Trees

"I think that I shall never see, a poem as lovely as a tree" Joyce Kilmer

This week we are looking at trees and the letter Tt. 

Table activities are using playdough with tree parts, building and exploring with parts of the tree like bark, pinecones, cut rounds of branches, a Tt letter hunt, tree geoboards and leaf rubbings.

Our small group activities include making a leaf person, painting a tree and adding the Tt is for tree page to our journal.

Our KDIs of the week are-

Use of resources: Children gather information and formulate ideas about their world. - we use what we have to build and stack and investigate it. Using leaves to make a person- how to make it look like legs, arms or a body.

Natural and physical world: Children gather knowledge about the natural and physical world.  - Seeing the different parts of a tree, talking about how trees grow, what they are good for.

Jesus Time- This week our story is about Abraham's grandchildren- Jacob and Esau. Jacob and Esau were twins born to Isaac's wife Rebekah. Even in the womb, she felt these babies wrestling with each other and Jacob was born holding on to Esau's heel. As they grew older, their rivalry continued. Esau was an outdoorsman, hunting and bringing back game for the family to eat. Spending nights away from home on his excursions. Jacob was a shepherd who stayed close to home, keeping his family's sheep. God had promised that Jacob would receive the blessing of the elder son even though Esau was the oldest. When Isaac was very old and close to blind, he instructed Esau to go and kill a game animal and make him the spicy stew that he loved and he would give him the blessing. Rebekah and Jacob overheard and decided to trick Isaac. She told Jacob to kill one of his sheep, dress in Esau's clothes and put sheepskin on his arms so they would feel hairy like Esau's. She made the spicy stew and Jacob served it to his father, pretending to be Esau. He received the blessing.

When Esau returned and brought the stew to his father, he found out that Jacob had stolen his blessing and was furious!! 

Rebekah told Jacob to run away to her brother's house and he did. That night in the middle of nowhere as Jacob laid down with a stone for a pillow, he had a wonderful dream. In the dream there were angels going up and down a staircase and God was at the very top. Even though Jacob had sinned, God still loved him and was with him! 

When Jacob woke up, he anointed the stone and every time he passed that place, he remembered how God was with him. 

He is with us everywhere, too! God loves us no matter what! 

Books of the week- "A Tree is Nice" by Janice May Udry, "Leaf Man" by Lois Ehlert and "As An Oak Tree Grows" by G. Brian Karas.

Our next field trip is coming up quickly! It is Tuesday, October 9th  at Camp Killarney in the Irish Hills. The address is 1200 Chisholm Rd, Onsted, MI 49265. 

We plan to meet there at 10:00 to have some fun in tents and trees!! We will be done with the formal program at 11:30, but you are welcome to stay and adventure on your own!

Have a great week!

Mrs. Schneck

Apples. apples, apples!

This week we are concentrating on the letter Aa and apples!

Table activities include apple printing, apple orchard sensory bins, sorting apples and apple pie playdough.

Small group activities are comparing and contrasting apples- we tried 8 different kinds

Our KDIs of the week are-

 Natural and physical world: Children gather knowledge about the natural and physical world-Looking at how apples grow on trees and how apples make more trees- the cycle that God put in place to keep making apple trees!

Pretend play: Children express and represent what they observe, think, imagine, and feel through pretend play.- Our apple orchards turned into things we never imagined! A lot of role playing this week- superheros in dollhouses, beans turn into tea, great use of our imaginations!

Jesus Time- Our story this week shows how God keeps his promises, even though sometimes it seems impossible. We are learning about God choosing Abraham to be the beginning of the line that Jesus would be born of someday and the beginning of our family of faith. God instructed Abraham to move to a place that he would show him. He and his nephew Lot followed God to the land of Canaan where they set up their tent homes. They kept sheep and goats and cattle and camels and waited for what God had in store next. God told Abraham to go out and look at the sky and count the stars. God promised Abraham that he would have that many children. Abraham was 90 years old and didn't even have one child yet, but he believed in God's promise. Years later, three men came and visited Abraham, he served them a meal Sarah, his wife, had cooked. They told him that next year at this same time, he would have a child.  Abraham was 100. Sarah who was 90 at this time, laughed, overhearing them in the tent. She would have a baby??!! But she did, and God kept his promise. Generation after generation of Abraham's children and grandchildren followed God. Not always perfectly and not always all of them, but enough, that when the time came for his promise of a Savior to be born, he was born of Abraham's family. And we who believe in Jesus as our Savior are also children of Abraham- more that the stars in the sky!!

Books of the week- "The Biggest Apple Ever" by Steve Kroll, "The Apple Pie Tree" by Zoe Hall, and "Under the Apple Tree" by Steve Metzger.

We will see you Wednesday at Plymouth Orchard, 10685 Warren Rd. at 9:30 am- our tour leaves at 9:45, but please be there at 9:30!- This is school for Wednesday- then we will see you at preschool on Friday!

Have a apple-tastic week!!!
Mrs. Schneck and Mrs. Oetzel

Blog for September 10-14, 2018

This week we are talking about the letter Mm and marshmallows!

Table activities this week include drawing on marshmallows, sorting marshmallows by color and size, painting with marshmallows, stacking marshmallows and playing with marshmallow playdough.

The KDIs of the week are-
Observing: Children observe the materials and processes in their environment.- This week we will be looking at marshmallows with all 5 senses. Observing what happens as you make it warm, freeze it and heat it up in the microwave. 

Classifying: Children classify materials, actions, people, and events. - This week we are classifying by size and color and even when we build a tower, we are classifying building material- what makes a good foundation.

Small group activities this week include- building with marshmallows and toothpicks, observing with our 5 senses and adding an Mm is for marshmallow page to our journals.

Jesus Time- Our story this week is the flood. We reviewed creation, how God made everything perfect. Adam and Eve chose to not follow God, their children wander farther away from God and a relationship with Him, their children farther yet, and so it went, until only one family was left that had a relationship with God. That was Noah's family. God told them to build a huge ark to carry them and at least two of every kind of animal and keep them safe while he destroyed the world in a flood. It rained for 40 days and nights, covering the world with water to the tops of the mountains. Then it stopped and for 150 more days, Noah and his family and the animals waited for the waters to dry up. When they finally did, the first thing Noah did when he left the ark was to build an altar. He thanked God for keeping he and his family safe during the flood. God placed a rainbow in the sky as a sign of the promise that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood again. 

Books of the week - "The Marshmallow Incident" by Judi and Ron Barrett, "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" by Laura Joffe Numeroff and "Groovy Joe Ice Cream and Dinosaurs" by Eric Litwin.

A reminder that this Wednesday is the Preschool Parent meeting- learn more about our K-8 school, finish up any remaining paperwork and get your sign in code for the Ipad. It is at 6:30 pm, should be over by 7. If you cannot attend, just shoot me an email and I will let you know if you have any paperwork outstanding and your code for the Ipad.

Field trip papers due this week for next Wednesday's field trip to Plymouth Orchards!!

Have a fun filled week!
Mrs. Schneck

Blog for the First Week!

So glad to have so many friends together with us this year! We were off to a great, but warm start!!

This week we are talking about the letter Ss and the sun! It sure is making itself known these last few days!

Table activities are making a paper plate suncatcher, playing in sunshine yellow bins, cutting sun's rays with scissors and making little suns out of styrofoam balls and pipe cleaners.

Key Developmental Indicators for the week are-

Fine-motor skills: Children demonstrate dexterity and handeye coordination in using their small muscles. - Whether we're picking up just one piece of tissue paper, picking out gems or pearls in a sensory bin or ripping paper in strips to glue on to our suns, we are getting our fingers and hands ready for writing and cutting.

Experimenting: Children experiment to test their ideas. - On Friday, we'll see what melts in the sun, probably should have done that today!! Hopefully, it will still be warm enough to melt something! We'll talk about the scientific method- watching things, making guesses or hypothesis and testing our guesses!

Our small group work this week was making a ripped paper sun and on Friday we'll experiment with melting.


Jesus Time- This week we learn about the creation of the world. We talked about what God created on each day and how it was all good. We are so glad God gave us this wonderful world and we can take care of it! 

Books of the week- "The Sun" by Justin McCory Martin, "First He Made the Sun" by Harriet Ziefert, "Sun Song" by Jean Marzollo.

Next Wednesday, September 12th, there will be a parent meeting for the parents of the preschoolers. At this meeting, Pastor Kieta will be explaining about a program that could make enrollment in our day school something to think about. I will also be giving parents their individual codes for when we switch to our Ipod sign in and collecting any paperwork I am missing at this point. It will be held at 6:30pm at the church! Thank you in advance for your attendance.

Today I sent home a slip about our first field trip which takes place on Wednesday, August 19th at Plymouth Orchards- all are welcome to attend!! Make sure to pick one up on Friday if you didn't get one today!

Have a fantastic week!
Mrs. Schneck and Mrs. Oetzel

Some Pictures from Day One-

Blog for May 21, 23 and 25

What word starts with "A" and contains all the letters? Some of our preschoolers got this riddle correct this morning, the alphabet!! And that is what we are talking about this week!

Table activities are matching foam letter stickers, playing with magnetic letters, washing letters in soapy water, finding letters in a sensory bin, ABC coloring sheets and making letter shapes with our wax sticks.

Small group activities are listening for initial consonants, today each child was given a letter and had to find an item in the pile that started with that letter, Wednesday we will do the same in reverse- given an item and find the letter it begins with, Friday will be tracing upper and lower case letters for our journal.

KDIs for the week are-

Phonological awareness: Children identify distinct sounds in spoken language.- We are listening for letter sounds.

Alphabetic knowledge: Children identify letter names and their sounds.- Lots of this going on this week.

Reading: Children read for pleasure and information.- Stories go along with our ABC books- just having fun with words and sounds.

Jesus Time- In this week's Jesus time, we review the stories we have heard throughout the year and talk about how Jesus is our good shepherd.  We are the sheep, sometimes not very smart, moving along as a group, sometimes we leave those in trouble behind, we go places or do things that can get us into trouble, just like sheep. I talked about seeing a herd of sheep being chased by wild dogs, the sheep didn't fight, just left the weaker ones behind and ran away. Jesus comes are chases off the dogs and helps those in trouble. He leads us in the right way to go, places that are safe that will keep us close to Him. He goes to great lengths to save us, even giving up His own life! What a shepherd we have who will never leave us or forsake us!

Books of the week- "Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom" by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, "Alphabet Adventure" by Audrey and Bruce Wood, "Eating the Alphabet" by Lois Ehlert and "A was once an apple pie" by Edward Lear.

This Friday is Literacy Night! Come read in a hammock or in a tent. Pick out some different books, get information on Summer Reading programs at your local libraries and have a snack! From 6:30-8:00 pm.

Next Wednesday, May 30th, is Preschool Graduation. It will start promptly at 6:30 and be over, cake and all, by 7:30. If children could be here by 6:15, that would be great. It will take place in the church, so come to the entrance by the flagpole at the big school!

Hard to believe our preschool time is so quickly coming to an end!! I have loved having this year with you!!

Mrs. Schneck

Blog for May 14, 16 and 18

Welcome to the world of dinos!! This week we are looking at dinosaurs and what they left behind.

Table activities include playing with dinosaurs, an invitation to create a dinosaur scene, making dinosaurs out of paper, making dinosaur fossils and dinosaur pattern blocks.

Small group activities are trying to remove a dinosaur fossils out of plaster, playing with dinosaurs and vinegar lava and creating our own dinosaur.

KDIs of the week are-
Natural and physical world: Children gather knowledge about the natural and physical world. What did dinosaurs eat? Where did they live?

History: Children understand past, present, and future. - Dinosaurs lived a long time ago. What did they leave behind?

Ecology: Children understand the importance of taking care of their environment. - Dinosaurs are extinct. How can we take care of animals today so they won't go extinct?

Jesus Time- This week we are hearing  about Philip and his sharing of the Gospel with a man from Ethiopia. Philip was also one of the helpers that the disciples chose to help them. He was sent to go to the desert road by the Holy Spirit. As he was waiting there, a man rode by in a chariot and he was reading a book of the Bible on a scroll. Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading. The man asked, "How can I understand if no one explains it to me?" So Philip sat and explained it to him, he then asked to be baptized as they passed by a pool. Philip baptized him and then the Holy Spirit wisked him away to tell someone else about Jesus. May God help us to take the opportunities he gives us to tell others about him.

This week I am in Alaska for my son's graduation. Next week I will be back and next Friday is our literacy night!! Check out some fun places to read for the summer!!

Have a wonderful week!
Mrs. Schneck

Blog for May 7, 9 and 11

We are talking about camping and the two sounds of Cc this week, the hard /k/ sound and the soft /s/ sound.

Table activities are dramatic play with camping gear, camp coloring pages, painting with nature's paint brush and building with natural things.

Small group activities are personalizing a backpack to take hiking or camping with us and adding Cc is for camping to our journals.

Wednesday is our field trip! If you are coming, meet at Camp Killarney 1200 Chisolm Rd, Onsted MI at 9:45. We will have a fun day outdoors!

Friday we have school, but K-8 does not, so there is no aftercare for that day.

Next week, I will be attending my youngest's high school graduation in Alaska, so Mrs. Dostal and Mrs. Oetzel will be teaching. We will be talking about dinosaurs!

KDIs for the week are-

 Natural and physical world: Children gather knowledge about the natural and physical world.- We will be outdoors and experiencing it!

Geography: Children recognize and interpret features and locations in their environment- Hills, lakes, meadows, beaches, all at camp.

Ecology: Children understand the importance of taking care of their environment. - Take only pictures, leave only footprints!

Jesus Time- This week we hear the difficult story of Stephen. Stephen was a helper in the early church, there were so many new Christians, the disciples appointed some men to help them take care of those who needed help and Stephen was one of those men. He was full of the Holy Spirit and boldly told about his Savior. Some of the church's enemies threatened him if he did not stop sharing the news about Jesus. They had him arrested and he boldly went point by point through the Old Testament showing them where they were wrong and that Jesus was the Messiah. They did not like what they were hearing and they got so angry that they took Stephen out to be stoned. As they were throwing rocks at him to kill him, God gave him a glimpse of Jesus sitting at God the Father's right hand. The enemies of the church certainly didn't want to hear about that! Stephen also echoed Jesus words when he asked for his enemies to be forgiven. He was bold and courageous in his faith and stayed faithful to Jesus even in death. 

Books of the week- "Fred and Ted go Camping" by Peter Eastman, "Curious George Goes Fishing" by Margret and H. A. Rey, and "The Berenstain Bears Go To Camp" by Stan and Jan Berenstain.

Have an awesome week! Thanks for all the appreciation! I appreciate you also! I have a wonderful group of parents!!

Mrs. Schneck