Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Newsletter 12/17/14

Important Dates to Remember:
December 19th - End of 2nd quarter; noon dismissal; Children's Christmas Service at U.A.A. at 6:30PM
December 20th-January 4th - Christmas Break; No Preschool
January 5th - Classes resume

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Who is Coming to Our House" by Joseph Slate and Ashley Wolff
"Grumpy Badger's Christmas" by Paul Bright and Jane Chapman
"Hedgie's Surprise" by Jan Brett

Afternoon Books
"The First Christmas Night" by Keith Christopher

PLANNING & RECALL
The week we really heard some giggles and silly voices as we used a "microphone" to tell each other our work time plans. The children enjoyed "broadcasting" their plans to the group, many of them in a special stage voice. 

BIBLE LESSON
The time was arriving for Mary to give birth to God's Son, Jesus. Caesar Augustus, the ruler of the land at the time, issued a decree that a census should be taken to see how many people were living in his land. Everyone had to return to their home towns to register. Mary and Joseph, who had been living in Nazareth, had to travel to a town called Bethlehem, their home town. After arriving in Bethlehem, they discovered that all of the inns were full. Instead, they found room in a nearby stable with the animals. When the time came for Mary to give birth, she had a son, whom she named Jesus. She wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger. Shortly after Jesus' birth, angels shared the joyous news with shepherds out in the fields tending their flocks. The shepherds found Jesus in the stable just as the angels had told them, and they rejoiced in his birth! The shepherds, Mary, Joseph, and we too rejoice in Jesus' birth. Jesus, the promised Savior who came to live a perfect life for us, die on the cross for our sins, and rise from the dead to defeat death so that we may live with Him forever in heaven!

Bible verse: (From the Apostle's Creed this week):Jesus was born of the virgin Mary.
Bible song: "Away in a Manger"

MUSIC 
In Music this week we've continued with our work in memorizing our recitations and song for the upcoming Christmas Service. We've also enjoyed singing along to the song "12 Days of Christmas".

MOVEMENT
In Movement Time this week, we warm up with a song called "Dance Freeze". We've revisited the parachute this week. We add another dimension to the parachute by adding some "popcorn" (small balls) to the parachute as we move it in the air. Our goal is to try and keep all the popcorn in the pan. Fittingly, we close with the song "Popcorn Calling Me".

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during small group time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): measuring. For preschoolers, measurement is about realizing that things have measurable properties and making comparisons on these dimensions (height, volume, age, time, older and younger, lightest and heaviest, short, medium and tall).
Some of the experiences this week that focus on measuring include writing the letter of our name on individual circles, and then seeing whose name is the longest. We also scooped and measured rice into a variety of containers, measuring the amount of scoops it took to fill up. We also used toilet paper to first predict how many squares long we thought an object would be, and then we measured it to find out if our predictions were accurate.

It was "give Miss Wendland a hairstyle" day.

Superheroes with their jetpacks 



Building a tall, tall tower.

I love building with the blocks and making all
kinds of cool tracks for my cars!

The shark that I drew! I had so much
to tell everyone about this shark!

Drawing faces

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Newsletter 12/9/14

Important Dates to Remember:
December 12th - Scholastic Book orders due
December 19th - End of 2nd quarter; noon dismissal; Children's Christmas Service at U.A.A. at 6:30PM
December 20th-January 4th - Christmas Break; No Preschool

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Snowmen All Year" by Caralyn Buehner
"Sleep, Big Bear, Sleep!" by Maureen Wright
"This Is The Stable" by Cynthia Cotten 

Afternoon Books
"Franklin's Bad Day" by Paulette Bourgeois

PLANNING & RECALL
To fit the season, we use foam snow flakes for planning and recall time this week. Children pin clothespins with their name on it to a point on the snowflake and then share their plans. This also helps us work on some fine motor skills as some of those clothespins can be pretty tricky to pinch open!

BIBLE LESSON
This week we jump ahead in our Bible lessons to prepare for the Christmas season. Our lesson this week is “God’s Special Message for Mary.” When it was time for God’s son Jesus to be born, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary telling her that she had been chosen for the special task of being Jesus’ mother. Mary was surprised at the news the angel brought and was confused because she was a virgin and not yet married. Gabriel assured her that all things are possible with God, and that the child conceived in her would be from the Holy Spirit. She would give birth to a baby boy and his name would be Jesus. He would be the Savior of the world and the fulfillment of the promise made long ago to people like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Mary believed God’s words from Gabriel and said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” After the angel’s visit, Mary became the wife of a man named Joseph. God had also appeared to Joseph in a dream, letting him know that the baby conceived in Mary was the promised Savior. Together, Mary and Joseph waited for the Savior to be born. 

Bible verse: John 3:16 "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son."
Bible song: "Away in a Manger"

MUSIC 
In Music this week we've continued with our work in memorizing our recitations and song for the upcoming Christmas Service. On Monday, we spent most of Music Time creating jingle bells with pipe cleaners and bells that we thread on them. The children have enjoyed learning the song "Jingle Bells" as they shake their bells. 

MOVEMENT
It's been an unusual week for the fact that we haven't had most of our regularly scheduled movement times. Our Small Group art activities have taken a little longer than usual since they are a bit more labor-intensive. We've split up the children into two groups, with Miss Zarnstorff leading the Small Group activity while Miss Wendland teaches the other group the Bible lesson for the day. The children have enjoyed dancing to our morning movement songs during Story Time which include "Stand in Place and Move", "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" and "Reach Up High". 

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during small group time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): Art. As you can imagine, there are countless art activities and ideas that can be done throughout the year. Often we give children opportunities to create open-ended art. They paint their own pictures, write "messages", or draw and color on blank paper. Playing with play dough and even building with blocks can encourage the 3D aspect of art. This week we're making the art a little more focused as we have specific end results in mind. On Monday we create popsicle stick ornaments, decorating them with glitter glue. On Tuesday we trace the outline of our hands, paint paper plates, and glue pom poms and eyes to create a reindeer. On Wednesday we make a melted snowman - stay tuned for pictures. On Thursday we create some finger print collages using finger paints, and on Friday we make a Christmas tree using dried noodles. 
Working on a puzzle in Before Care.

Miss Z. traces around my hand.

Floor puzzle silliness!

V. the thinker!

I drew a picture of my mom.

Water table fun in the bright blue water.

My family!

Playing with our new birthday cake toy.

The class during Work Time.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Newsletter 12/3/14

Important Dates to Remember:
December 6th - Christmas for Kids; 9:00AM-12:00PM
December 19th - End of 2nd quarter; noon dismissal; Children's Christmas Service at U.A.A. at 6:30PM
December 20th-January 4th - Christmas Break; No Preschool

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Llama, Llama Time to Share" by Anna Dewdney
"The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats
"The Tree House that Jack Built" by Bonnie Verbury and Mark Teague 

Afternoon Books
"The Greedy Python" by Richard Buckley

PLANNING & RECALL
Instead of using any materials or props for planning and recall time this week, a little phrase was spoken that goes like this, "Jingle, jangle, jax...it's your turn to plan if your name is 'Max'". Using a rhyming chant increases children's ability to identify the concept of rhyme - especially when it's tied to something as personal as their names.

BIBLE LESSON
In our Bible lesson this week, we jump ahead a number of years. Moses is no longer leading the Israelites. Instead, a man named Joshua is in charge. In order to make the land of Canaan their own, the Israelites had to capture and defeat cities in Canaan. One of these cities was named Jericho. The inhabitants of Jericho anticipated the Israelites' attack, so they closed the city gate and prepared. God told Joshua the special plan for defeating the city of Jericho. The Israelites would march around the city once a day for six days. The priests leading the march blew on their trumpets but nobody else spoke a word. They did this for six days and on the seventh day they walked around the city seven times. On the seventh time around the city the priests blew the trumpets longer and Joshua gave the command to shout! The Isrealites all let out a great shout with the blast of the trumpets, and the wall around Jericho came tumbling down. God gave his people Jericho in a special way. All the gold, silver, and precious metal from the city was then dedicated to God.

The Israelites had sinned against God many times throughout their time in the desert and did not deserve his love and help, but God kept his promises to them by giving them many blessings, including the city of Jericho. We also sin against God and do not deserve the blessings he gives to us. Yet we thank him for all the love he does show us, including Jesus - who died on the cross to pay for our sins.

Bible verse: Psalm 119:47 "I delight in your commands."

MUSIC 
In Music this week we begin to learn a song that we'll be singing for our Christmas Service on December 19th. We're learning "Away in a Manger" with some simple actions. We also begin spending more time learning our Christmas recitation from the book "Mary's Happy Christmas Day". Since we'll be doing both of these items by ourselves, without the "big kids'" help, we want to spend as much time as we can learning them!

MOVEMENT
In Movement Time we warm up to the song "Work Your Body" which asks us to stretch, bend, squat, climb, bend at the waist, kick our legs, and turn around. We have all really enjoyed using our new material this week: a parachute. In the introduction lesson we explore the parachute by sitting down and hiding our legs under it. We create slow and fast waves, practice rowing the parachute "boat" and rolling up the chute into a ball. To close our lesson we cool down with a song called "Tippy Toes".

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during small group time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): Alphabetic Knowledge. Alphabetic knowledge means understanding the alphabetic principle, which is the systematic relationship between letters and sounds. Children acquire this knowledge by building letter recognition and building an awareness of letter-sound connections. Young children learn letter names and sounds in the context of their playing, reading, and writing. They do not benefit from memorizing isolated letters or studying the "letter of the day". Some of the things we do at Small Group Time to increase specific letter recognition include going on a letter hunt around the classroom, tossing bean bags on to large letters on the floor, using geoboards to connect upper and lower case letters, forming letter shapes using play dough, and using white boards to write different letters.

Thanks for the turkey treats, Miss Zarnstorff!

This turkey is delicious!




Practicing with the eye dropper tool. 
Squeezing colored vinegar into a tin of baking soda. 
Watch what happens to the baking soda!

It bubbles!



 
 
The tower I built.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Don't forget to sign up for Christmas for Kids

Christmas for Kids is one week away! Don't forget to sign up your child at www.faithalaska.com


Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Newsletter 11/26/14

Important Dates to Remember:
November 27th & 28th - Thanksgiving Break; No Preschool
December 6th - Christmas for Kids; 9:00AM-12:00PM
December 19th - End of 2nd quarter; noon dismissal; Children's Christmas Service at U.A.A. at 6:30PM

Special Notes:
Thank you so much for your generous and thoughtful food donations this past week! All that food will be a great blessing to many!
Thank you for joining us this past Sunday for church here at Faith for our Thanksgiving service. It was a joy to see your children praise God in song with us!
Christmas for Kids is a free event coming up on December 6th. (Check out the poster on the bulletin board outside our classroom door for more information.) If you're interested in signing your child(ren) up for that, space is limited, so sign up as soon as possible at www.faithalaska.com/preschool 

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Should I Share my Ice Cream?" by Mo Willems
"The Very Busy Spider" by Eric Carle
"Where is the Green Sheep?" by Mem Fox 

Afternoon Books
"Dirt on my Shirt" by Jeff Foxworthy

PLANNING & RECALL
This week at planning time, children used tongs to pick up a pom pom and place it into the hole of an egg carton. After placing their pom pom into a hole, it was that child's turn to plan or recall the events of work time. 

BIBLE LESSON
God took care of his people, the Israelites, in the desert and led them to camp at the base of a mountain called Mount Sinai. Moses went up the mountain and God spoke to him there, telling him to remind the Israelites how He had led them out of Egypt, taken care of them in the desert, and now urged them to listen and obey him. There at the top of Mount Sinai, God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. Moses shared them with the Israelites, giving them them the opportunity to show love for God by keeping and obeying these Commandments. We also have the opportunity to show our love for God by obeying him. And for all the times we know we fail to keep the Commandments, we thank Him for sending Jesus to die on the cross to pay for those sins.

Bible verse: Psalm 119:47 "I delight in your commands."

MUSIC 
In Music this week we begin to explore the concept of pitch. The children have previously explored how two sounds can be either the same or different and this week the specific concept of high and low pitches is explored. With the song "Simon Sings", we use hand motions and body movements while singing high and low sounds, and we also use instruments to produce high and low sounds.

MOVEMENT
This week we warmed up with the song called "Following Directions with Exercise". This song was one of the songs we used in between morning stories last week, and the children enjoyed it a lot. We spend our last three days with balloons this week. We reviewed all of the skills we have learned so far - keeping the balloons up in the air, using our paddles, and dancing based on the color of our balloon. When we return from Thanksgiving break, we'll have a new material to work with during movement time.

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during small group time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicator (KDI):Tools and Technology. Working on this KDI allows children to become familiar with and learn to use tools and technology found in their everyday environment. They learn the functions of a variety of equipment and learn to use it with safety and care. Tools and technology can also support their imaginative play. Some of the tools we explore this week include scissors, hole punches, and eye droppers.  


Pinning mittens on a clothesline last week.

Working on those fine motor pinching skills.

Practicing before I pin it to the string.

Fine motor threading beads on our turkey (playdough and spaghetti noodles)

My turkey's tail feathers.

Concentrating to get that bead on the noodle.



Focusing as I try to put this pipe cleaner through
the hole in the colander.

I put a lot of pipe cleaners in mine!

It looks pretty artsy; like a modern looking sculpture.



Dishing up some spaghetti in the sensory
table this week.

Working on cutting this week for our Tools and Technology KDI.



Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Newsletter 11/19/14

Important Dates to Remember:
November 20th - Picture day
November 23rd - Preschool students sing in church at Faith at 11:00AM
November 27th & 28th - Thanksgiving Break; No Preschool

Special Notes:
Another friendly reminder to work on those comfort kits and get them in to us as soon as possible! 
Any food donations for the family in need in our Hispanic congregation may be brought in on Thursday, November 20th. Check your email for suggested donation items.
Non-perishable food donations for our Thanksgiving chapel service can be brought in on Wednesday, November 26th. Again, check your email for details. 

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Who Goes There?" by Karma Wilson
"Ugly Fish" by Kara LaReau
"Mary's Happy Christmas Day" by Kathleen Long Bostrom (we will be learning this story to recite at our Christmas service coming up on December 19th)

Afternoon Books
"Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site" by Sheri Duskey and Tom Lichtenheld

PLANNING & RECALL
This week at planning time, we turned the lights off and used a flashlight to shine on the area in which we wanted to work at Work Time. Part of supporting children at planning and recall time includes providing props or games which help maintain children's interests. Adults converse with children about work-time experiences - inviting children to talk about what they have done, commenting on their play, and asking open-ended questions.

BIBLE LESSON
The Israelites had been delivered from the hand of the Egyptians and were now on their way to the land that God promised to give them. However, after journeying for a while, the Israelites began to complain to Moses and Aaron. They were tired of walking and they were hungry. They said, "In Egypt, at least we had food. But you have brought us into this desert to die." The Lord knew his people were complaining and he showed his love for them by sending bread from heaven called manna, and small birds called quail in the evening. The Israelites were to gather as much as they needed for one day. Each day God provided for their needs, and the Israelites had plenty of food to eat. God also provides us our "daily bread" when he supplies things like food and drink, clothes, shelter and many other blessings in our earthly lives. 

Bible verse: Psalm 50:15 "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."
Bible song: "May the Peace of God" 

MUSIC 
During music time, we typically learn new songs a capella (that means without musical accompaniment, and just using our voices). A great way to review old songs, is to put them to musical accompaniment. We've used Miss Wendland's speaker to listen to a few of our favorites including "Slippery Fish", "See Saw Margery Daw", "Skidamarink", and "The Wheels on the Bus". We also used music time this week to practice and solidify in our memories the songs we'll be singing for church this coming Sunday. 

MOVEMENT
This week we warmed up with the song "Run and Walk". We practice running and walking in place, with a smile on our face. We also have a chance during portions of the song to run or walk around the area we use upstairs in the fellowship hall. We then use the balloons again but this time with homemade plate paddles. We try to balance the balloon on our paddle as we walk around the room, move the paddle above our head, down to the ground, and turn around. We finish movement time by using our paddles with the song "Keep It Up!"

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during small group time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): Fine motor skills. Young children gain strength, flexibility, and hand-eye coordination as they manipulate objects. As children's hand strength and coordination improve, they grow increasingly adept at manipulating many age-appropriate materials such as scissors, pencils, markers, puzzles and other toys and gadgets.The more proficient and confident in their fine-motor abilities preschoolers become, the more eager they are to try new materials and use them in alternative ways. On Monday, teachers built on the children's recent interest in marbles by asking them to balance them on the heads of golf tees. On Tuesday, children manipulated small toothpicks and marshmallows to create sculptures. On Wednesday, children practiced using clothespins to pin paper mittens onto a clothesline. On Thursday, children created turkeys using playdough, inserting dry spaghetti noodles for the tail feathers and then placing beads on the noodles. On Friday, children thread pipe cleaners through the holes of strainers and colanders. 
Scooping ice cream onto a pie when we
worked with part-whole relationships
last week.

I finished my pie!

Counting out my scoops.

Happily scooping my cotton balls.

Pastor Ewings taught our Bible lesson
on the ten plagues in Egypt on Thursday.

It takes a lot of focus and concentration.

Pushing golf tees into floral foam, and trying
to balance marbles on them.

Only just getting started!

Tees first, then marbles.

The boys working hard.

Scooping, sorting, (and dumping), counting bears.

Water table bubble fun.

This boat is completely covered in bubbles!

Dr. A checking out his patients.

Look at all of these I put on the toothpick!

Working on pushing mini marshmallows
onto toothpicks.

I'm trying to create a sculpture.

I made a square with mine!

Look at my marvelous marshmallow creation!