Faith Lutheran Preschool eNews: Newsletter 5/14/14

Important Dates to Remember:
May 17th - Reading Rendezvous at the Loussac Library; 12-4 p.m
May 22nd - Last day of Preschool; 11 a.m dismissal with picnic immediately following and going until 12 p.m (Please note the time change for dismissal)

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"The Pigeon Wants a Puppy" by Mo Willems
"Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons" by Eric Litwin
"Bear Feels Sick" by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman

Afternoon Books
"Bears in the Night" by Stan and Jan Berenstain

PLANNING & RECALL
This week we bring back an old, familiar jingle for planning time which focuses on rhyming words. "Jingle, jangle 'Jax', it's your turn to plan if your name is 'Max'". This planning and recall game works on identifying rhyming sounds, while children enjoy anticipating which child will be chosen next.

BIBLE LESSON
Before ascending into heaven, Jesus promised to be with his believers always, to the very end of the age. Jesus also promised to send the gift of the Holy Spirit to his disciples, to give them power to tell others about him. Jesus fulfilled his promise by sending the Holy Spirit to his disciples 10 days after his ascension. As they were gathered in a room in Jerusalem, the sound of a loud wind, and flames of fire appeared over their heads. All the disciples were given the ability to speak in other languages, and many crowds of people who had come to Jerusalem were able to hear and understand the good news the disciples shared about who Jesus is. Many people came to faith in Jesus as their Savior that day.

Without the Holy Spirit working in our hearts, we would be powerless to come to faith on our own. We thank God for sending the Holy Spirit - through baptism and God's Word, to create faith in our hearts so that we too can confess that "Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:11)
Bible verse: Matthew 28:20b "Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Bible song: "Surely I Am With You"

MUSIC
We learn two new songs this week during Music Time. The first one is called "Ritsch, Ratsch", which uses silly words to capture children's attention. We add pounding movements to the song as we practice keeping a steady beat and working on body awareness. The second song, "Pat Your Chin and Not Your Hair" focuses on similar curriculum concepts, as we feel and express steady beat and act upon simple movement directions.

MOVEMENT
This week we warm up to a song called "Letter Movements", which focuses on the letters H, L, S, F, G, and B as we walk high and low, move slowly and move fast, gallop and balance. We then practice some yoga poses, working on balance, body control and stretching. Some of the poses we practice include the butterfly, dog, tree, bridge, cat, and mule kick. We end movement time with the song called "Farmer's Garden" where we reach to pick bananas, squeeze oranges, thump our fingers on a melon, stretch to weigh the lettuce, peel and shuck corn, bend town to pick tomatoes and reach back to grab the berries.

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during Small Group Time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicator (KDI) Experimenting. Young children experiment for two basic reasons. They investigate materials and processes out of curiosity, and they also experiment to solve problems they encounter in play. They try one or more ideas as they look for a solution that works. In both cases, children are actively engaged in handling materials, observing the outcomes of their actions, and forming ideas about the world. We explore and experiment by blowing bubbles with a straw in a pan filled with water and dish soap, we mix paint in "squish bags", we use eye droppers to drop water on different types of paper - paper towel, wax paper, regular paper and tin foil to see what happens, we create baking soda volcanoes using vinegar, and we create unconventional birthday cakes using shaving cream, water, flour, and food coloring.