Faith Lutheran Preschool eNews: Newsletter 4/1/15

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
April 3rd - No Preschool; Good Friday
April 6th - No Preschool; Easter Monday

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"The Gruffalo" by Julia Donaldson
"What the Ladybug Heard" by Julia Donaldson
"Sophie's Fish" by A.E. Cannon

Afternoon Books
"Our Tree Named Steve" by Alan Zweibel

PLANNING & RECALL
We bring some some math concepts into planning time this week as we try to put counting bears into the corresponding sized cup. If a child is given a small bear, he or she needs to put it in the smallest cup, if given a medium sized bear, the medium cup, and a large bear into the largest cup.

BIBLE LESSON
This week is the week leading up to the celebration of Easter, also known as Holy Week. After sharing a special meal with his twelve disciples in Jerusalem, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane with them to pray. He instructed his disciples to wait for him while he prayed alone. Jesus cried out to his Heavenly Father asking him to take away the suffering he knew he was about to endure. Yet Jesus knew that his Father's will would be done. After praying in the garden, Judas, one of Jesus' disciples betrayed him, leading Jesus' enemies to him to so they could arrest him. We hear how Jesus was handed over to his enemies to be crucified on the cross. Jesus was taken to stand before the leader named Pilate. Although Pilate saw no valid charges that could be made against Jesus, he was afraid about what the crowd would do if he let Jesus go free. The crowd of Jesus' enemies shouted, "Crucify him!" and Pilate gave in to their demands. Jesus was beaten, mocked, spit on, and nailed to the tree. Around midday, Jesus spoke the words, "It is finished!", bowed his head, and died.

In his time of turmoil, Jesus turned to his Heavenly Father in prayer and knew he would hear him. Jesus knew his Father's will and answer would be the best, so he prayed that his Father's will would be done. We also want to pray that whatever our Father wants for us will be done, because we know that he loves us and wants what is best for us.

Hearing about Jesus' incredible suffering and gruesome death makes us sad. Even though he was perfect and didn't deserve punishment, he went through it all willingly in our place. We grieve that our sins put him on that cross, but at the same time we are happy. His death means our life. He paid for the sins of all people for all time. We rejoice that through faith in Jesus, we will live in heaven with God forever because of his death on the cross for us.

Bible verse: Ephesians 1:7 "We have through Jesus' blood, the forgiveness of sins."
Bible song: "How Deep the Father's Love For Us"

MUSIC
Because this week's KDI during Small Group Time focuses on Music, we shorten or even eliminate the Music rotation this week. The two songs we sing this week during some transitions of our day include "There Were 5 in the Bed" and "Sing a Song of Sixpence".

MOVEMENT
This week during Movement Time we try to stick to our music theme by playing musical chairs. The children have enjoyed learning this game and dashing to find a chair to sit on when the music stops. Occasionally Miss Zarnstorff will sit down too, which means someone is left without a chair!

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during Small Group Time, we spend some time on a Key Developmental Indicator (KDI) that we typically do every day anyway: Music. We use Small Group Time this week to spend some time talking about and exploring musical instruments. The children love the opportunity to create sounds with the instruments - especially loud sounds. We also encourage them to think of other ways the instrument can make a sound, whether that's quietly or in an unconventional way. On Tuesday the children create their own instruments using oatmeal containers for drums, tins filled with beans for shakers, rubber bands and muffin tins for stringed instruments and muffin tins and spoons for percussion. They also assisted Miss Zarnstorff in creating a rain maker instrument - a long cardboard tube filled with rice. On Wednesday we attempt to make sounds using everyday objects found in the classroom, and on Thursday we play some music while the children paint, encouraging them to listen to the music and paint what they hear.