Newsletter 4/16/14

Important Dates to Remember:
April 18th - No Preschool; Good Friday
April 21st - No Preschool; Easter Monday 
April 19th - Kid's Day at the Dena'ina Center; 10AM-4PM
May 2nd - "Are We There Yet?" School Musical at UAA Music Hall; 6:30PM 

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Naked Mole Rate Gets Dressed" by Mo Willems
"Mr. Tiger Goes Wild" by Peter Brown
"Old Black Fly" by Jim Aylesworth

Afternoon Books
"The Nowhere Box" by Sam Zuppardi

PLANNING & RECALL
This week at planning and recall time we use Bananagram letter tiles to draw children's letters from a bag. The children have been enjoying the surprise of seeing whose tile they pick from the bag. This also gives us the chance to practice some letter recognition.

BIBLE LESSON
This week 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. 

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: "Oh Perfect Life of Love"

MUSIC
This week we continue to explore rhythms and clapping the beat of a variety of rhythms. We clap the basic rhythms to the song "Hey, Betty Martin!" We focus on clapping rhythms that are the same as the ones modeled by the teacher, as well as patterns that are different. Some other songs we sing at Music Time include "Shoo Fly", "Here Is the Beehive", and "Clap My Name".

MOVEMENT
In Movement Time we warm up to the song "Dance Freeze". We continue to explore the parachute this week as we play the game "Color Jump". When the teacher shouts the name of a color, whoever is sitting by that color on the parachute stands up, and jumps in the air. We also practice shaking, rattling, and rolling the parachute as well as standing and working together to move it like a wheel.

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during Small Group Time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): Art. On Monday we split into smaller groups to paint by rolling marbles in a round tub across the paper. On Tuesday and Wednesday we worked on creating paper chains while also practicing to use staplers and scissors. On Thursday we had the choice to either paint using watercolors, or play with play dough.

Proud of the shapes she had created with the Geoboards.

Happy 4th Birthday!

Drawing two smiley faces 

My turn to be the teacher and read our morning
story!

Relaxing and eating snack

Our twin "Elsa"s playing "Frozen"

Drawing letter tiles from a bag at Planning Time

I'm a fireman!

Newsletter 4/9/14

Important Dates to Remember:
April 11th - Egg-stravaganza egg decorating at Faith; 6:00-8:00PM
April 12th - UAA Creative Arts Fair 1-4PM
April 18th - No Preschool; Good Friday
April 21st - No Preschool; Easter Monday 

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"That is Not a Good Idea" by Mo Willems
"How to Hide a Lion" by Helen Stephens
"Have You Seen My New Blue Socks?" by Eve Bunting

Afternoon Books
"David Goes to School" by David Shannon

PLANNING & RECALL
This week at planning and recall time we incorporate literacy into the process. Children have a chance to write or draw their plans for work time. Giving children frequent and varied opportunities to write and draw, no matter at what stage they are, increases their concept of print.

BIBLE LESSON
In the church year, we are in the season of Lent and quickly approaching Easter. Because of this, we have made a jump in our Bible lesson from Old Testament lessons to the New Testament. In this week's lesson, we hear how Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem the week before he would die on the cross. After sharing a special meal with his twelve disciples, he 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 who betrayed him, led Jesus' enemies to him to so they could arrest him.

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. 
Bible verse: Ephesians 1:7 "We have through Jesus' blood, the forgiveness of sins."
Bible song: "Oh Perfect Life of Love"

MUSIC
This week we learn about rhythm and the concept that rhythm patterns may be either the same or different. A rhythm pattern is a series of several notes that comprise a logical unit. Children begin to develop their ability to hear and perform short rhythm patterns this week. We sing the song "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" to explore these rhythmic concepts, using our hands and instruments to copy the patterns.

MOVEMENT
In Movement Time we warm up to the song "Work Your Body" which asks us to stretch, bend, squat, climb, bend at the waist, kick our legs, and turn around. We have all really enjoyed using our new material this week: a parachute. In the introduction lesson we explore the parachute by sitting down and hiding our legs under it. We create slow and fast waves, practice rowing the parachute "boat" and rolling up the chute into a ball. To close our lesson we cool down with a song called "Run and Walk".

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during Small Group Time, we’re focusing on a Key Developmental Indicator (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 shaping and naming 2D shapes, create shapes with pipe cleaners, go on a shape hunt in the classroom, glue and match shapes, and play a guessing game with shapes.

Filling and emptying materials
 into cardboard tubes.

Working together

Filling and emptying water with
spoons and pipettes.

This is pretty fun!

It takes patience to fill up these muffin tins.

"Robin" to the rescue!

My written plan for Work Time.

I am going to the Sand Table at
Work Time.

Making waves with the parachute.

The storm got bigger and the waves get more rough!

Working to create a rectangle shape with the
pipe cleaner.

Trying to wrap the pipe cleaner around the circular block.

I love the soft feel of the pipe cleaner as I work
to make different shapes!

Newsletter 4/2/14

Important Dates to Remember:
April 12th - UAA Creative Arts Fair 1-4PM
April 18th - No Preschool; Good Friday
April 21st - No Preschool; Easter Monday 

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Let's Go for a Drive" by Mo Willems
"Sheep in a Shop" by Margot Apple
"Mole and the Baby Bird" by Marjorie Newman

Afternoon Books
"A Funny Little Bird" by Jennifer Yerkes

PLANNING & RECALL
This week at planning and recall time we use a microphone made out of our toy magnets to share our work time plans.

BIBLE LESSON
A man named King Nebuchadnezzar made a rule in his land that all people must bow down and worship a golden statue. Three Israelite believers named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship the statue. They knew it was a sin to bow down to the statue and they continued to worship the one true God. When this was reported to the king, it made him very angry and he threw the men into a fiery furnace. Before long, the king noticed that there was a fourth person in the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He was seeing the angel that God sent to protect his three faithful men in the furnace. After calling the men out and realizing that not even a hair on their heads was singed, he made the decree that anyone who said anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would be put to death. 

Just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we should also keep God as the most important thing in our lives - placing him above any earthly blessing, friends, or family. He has forgive our sins through Jesus and wants us to worship and serve him alone. We ask God to give us strength to do this!
Bible verse: Matthew 4:10b "Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only."
Bible song: "Surely It Is God Who Saves Me"

MUSIC
This week we continue to practice ascending, descending, and repeated-note patterns. We learned the song "We Can Make a New Song" to explore the concept as the pitches go high, low, and repeat. Moving our bodies, looking at visual cue cards, and getting the chance to play the piano ourselves help us to remember these musical concepts.

MOVEMENT
We continue our work with scarves this week as we warm up to the song "Kuma San". We turn around, touch the ground, and reach in the air with our scarves. Some of the scarf challenges we practice include folding the scarf into rectangles, squares and triangles on the carpet, throwing them, clapping our hands, and trying to catch the scarf before it touches the ground. We end movement time with the song "Toss and Catch".

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during Small Group Time, we’re focusing on a Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): Filling and Emptying . The simple act of filling and emptying is a satisfying activity for preschoolers. As they gain experience with putting objects together (filling) and separating them (emptying), these actions eventually help them see objects as together or separated in space. We filled egg cartons with beans, counted how many scoops it took to fill cups with materials such as gem stones, noodles, buttons, and beads, filled empty water bottles with cotton balls, pom poms, and shredded paper, filled toilet role tubes with caps and pieces of wood, and filled and emptied cups with water.

Newsletter 3/26/14

Important Dates to Remember:
*Pennies for Patients boxes are due back by Thursday or Friday of this week*
Parent-Teacher Conferences coming up in April (specific dates coming soon)
April 18th - No Preschool; Good Friday
April 21st - No Preschool; Easter Monday 

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"No, David!" by David Shannon
"Not a Stick" by Antoinette Portis
"Tadpole's Promise" by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross

Afternoon Books
"Thelonius Monster's Sky-High Fly Pie" by Judy Sierra

PLANNING & RECALL
This week at planning and recall time we use binoculars to search around the room for the area in which we want to plan or share Work Time experiences. Strategies that help children during planning time include dividing the group into smaller groups to speed the process while still allowing children enough time to share, and providing props or interesting activities to keep children engaged.

BIBLE LESSON
God anointed a man named Saul as the first king of the Israelites. After becoming king however, Saul began to disobey God and stop trusting in the Lord. God chose someone to take Saul's place after he died. A young man named David was the person he chose to be the next king. David was a shepherd and a musician - spending time in the fields at home and also at King Saul's palace playing music on his harp. One day David's father sent him to bring food to his brothers who were soldiers in Israel's army and to find out how the battle with the Philistines was going. When David arrived he saw a large Philistine soldier named Goliath who was over 9 feet tall. Goliath was taunting the Israelite soldiers and mocking God, claiming nobody could defeat him. David decided that he wanted to fight Goliath, and knew that God would be on his side. Using a small stone and his sling shot, he managed to hit Goliath in the center of his forehead. Goliath fell to the ground, dead. After seeing him die, the rest of the Philistines ran away and God granted the Israelites victory against their enemies.

David trusted in God's protection, help, and strength to defeat Goliath and the Philistines. We're reminded that God is also our protection, help and strength in times of trouble. After all, God has taken care of our worst problem by sending his Son, Jesus, to take the punishment for our sins by dying on the cross.
Bible verse: Psalm 56:11a "In God I trust; I will not be afraid."
Bible song: "Surely It Is God Who Saves Me"

MUSIC
In Music this week we use our knowledge of low, middle, and high pitches to move melodies up, down or keep them on the same note. We introduce the concept of ascending and descending scales, and repeated-note patterns with the song, "Stepping Up and Stepping Down".

MOVEMENT
This week we introduce scarves as a new material at Movement Time. Some of the challenges we attempt with scarves include putting them on our head while we balance on one foot, balancing them on our hand and elbow and trying to blow them off. We also dance with scarves to the song "Toss and Catch" as we practice throwing our scarves in the air and trying to catch them with our crab pincher fingers and other parts of our body. This week we also learn a new dance, "The Chicken Dance", for our warm-up song.

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during Small Group Time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicators (KDI): Art and Body Awareness . On Monday our art experience is creating tape paintings, where we place tape on a piece of paper, paint the page, and then peel the tape off. On Tuesday we use markers to color on coffee filters and watch what happens when we spray water on them. On Wednesday and Thursday we use large pieces of paper to trace the shape of our bodies and work on decorating them with a variety of materials. On Friday we combine aspects of art and body awareness as we use play dough to create human shapes.

Happy 5th Birthday!

Using binoculars at planning time

Trying to get those binoculars on.

Planning to play in the kitchen area.

Adding actions to our music song.

Experimenting with scarves at movement time.

Can we put them on our head like Little Red Riding Hood?

Tossing the scarf in the air!

Working on our body collages.

Newsletter 3/19/14

Important Dates to Remember:
Parent-Teacher Conferences coming up in April (specific dates coming soon)
April 18th - No Preschool; Good Friday
April 21st - No Preschool; Easter Monday 

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Lemons are Not Red" by Laura Seeger
"Millie Waits for the Mail" by Alexander Steffensmeier
"Little Blue Truck Leads the Way" by Alice Schertle

Afternoon Books
"Warning! Do Not Open This Book" by Adam Lehrhaupt

PLANNING & RECALL
It is difficult to predict what, out of all the things children have done at work time, they will choose to talk about at recall time. Children rarely give a strictly chronological account of their work-time experiences. They tend to select one or two things that are of particular significance to them. The point of recall time is the give children the choice to talk about what interested them. Having the opportunity to say something about their own experiences is more important than which experience they actually recall. This week we used a toy car for planning and recall. When the car was driven in front of each child, it was his or her turn to plan or recall.

BIBLE LESSON
In this week's Bible lesson we learn about a woman named Hannah who prayed for years for God to bless her with a son. God heard Hannah's prayer and blessed her with a son named Samuel. When Samuel  was a young boy, Hannah brought him to the temple to live so he could serve God there. It was Hannah's way to say thank you to God for the blessing of a son. Samuel lived and worked with a priest named Eli and grew in knowledge and love for God. God spoke to Samuel one night instructing him to tell Eli some bad news. Because Eli's sons were wicked and Eli had done nothing to stop their wickedness, God would punish Eli's family. True to his Word, a short time later both Eli's sons were killed in a battle and upon hearing the shocking news, Eli also died.
We learn an important lesson from this account of the Bible. Hannah raised her son the way that is pleasing to God - she taught him about the Lord. Although Eli knew of his sons' wickedness, he did nothing to stop them. One way to show our love for God is by loving and obeying our parents.
Bible verse: Colossians 3:20 "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord."
Bible song: "I Thank You For My Parents, Lord"

MUSIC
In Music this week we sing the song "Hey! Hey! Look at Me!" to practice the low, middle and high pitches. Continuing to use pictures, move our bodies and use the piano to match the pitches we sing, helps to solidify this concept.

MOVEMENT
We continue our work with hula hoops in Movement time this week. Last time, most of the challenges involved the hula hoop staying on the floor. This week we have a chance to pick them up and balance them on different parts of our body. We create tables over our hoops using our bodies - feet and hands on the floor while our belly faces the sky. We warm up to the song "Boogie Down and Cruise" and close with the song "Caterpillars to Butterflies."

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during small group time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): Fine Motor Skills. Experiences that develop strength, coordination, and endurance in using their whole hand to manipulate materials include hole punching and threading with string, cutting and gluing, using tweezers to grip and sort beans and tiles, tearing paper and magazines, pinning clothespins on a clothesline and using Q-tips to paint.

Pennies for Patients

Pennies for Patients  continues through March 27^th.  Pennies for Patients is a program to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by collecting spare change. Every little bit helps! Please support the students in this opportunity to use our gifts to serve others.

Wondering what The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society does? Visit their website:  http://www.lls.org/#/aboutlls/

Newsletter 3/5/14

Important Dates to Remember:
March 7 - Noon dismissal for all students
March 8-16 - Spring break; no preschool 

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Dilly-Dally and the Nine Secrets" by Elizabeth MacDonald
"A Pocket for Corduroy" by Don Freeman
"Stick" by Andy Pritchett

Afternoon Books
"Lifetime - The Amazing Numbers in Animal Lives" by Lola Schaefer

PLANNING & RECALL
During planning time, children make initial plans and then often modify their plans as they play. Children construct new ideas and encounter unforeseen problems as they play. Therefore, planning is a flexible process that occurs both before and during the play sequence and involves imagination, deliberation, and ongoing modifications. Children picked numbers this week, and when their number was spun on a spinner, they could share their plans.

BIBLE LESSON
In our Bible lesson this week we jump ahead a number of years. Moses is no longer leading the Israelites. Instead, a man named Joshua is in charge. In order to make the land of Canaan their own, the Israelites had to capture and defeat cities in Canaan. One of these cities was named Jericho. The inhabitants of Jericho anticipated the Israelites' attack, so they closed the city gate and prepared. God told Joshua the special plan for defeating the city of Jericho. The Isrealites would march around the city once a day for six days. The priests leading the march blew on their trumpets but nobody else spoke a word. They did this for six days and on the seventh day they walked around the city seven times. On the seventh time around the city the priests blew the trumpets longer and Joshua gave the command to shout! The Isrealites all let out a great shout with the blast of the trumpets, and the wall around Jericho came tumbling down. God gave his people Jericho in a special way. All the gold, silver, and precious metal from the city was then dedicated to God.

The Israelites had sinned against God many times throughout their time in the desert and did not deserve his love and help, but God kept his promises to them by giving them many blessings, including the city of Jericho. We also sin against God and do not deserve the blessings he gives to us. Yet we thank him for all the love he does show us, including Jesus - who died on the cross to pay for our sins. We are then reminded in our Bible verse to honor God in everything we do as a way to say thank you. 
Bible verse: 1 Corinthians 10:31 "Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
Bible song: "Go Down Moses"

MUSIC
In Music this week we continue to explore the concept of pitch. A third concept of pitch is introduced this week: middle sounding pitches. We now practice matching pitches that are low, middle, and high. Children begin to understand that pitches can be played or sung in any order. In the song, "I Can Sing High", we practice hand motions and body motions to indicate high, middle, and low pitches. This also begins to lay a background for learning to read musical notation.

MOVEMENT
This week hula hoops are introduced in Movement time. With the hoops on the floor, we use them for a variety of activities - challenging our bodies to grow large or small in the hoop, balancing on 1 foot inside them, jumping in and out of them, and making bridges over the hoop. We play a game called "Switcheroo" where we switch hoop homes to stand in a new one. Our warm up songs include "Knees Up, Mother Brown" and "Flick a Fly".

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during small group time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): Classifying. Children love to explore the similarities and differences between objects. They enjoying making collections, sorting things into categories, and comparing attributes. Some experiences to promote these skills this week include sorting buttons and bottle caps, sorting socks and other garments, grouping shapes and tangram tiles, and creating yarn fences to group and sort a variety of beads.