Faith Lutheran Preschool eNews: Newsletter 3/25/15

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
March 27th - Vision Screening; 1:30PM-3:30PM
March 28th - Eggstravaganza egg decorating at Faith; 4-6PM
April 3rd - No Preschool; Good Friday
April 6th - No Preschool; Easter Monday

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Spoon" by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
"The Pout-Pout Fish" by Deborah Diesen
"The Nowhere Box" by Sam Zuppardi

Afternoon Books
"Brontorina" by James Howe

PLANNING & RECALL
This week we roll a ball to each child when it is their turn to plan.

BIBLE LESSON
This week we learn about a parable of Jesus. A parable is a story that Jesus would often tell to illustrate a point that he wanted someone to learn. Often we'll say it's an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. A man had come to Jesus wanting to know what he had to do to gain eternal life. Jesus referred the man to God's Law and asked him what it said. The man replied that we are to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart" and "Love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus told him he was correct and that if we do that, we will live (eternally). The man wanted clarification on who exactly his neighbor was. Jesus then started telling the parable. A man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers, beaten, and left for dead. A priest and a Levite passed by where the man lay, but both carried on walking. Finally a Samaritan man walked past and saw the man laying there. He felt sorry for him and went to help him. He bandaged his wounds, took him on his donkey to an inn and even paid the innkeeper so the man could stay there until he was better.
Jesus then asked the man which of the three he thought was being a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers. The man correctly answered, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him to then go and do likewise.

In Bible Time, we take this lesson and focus on ways that we can be a neighbor to those around us, and even those we don't know -- how we can "serve one another in love". At the same time, we realize that so often we fail to love God with our whole heart, and we fail to love our neighbor as ourselves. We then take comfort in the fact that Jesus did that perfectly in our place. Saving ourselves by anything we "do" is an impossible task. We need a Savior, and this is Jesus.

Bible verse: Galatians 5:13b "Serve one another in love."
Bible song: "Be Kind to One Another"

MUSIC
This week during Music Time we continue to explore the musical concept of ascending and descending scales. We learn a song called "We Can Make a New Song" which has ascending and descending sections. To try and solidify the idea that notes move up and down by steps, we take advantage of the stairs near where we do music time. Each child gets a turn to walk up the stairs during the ascending scales section, and down the stairs during the descending sections. Sometimes notes repeat, or stay the same, so for that part of the song we just stand still. The children have also enjoyed a song called "On My Toe There Is A Flea", which is also sung using scales.

MOVEMENT
This week we will enhance our listening skills while playing with bean bags. We will play a game called Pass the Bean Bag. During this game we will have to control the speed of our passes. We will also get to practice using our throwing arms and aim as we try to throw our bean bags through a hula hoop.

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during Small Group Time, we’re focusing on a combination of Key Developmental Indicators (KDI). We use Tools and Technology as well as Large and Small motor skills, social interaction and problem solving skills - using these KDIs to focus on building. On Monday the children used our wooden blocks and followed a template to make different animal shapes. On Tuesday we used cardboard boxes to create "Nowhere Boxes" like George did in one of our morning stories. The children loved spending lots of time working on these boxes. On Wednesday we'll do some building using cardboard squares. The squares are cut to have slot marks in, and the children will slide the squares together to make different shapes and structures. On Thursday we'll use some small wooden blocks which have velcro on them to stick the blocks together creating unique shapes. On Friday we bring in some sensory materials when we use shaving cream as cement to stick foam blocks together. One of our goals in focusing on building is to challenge the children to think creatively, to create representations of structures or to use their imaginations rather than just using blocks and structures for the sole purpose of knocking them down.