Faith Lutheran Preschool eNews: Newsletter 2/25/15

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
March 2nd - Picture Retake Day
March 6th - End of 3rd Quarter; 12 noon dismissal
March 9th - 13th - Spring Break; No classes

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Mrs. Wishy Washy" by Joy Cowley
"Shh! We Have a Plan" by Chris Haughton
"Leonardo the Terrible Monster" by Mo Willems

Afternoon Books
"Do Cows Meow?" by Salina Yoon

PLANNING & RECALL
This week we use paper towel rolls as telescopes to look around the room for the items, areas, or people we'd like to play with during Work Time.

BIBLE LESSON
This week we hear how Jesus performed another miracle. After Jesus was finished preaching and teaching to some of his disciples and a large crowd of people, he told a fisherman named Peter to take his boat out into the lake to fish. Peter told Jesus that he had just been out fishing the previous night and hadn't caught a single fish. But because Jesus told him to go out again, he did what he asked. As soon as Peter and the men who were with him, including James and John, threw the net into the water, it filled with fish. In fact, the nets were so full of fish they began to tear. After they hauled the fish into the boat, the boat began to sink. Peter and the others knew that this miraculous catch of fish could only come from the one who has all power - Jesus. Jesus then told Peter that he would no longer spend his life catching fish, but he would now be a fisher of men - meaning he would start preaching and teaching about God as a disciple and follower of Jesus.
Bible verse: Romans 10:17a "Faith comes from hearing the message."
Bible song: "How Deep the Father's Love for Us"

MUSIC
This week in music we are working on a mixture of things. We'll be pulling out some of our old songs and finger plays such as "A Hunting We Will Go" and "Slippery Fish". We will also be working on a few new songs that have to do with color such as "The Color Song" and "What Color Are You Wearing". We may even pull out the bells and review how to play "Jesus Loves Me".

MOVEMENT
This week we take a break from some of the skills we've been learning in Movement Time, such as tossing, catching, imitating animals, balancing etc. and focus more on following directions, team building, and social relationships. We've learned two games this week, and the children have really enjoyed learning and playing them. The first one is "Duck, Duck, Goose". The children love cheering each other on and laughing as they get chased around the circle. The second game we've learned this week is called "What's the Time, Mr. Wolf?" One person is the wolf and stands at one end of the room. The rest of the people are "animals" that stand at the opposite side of the room and ask, "What's the time, Mr. Wolf?" Mr. Wolf gives us a number and that's how many steps we take toward him or her. When we get very close to the wolf, then he/she usually says "Dinner time!" and we all try to run away without being caught. The children have loved playing this game!

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during Small Group Time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicators (KDI): Shapes . At first, very young children are not able to consistently differentiate one shape from another, such as triangles or rectangles. Somewhat later, children do form general categories for shapes, but they relate them to their own experiences rather than to identifiable or distinctive properties. For example, they say a figure is a rectangle "because it looks like a door" or something is a circle "because it's like a clock". To encourage children's development in shape recognition we practice tracing and naming 2D shapes,we categorize shapes into piles using items found in our classroom, we create shapes using popsicle sticks, and we play a game called "'Cat and Mouse" using shapes on Friday.