Faith Lutheran Preschool eNews: Newsletter 11/5/14

Important Dates to Remember:
November 14th - Parent's Night Out; 6:00-9:00PM
November 23rd - Preschool students sing in church at Faith at 11:00AM
November 27th & 28th - Thanksgiving Break; No Preschool

Special Notes:

The cold weather is upon us. Thanks for bringing in snow gear and all the appropriate warm clothes for you child. The children are working hard at becoming independent dressers. Putting all that gear on can be a lot of work. It would be a great help for us teachers if you encouraged independent dressing at home as well. The more practice, the better. Check out this article for some valuable information:
Teaching Your Child to Get Dressed

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Duck! Rabbit!" by Amy Rosenthal
"Froodle" by Antoinette Portis
"Looking for a Moose" by Phillis Root

Afternoon Books
"Boy + Bot" by Ame Dyckman

PLANNING & RECALL
Generally, the older the child, the longer and more detailed his or her planning and review time becomes. Children are very active and purposeful during “do” time (Work Time) because they are pursuing activities that interest them. They may follow their initial plans, but often, as they become engaged, their plans shift or may even change completely. This week we pin a clothespin with our name on it to a pipe cleaner when it is our turn to plan.

BIBLE LESSON
God had a plan for Moses' life. God planned to help his people, the Israelites, leave the land of Egypt, and he chose Moses to be their leader. One day as Moses was tending to some sheep out in the fields, he saw a burning bush. Then he heard a voice from the bush call his name. The voice said, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." God informed Moses that he was the one chosen to lead God's people out of Egypt. Moses was afraid of the large task he was given and God continued to reassure Moses that he would be with him. He gave Moses the ability to perform miracles, which would prove to Pharaoh that Moses was sent by God. Moses' final fear was that he wouldn't know what to say. God told Moses that his brother Aaron would go with him and that God would give both of them the words to say. God chose Moses for the special and important task of freeing his people from Egypt. God gave Moses all the help he needed to perform his task. God also helps us as we go about our daily tasks, the most important of which is to share the good news that our sins have been forgiven by Jesus.

Bible verse: Psalm 31:15a "My times are in your hands."
Bible song: "Consider How the Birds Above"

MUSIC
We open Music Time this week with the finger play called "The Puppy and the Kitty Cat". Any finger play that we do during music helps develop that internal sense of rhythm or beat. The second short song we learn is called "A Peanut Sat on a Railroad Track". Right away the children gathered that the poor peanut turned into peanut butter as it got squashed by a passing train, and they felt sorry for him! Our final song comes in the literature story "Mary Had a Little Lamb" by Iza Trapani. The children enjoy extending well known nursery rhymes by reading stories by the talented Trapani. This story teaches a very good lesson about cause and effect, as the lamb gets into all kinds of trouble when she runs away from home.

MOVEMENT
This week we warm up with the song "Knees Up Mother Brown". Our movement lesson this week is an introduction to balloons. We practice holding on to our balloons as we tap them to different body parts, balance them between our legs, and reach them up in the air. We also enjoyed creating static electricity and making the balloons stick to our shirts without using our hands to hold them there! We finished Movement Time with the song "Keep it Up!" where we practiced keeping our balloons in the air using various body parts.

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during small group time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): Patterns. "Thinking about patterns is an important early development in mathematical thinking in general and in the later understanding of algebra in particular. When children work with patterns, they learn two important mathematical principles. The first is stability. The elements in a pattern stay the same with each repetition (e.g., the elements are always red and blue). The second mathematical principle is that order matters: Once a pattern is established, it determines what follows (e.g., blue always comes after red)." (Epstein, p.105) The patterning activities we did this week included putting colored, plastic animals into patterns in an egg carton, copying unifix cube patterns from a pattern card, using beads to create a pattern on a pipe cleaner, patterning lego blocks, and creating a pattern with pom poms.