He has Risen!

He is not here, for He has risen.

Another short week, I hope each of you enjoyed extra time with your family and friends to celebrate Jesus death on the cross and His resurrection on Easter Sunday. This week our students will be able to focus on that good news: heaven is ours, because of Him. What a blessing to know that He has a spot waiting for us in heaven some day. God is good.

Bible Time (One in Christ)
Read the Easter story in Matthew 28:1-10 and Luke 24:1-12. At Easter, we celebrate new life! Christ's victory defines our lives as we have new life in Him, now and eternally. It is such a blessing to hear the good news this Easter season. I encourage you to pull out your story bibles you received at the beginning of the school year and read this story with your child. You can also use our handouts from the One in Christ curriculum to help you tell the story.

Here are our discovery points this week:
Law: Without a Savior, we would remain in our sins.

Gospel: Because Jesus rose and is alive, we will have life in heaven.

Sanctification: Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we marvel at what Christ has done for us, and we joyfully tell others the Good News that Jesus overcame sin and death.

Song & Passage:
Each week our students focus on a specific bible passage that relates to our story. This week we will look at Matthew 28:16, "He is not here, for He has risen" What an amazing reminder of God's love for us. Because of His sacrifice, we are able to have the reassurance of eternal life with Him. Our song this week will be "He Rose, He Rose" once again. However, our students will also learn the second verse:

He rose, He rose, He rose from the dead
He rose, He rose, He rose from the dead
He rose, He rose, He rose from the dead, Allelluia, Allelluia!

An angel came from heaven and rolled the stone away
An angel came from heaven and rolled the stone away
An angel came from heaven and rolled the stone away, Alelluia, Alleluia!

Small Group (HighScope) 
Our KDI (Key Developmental Indicator) for the week will be art. I want the students to have time to explore the different elements presented to them and create their own piece of art. I love seeing what they create when they are given the free time to explore.

Monday: No School, Happy Easter!
Tuesday: Painting with yarn. Students will use blue and black paint on a yellow piece of paper to create their piece of art! Many students decided that their piece of art was a maze or road, I love their creativity!
Wednesday: Using watercolors. Students will have control over what kind of creation they would like to make. I will give them some ideas (such as a sunset or favorite animal) but I am hoping that they come up with their own idea!
Thursday: Creating the Easter Tomb using precut items, watercolors and glue!
Friday: *weather permitting* we will take cookie sheets, rubberbands, paint and paper outside to create a masterpiece! It will create a wonderful mess. I look forward to the children deciding what their picture resembles. 

Movement (Spark)
This week, our students will be moving past tossing underhand with beanbags and balls and move into reviewing a variety of movements they have focused on throughout the year. We will review galloping, skipping, hopping, and side sliding! We will also let the students choose their favorite movement songs this week to help them review their skills. The spark curriculum has wonderful instruction songs for the students to focus on their movements.

Music (Sing and Make Music)
We will continue using our sing along books. Our students will also review the same song that they are learning in bible time, "He Rose, He Rose." We will start working on our play practice during "music time" to help our students start to familiarize themselves with each of the stories. So far we have started coming up with our actions while reading the stories... they are doing a great job! 

Sensory Table
We will have water, soap, dishes and scrubbing brushes for our students this week. They will be able freely play in the tub throughout the week. We typically have the sensory table open on Wednesday and Friday. We might have shaving cream, animals and dinosaurs on the table for Friday afternoon. The kids LOVE playing in shaving cream and it even helps us clean a bit!

Spring Concert
We will begin practicing this week for our spring concert. I would like all props to be at school by Friday, April 26th so that we can begin practicing with them next week. We will hopefully have a full dress rehearsal (costumes and props) the second week of May.

Last week, we were able to make our own ice cream :)
It was delicious and a ton of fun! Enjoy some photos...