Jesus said, "I am the light of the world"

What an exciting week! We were blessed to have a visit from the Alaska Zoo on Tuesday. They taught us all about the Sitka black-tailed deer. The students got up close and personal with this animal! They were all very excited to see the deer in person. On Wednesday we celebrated our 100th day of school! Students got to play games and activities in the morning followed by a special movie day before our half day students left. It has been a very exciting week. Tomorrow we will have a half day of school! Enjoy a slightly longer weekend with your family.

Morning Stories:

The Ugly Duckling by Mara Alperin

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

Are Pirates polite? by Corinne Demas

Max the Brave by Ed Vere

Animals Animals! by Eric Carle

Bible Time (One in Christ Curriculum):

Our story for the week is about Jesus healing the blind man. In our story, a man named Bartimaeus was a poor, blind beggar. He didn't seem important to most people. He was able to show his faith by calling out to Jesus for help. He requested that Jesus help him recover his sight. Jesus was able to heal Bartimaeus. Can you imagine being able to see for the first time? The first thing he saw was his Lord and Savior! What a blessing. There are times in life when we feel small and unimportant. Maybe you feel like your requests are not being heard! We know that one person will always find us to be important - that is our Savior, Jesus. He wants us to come to Him with all our troubles. Sometimes he will answer our prayers, other times he may say no. We need to understand that He knows best. He will provide for us no matter what, even when we do not see His helping hand. Our passage this week is John 9:5, 'Jesus said, "I am the light of the world.'" The students have been working hard to learn sign language to go with our song, 'Shine Jesus Shine'.

Shine Jesus Shine

fill this land with the Father's glory

blaze Sprit blaze

set our hearts on fire

flow river flow

flood the nations with grace and mercy

send forth Your word

Lord and let there be light

Movement Time (SPARK Curriculum):

For the week, students have been focusing on side-sliding. We have been playing several different games that involve the move of side-sliding. They are able to demonstrate this to one another. We continue to do our warm up activity songs for the students to get their bodies moving before focusing on one given concept. We have also reviewed other movements this week such as: galloping, running and walking.

Music Time (Sing and Make Music Curriculum):

Our concept this week is timbre. Students are using bells while learning a new song, "Ring and ring the jingle bells, jingle jingle jingle jingle, ring and ring the jingle bells, jingle jingle jingle." They will be using several different instruments and their voices this week as we review other songs from first semester.

Small Group Time (HighScope Curriculum):

Our KDI (Key Developmental Indicator) this week is shapes. Children identify, describe and name shapes. We have also been looking at the letter P.

Monday- Students used triangles, squares and rectangles to fill up their upper and lower case P.

Tuesday- students were able to sort out shapes by their brown bag

Wednesday- Due to the 100th day of school, students did several activities and games dealing with shapes: memory, sorting and classifying.

Thursday- using pattern blocks, students were able to create a variety of pictures.

Friday- the students will be looking at the letter P. We will be painting a picture for our families.

Afternoon Table Activities:

Students can choose between snack and one of the table activities.

Monday(Math): muffin tins with numbers and buttons, numbered popsicles and gears.

Tuesday(Fine Motor): white boards with markers, connectors, mini legos and geoboards.

Wednesday(Manipulatives): Boggle Jr, Jenga, wooden blocks.

Thursday(Art and Literacy): coloring, sort it out (books), chalk boards