank them for their service.

Next week is Thanksgiving! We have school on Monday and Wednesday, but not Friday!

Have a fantastic week!

Mrs. Schneck

Blog for November 6,8,10

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo! How about you, you, you? You can come too, too, too, we're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

This week is zoo week and the letter Zz.

Our table activities are printing with animal shaped cookie cutters, building cages for zoo animals out of blocks, an ISpy animal page, making animals with animal print paper and playing with animals in their different habitats.

Our small group activities this week have us doing alot of finger work. Monday we used scissors to cut out a picture of an animal and cut strips from gray paper to glue on as bars to their cage. On Friday we will choose a zebra, tiger or lion and rip paper to glue on as stripes or a mane.

Books of the week- "1,2,3 to the Zoo" by Eric Carle, "Goodnight, Gorilla" by Peggy Rathman, and "Put Me in the Zoo" by Robert Lopshire.

Hopefully you can join us on Wednesday at the zoo at 10am. We will meet near the ramp next to the water tower parking lot, just as you come in to the main gates- not the members parking lot. I will have a sign. We will all go in together, members at the rear so they can scan your cards separately, once we are in the gates, I will be giving your child an animal check off list and we can go our separate ways.

The KDIs we are concentrating on this week are-

Vocabulary: Children understand and use a variety of words and phrases- We are introducing different words, like habitat into our vocabulary. Last week we used arachnid. Keep using words and phrases that your children don't often hear, it's how they get to know them.

Natural and physical world: Children gather knowledge about the natural and physical world.- We are learning a lot about our world at the zoo!

Counting: Children count things.- We are counting animals this week!


Jesus Time- This week we have one last story with Moses before we skip ahead. The Israelites are safely out of Egypt. God provides water from a rock and food in the form of manna and quail as they are traveling through the desert. Because God wants them to be a people set apart, he meets with Moses on Mt. Sinai and gives him many rules for His people to live by. One section of that still helps us today and that is the Ten Commandments.

We talked about how we are not able to keep the Ten Commandments perfectly, but Jesus did and he shares that obedience with us. We also talked about how the commandments show us how we can show love to God and to others. We talked about the two tables of the law- You should have no other Gods, Use God's name to pray, praise and give thanks, and worship God! Those are all showing us how to better show love to God. Honor and obey your parents and others in authority, do not murder or hurt anyone, do not steal, honor marriage, do not tell lies about people, do not want something someone else has so badly that you plan a way to get it or complain constantly how it's not fair they have it and you don't.

We can't do any of these things all the time, we sin all the time. But thank God that He sent Jesus who did and suffered our punishment in our place!

I would like to share a great graphic that I saw about the importance of reading at home- We do read at school, but what a way to help your little ones get a great start! And books are FREE!! All you need is a library card!

Have a terrific week!

Mrs. Schneck

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