This is our final week of celebrating Christmas at preschool with our Bible emphasis being "The Angels Tell the Good News to Shepherds and Wise Men."  To finish our "Christmas Is . . ." books this week, the children will make a hand-print wreath with finger print holly berries.  We will add a special picture to the center of each wreath, and you will then be able to take your child's book home, wet paint may be included.  We will sing "The First Noel," "Away in a Manger," and "Jingle Bells."  We have planned a new fingerplay called "Three Great Kings."

THREE GREAT KINGS
Three great kings on a cold winter's night
  (hold up three fingers) (hug self, shivering)
Found the baby Jesus, guided by the light.
  (rock arms)                 (point to sky)
The first king said, "We've come so far."
  (hold up 1 finger)    (arms out at sides)
The second king said, "We followed the star."
  (hold up 2 fingers)   (point to sky)
The third king said, "Great gifts we bring."
  (hold up 3 fingers)  (extend hands out in front)
And together they said, "Great praises we sing."
                                      (hands around mouth)
The they knelt, and they prayed, and they bowed their heads.
  (kneel)            (hands in praying position)    (bow head)
As they worshipped baby Jesus in His manger bed.
  (sit on heels, extend arms forward to floor, bow head)

   During our opening time, we will continue our music and movement with Christmas songs and playing our bell twirlers.  We will also decorate a Christmas ornament for your tree using pine needles as a paint brush.  These ornaments will also have a special picture of your child.
  Our snack this week will be graham crackers and Christmas fruit snacks.  Storytime this week includes: "Llama Llama Holiday Drama" another favorite written by Anna Dewdney.  We will also read "Baby Jesus is Born" by Juliet David. 
  I am also planning to bring back the xylophone for a carol sing-a-long for fun.
  I pray you have a Merry Christmas and blessed New Year.  If any are sending out family photo Christmas cards this year, I would appreciate having one.  Thanks so much.
Mrs. Shelly

This week, our Bible story will center on Baby Jesus is born.  We will make pages to add to our "Christmas Is. . ." book by making a Shining Star using star sponges, yellow paint and some glitter.  We will also decorate a candy cane with red stripes and show how a candy cane is shaped like the letter "J" for Jesus.  Also, we will talk about how the color red remind us that Jesus grew up and died on the cross for our sins, and the white reminds us that now our sins can look as white as snow.  We will continue to sing our Christmas carols, "Joy to the World," "Away in a Manger," "We wish you a Merry Christmas," and "5 Little Candles."  We will also sing "Twinkle Star" and "ABC."

During our opening time, we will decorate a paper Christmas tree with Christmas symbol stamps and different colors of ink.  We will continue to have our music and movement with our bell twirlers and Christmas carols.  We will also take special pictures of each of the children this week with our new shiny red backdrop for our "Christmas Is. . ." book.  Our snack this week will be animal cookies and raisins.  We have a nativity set with "Little People" characters which we will place in our mystery bag.  The children will take turns selecting a character and trying to identify who it is.

Storytime this week is "Biscuit's Christmas" by Alyssa Satin Capucilli about all the sights and smells of Christmas time.  Our second book is "Silent Night" which shows all the visitors that came to visit baby Jesus.  When the button is pushed, the lights light up and Silent Night is played.

We will have regular classes this week and next week also, and then our Christmas break begins.
Have a blessed Christmas season!
Mrs. Shelly

We are excited as we enter the Christmas season and look forward to celebrating the season with your children.  This week, we will begin with the Bible story of the angel appearing to Mary and Joseph with the promise of a Saviour.  Our craft activity will include painting glitter wings on an angel.  Also, we will make a nativity scene with popcycle sticks, straw, and paper figures of all who were in the stable.  We are planning to gather each child's Christmas crafts into a book called "Christmas Is . . ." to remind all of the true meaning of Christmas.  We will be enjoying Christmas carols during our opening music and movement time and singing "Joy to the World," "Jesus Loves Me," "Away in a Manger," and "Jingle Bells" during our circle time.  I am also bringing in a xylophone that we can have a sing-a-long as I try to tap out Christmas tunes.  We also have a new fingerplay called "Five Little Candles" (words below) which I have prepared five candles with red felt flames with one through five glittered on each.  For our snack, we will have Teddy Grahams and raisins.  During our opening time, we will continue painting our animals from "Brown Bear."  This week, we will use cotton balls attached to clothes pins to paint "black sheep."  Storytime this week includes "Christmas in a Barn," a Margaret Wise Brown story.  Also, a favorite from last year, is "Llama Llama Red Pajama" about a little llama overcoming his bedtime fears with a little help from Mama.

Please remember to bundle your children up as we will continue to play outside, weather permitting, as long as the temperatures are above freezing.

Have a peaceful Christmas season,
Mrs. Shelly

FIVE LITTLE CANDLES
Five little candles burning so bright. (wiggle fingers)
The first one said, "We make great light!" (arms up)
The second one said, "The child is born." (rock baby)
The third one said, "Our light will adorn." (arms out in front, palms up)
The fourth one said, "We shine for Him." (palms forward at sides of face, fingers spread)
The fifth one said, "Let's not be dim." (cover pointer finger with other hand)
So they stood very tall and glowed very bright.
And the Christ child smiled that very night.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING--
This week will be our Thanksgiving week, and our Bible story is "The 10 Lepers" and how only one remembered to return and thank Jesus for healing him.  We will paint "Thankful Turkeys" using our cut-out handprints for his feathers.  Our songs this week include: "Peace Like a River (joy like fountain/love like ocean)," "I'm in the Lord's Army," "Thank you, Lord for Saving My Soul," "ABC Song," and "I'm a Great Big Turkey."  For snack we will enjoy Fig Newton cookies. 

During opening time along with our music and movement, we will continue painting the animals to complete our "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?" book.  We will paint Purple Cat with purple pom poms attached to clothes pins.  For the final page our of book we hope to include a family picture for each child.  You may begin to bring these in so we can include them at the end of the books.  We will also have coloring time where we will trace the children's hands and make them into turkeys.

Storytime this week includes a new story by Alyssa Satin Capucilli called "Happy Thanksgiving, Biscuit!.  This little puppy and the little girl share all they have to be thankful for as they spend Thanksgiving day together.  Another fun story is "It Looked Like Spilt Milk" by Charles Shaw about spilled milk and the many things it may look like.

We will play our felt board activity of "Turkey Feathers, which is missing?" as we say a rhyme and take away the red, yellow, or green feathers.  The children then say the color that has been taken away.

Please continue to dress your children warmly so they can play outside for about 30 minutes and be happy.  Thank you.

Have a blessed (not stressed) week!
Mrs. Shelly

Thanksgiving is coming so soon, and this week we are planning to make cornucopias full of fruits and vegetables.  I am planning to bring in real examples of the paper foods that we will glue to our cornucopia, so the children can see and feel them as we talk about the names of the foods and about thankfulness.  Our Bible story this week is "Jesus Turns Water Into Wine."  We will learn a new turkey song set to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot" called "I'm a Great Big Turkey" (see words below).  For our felt board, we have a turkey with different colored feathers, which we will be singing a rhyme as I take a feather away.  The children will guess which color was taken away from our turkey (see rhyme below).  Other songs we will sing are "Praise Him," "Jesus Loves the Little Children," and "Thank you, Lord."  Another new song this week is

Fruits and Vegetables are Good for Me (sung to tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star")

Apples, pears, and oranges too,
fruits are sweet for me and you.
Carrots, peas, and brocolli,
vegetables are good for me.

Fruits and vegetables
are good for you.
They keep you healthy
and are yummy too! (rub bellies)

I'm a Great Big Turkey (sung to tune of "I'm a Little Teapot")

I'm a great big turkey
'Cause I'm well fed.
Watch me spread my feathers.
Watch me bob my head.

When I strut around
I waddle, waddle, waddle.
And when I talk
I "gobble, gobble, gobble."

I'm a great big turkey
And I'd love to stay.
But Thanksgiving's coming.
So it's time to run away.

Turkey Feathers

Turkey feathers, turkey feathers,
Red, yellow, green.
Red, yellow, green.
Which one is missing? Which one is missing?
Name it now.  Name it now.

Our storytime this week will be "Today is Monday," an Eric Carle story/song about the foods we eat on different days of the week.  Also, "How are You Peeling? by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers which shares different fruits and vegetables with faces showing all different emotions.

We will continue painting our "Brown Bear" animals for the children's individual books we are making.  This week, we will paint "green frog" with frog feet stamps and green paint.

Our class will attempt to have outdoor play time (weather permitting), even when it may seem a bit cold.  The best mittens we have found for this age group are the thin, knit mittens with a thumb opening and sometimes grippers on the palms.  The children seem to leave these on the best.  Please also send hats for them, and this will help extend our outdoor play time.

Have a nice week!
Mrs. Shelly

Above is our Wednesday group kids in their cute costumes and our Tuesday group kids enjoying our special musical balloon time for our Halloween parties last week.  This week, our Bible story will focus on the "Wise Man Builds His House on the Rock.  I am planning to build a Lego house and place it on a rock and in the sand where it will crash as a part of the story illustration.  We will sing "The Wise and Foolish Man," (words below).   We will also sing "Jesus Loves Me," "Twinkle Star," "ABC Song," and "2 Little Eyes."  We wil also sing "Johnny Works with One Hammer" that we sang a couple weeks ago.  We will show four paper shapes: square, rectangle, triangle, and circle to make our own houses for our craft time.  For snack time, we will have Goldfish and a cheese slice.

During our opening time, we will continue painting the animals from "Brown Bear."  This week we will string paint the Blue Horse using craft sticks with pieces of yarn attached to resemble horse tails.  We will also build our own houses with wood blocks.  We will use our orange balloons this week again during our music and movement time.

Storytime this week is "This is the House that Jack Built" by Simms Taback and a fun story/song "I've Been Working on the Railroad,"
Have a blessed week!
Mrs. Shelly

THE WISE AND FOOLISH MAN
1. The wise man built his house upon the rock.
The wise man built his house upon the rock.
The wise man built his house upon the rock
And the rains came tumbling down.
(Chorus)
The rains came down and the floods came up.
The rains came down and the floods came up.
The rains came down and the floods came up.
And the house on the rock stood firm.
2. The foolish man built his house upon the sand.
The foolish man built his house upon the sand.
The foolish man built his house upon the sand,
And the rains came tumbling down.
(Chorus)
The rains came down and the floods came up.
The rains came down and the floods came up.
The rains came down and the floods came up,
And the house on the sand went SPLAT!

So, build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Build your house on the Lord today!

This week, our Bible Lesson will be "Joseph and His Special Coat."  Along with this lesson, we will talk about our families and how God shows His love for us by giving us families that love and care for us.  Our craft this week is a foam picture frame that the children will decorate and place cartoon images for each member of their families.  The side of the frame was left open, and a real family photo may be slipped inside the frame at home.  Our songs this week include "I'm in the Lord's Army," and "Oops, there comes a smile" (a new tune we will try this week using a stuffed happy face clown and the back side of the clown's face is a sad face, words below), "5 Little Pumpkins," "God gave Families," and "Jesus Loves Me."  Our snack this week includes special Halloween treats families may bring in this week and 2nd birthday treats for Brecken on Wednesday.

Our opening time will include a special surprise of orange balloons during our music and movement time.  We will also continue painting our "Brown Bear" animals this week with yellow duck.  We will paint him yellow using sponges cut out to look like webbed duck feet.  We will also have our cameras ready to snap pictures of the children in their costumes.

Storytime this week includes a story/song "Ten in the Den" by John Butler about ten sleepy animals snuggling together and "the little one says, roll over, roll over.  So, they all roll over and (animal name) falls out."  "The Pumpkin Patch Parable" by Liz Curtis Higgs is a Christian story of a loving farmer who starts with a seed and ends with a beautifully lit pumpkin, showing how God's transforming love can fill each of our hearts with light and joy.

We are also anticipating the Thanksgiving season, and will trace the children's handprints this week for making turkey feathers in the coming weeks.

Have a wonderful week.  Our classes will run like normal this week, even as the older classes are on their conference schedule.
Mrs. Shelly

OOPS, THERE COMES A SMILE
Jesus takes a frown and turns it upside down, and
oops, there comes a smile.
When I'm very sad, Jesus makes me glad, and
oops, there comes a smile.
When I am downhearted and don't know what to do,
then the love of Jesus comes a shining through.
'Cause, Jesus takes a frown and turns it upside down, and
oops, there comes a smile.

GOD GAVE FAMILIES
(tune:  Are you Sleeping?)
God gave families (repeat)
Yes He did. (repeat)
God gave me my family. (repeat)
I thank Him. (repeat)

 

This week, our Bible story is "Peter & Paul & the Lame Man Healed."  We will sing a new song called "Silver & Gold Have I None" (the words are printed below).  We will also sing "Praise Him," "ABC Song," and "Itsy, Bitsy Spider."  We have felt pumpkins and a fence row to see as we do "Five Little Pumpkins" (words also below).  We will examine the parts of a pumpkin by opening one up to see the insides and removing the seeds.  We will use some of the seeds to decorate our paper plate pumpkins which the children will paint orange and add a stem, leaves, and some seeds.  We hope to hang our pumpkins from the ceiling very soon.

During our opening time, we will continue painting the animals from "Brown Bear" this week with the red bird.  We will use red feathers to paint the birds with red paint.  After we complete all the animals, we will compile each child's pictures into a book to take home.  At the end of the book, we would like to place a picture of each child's family into his/her book before we laminate and bind them together.  The picture would need to be no larger than a 4x6 and preferably have all the members of the child's family in it.  You may begin to bring these pictures in, and we will keep them until we are ready for them.

Storytime this week will include: "Grow a Pumpkin Pie," a fun story beginning with a pumpkin seed and ending with a pumpkin pie.  Also, "How Do Dinsaurs Say Goodnight?" a favorite with large pictures of dinosaurs.

Next week will be our Halloween celebration.  We will have balloons and special treats.  Families may volunteer to bring in special snacks for snack time.  The children are also welcome to wear their costume (the simpler the better) if they would like.  Please also bring regular clothing as we will remove the costumes during our diaper changes.

SILVER & GOLD HAVE I NONE

Peter and John went to pray.
They met a lame man on the way.
He asked for alms and held out his palms
and this is what Peter did say:
"Silver and gold have I none,
But such as I have give I thee.
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth
Rise up and walk."
He went walking and leaping and praising God,
Walking and leaping and praising God.
"In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
Rise up and walk."

FIVE LITTLE PUMPKINS

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "My, it's getting late."
The second one said, "There's a chill in the air."
The third one said,"Fall is here."
The fourth one said, "Let's play and jump and run.
The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!"
So whoosh went the wind that blew through the trees,
And the five little pumpkins were covered up with leaves.

Have a blessed week!
Mrs. Shelly

This week, our Bible story emphasis is "Noah and the Flood," and we will talk about how our hands can help and serve.  We will sing "Mr. Noah Built an Ark, Splish, Splash, Splish, Splash, Splish" which is the same tune as "Old McDonald had a Farm" with our felt animals going into an ark.  We will also sing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and "5 Little Ducks."  The following is a new song we will try this week called:

Johnny Works with One Hammer

Johnny works with one hammer,

One hammer, one hammer. (make hammering

  motion with right hand)

Johnny works with one hammer

Then he works with two.

Johnny works with two hammers . . .

  (motion with left and right hands)

Johnny works with three hammers . . .

  (motion with both hands and right foot)

Johnny works with four hammers . . .

  (motion with both hands and both feet)

Johnny works with five hammers . . . (motion

  with both hands and feet and with head)

Then he goes to bed.

For our art this week, we will paint Noah's ark brown and choose an animal pair to go in the ark.  For snack time, we will give each child an ingredient (Bunny Grahams, Cheerios, Goldfish, raisins, etc.) to add and stir into our snack bowl and then share.

During our opening time, we are starting a new project where the children will paint, color, stamp, etc. the different colored animals from the "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" book.  Over several weeks, when the animals are all finished, we will compile the pictures into special books they can bring home and maybe even read to you.  This week, along with our brown ark, we will start by painting brown bear using brown fake fur attached to clothes pins.

The children always enjoying playing "Sink or Float?" where we have a bag full of everydays items they will pick to place in a tub of water to see if the items sink or float.

Storytime this week includes "Big Red Barn," a Margaret Wise Brown story of rhythmic text about the cycle of a day on a farm, where a family of animals peacefully plays and sleeps.  Our second story is "Noah and the Mighty Ark" which retells our Bible story with beautiful pictures.

We are looking forward to a fun week.  God Bless!

Mrs. Shelly

As you can see from the pictures, preschool is off to a great start with many new friends being made.  This week, our Bible story is "Perfume for Jesus" and continue with our senses of "A Nose that Smells."  Various smells, such as lemon, cinnamon, coffee, and perfume will be smelled with pictures of what the smell is.  During our opening time, we will paint a cut-out strawberry with strawberry Jello paste that will continue to smell like a strawberry after it has dried.  Snack time will be Goldfish and raisins.  Our songs this week include "My God is so Big."  The kids enjoy this song as we stretch out our arms very wide to show how big He is.  Other songs will be "I'm in the Lord's Army," "Into my Heart," "Itsy, Bitsy Spider," and a new song about falling leaves.  Our art activity will be painting with red, yellow, and orange using cotton balls attached to clothes pins to create Fall leaves on a bare tree.  Our storytime will include "The Very Quiet Cricket," an Eric Carle story about a cricket meeting various insects and trying to find his chirp.  Also, we will sing a story with several fun verses called "I'm a Little Teapot."  At the end of our day, we have four colored bags (red, yellow, orange, and brown) and paper leaves.  I will sing

ALL THE LEAVES

All the leaves are falling down.

Red and yellow, orange and brown.

They are falling off the trees.  Watch them

blowing in the breeze. 

All the leaves are falling down.  Red and yellow,

orange and brown.

and let the leaves flutter down on the kids.  They will collect as many as they can and match the leaf color to the same colored bag.

 Have a blessed week,
Mrs. Shelly

September 20, 2011

Our room is getting off to an exciting start with all our new friends and activities we are doing together.  This week, our emphasis continues with our senses with "Ears that Hear."  The Bible story is "The Parable of the Sower" talking about hearing God's word and our hearts being good soil for His word to grow.  Our songs this week include "Oh, be Careful Little Eyes & Ears," "I've Got the Joy," "Praise Him All You Little Children," and "ABC Song."  We will also have a felt board song of "Old McDonald" with all the felt farm animals to learn their sounds.  Last week, we showed the star inside the apple core and made an apple print on a paper plate.  Over the weekend, I turned these into rice shakers to use this year for music time.  This week, we will decorate a leaf collage with glue and little paper shapes on the opposite side of the shaker.  For snack time, I used a box of cinnamon Cherrios one of our families brought to Open House and made Cherrios marshmallow treats for this week.  During our opening time at the Blue table, we will use a variety of toy vehicles with different types of wheels and roll the wheels on ink pads and then on our paper.  Storytime this week will be "Bunny's Noisy Book," a Margaret Wide Brown book about all the sounds the Bunny hears as he goes through his daily adventures.  "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?" is our second story which shows large, vibrant pictures of zoo animals and the sounds they make.  The surprise box this week will be filled with noisy items, such as a train whistle, a bell, harmonica, and other items to listen to.

Have a blessed week!
Mrs. Shelly

We had a really awesome first week and a lot of fun meeting our new friends.  Thank you so much for all the supplies that we received.  This week, our Bible story emphasis will be "Jesus Heals the Blind Man," and we will begin our theme for the next 6 weeks with each week focusing on one of our senses; this week is "Eyes that See."  We will sing "Oh Be Careful Little Eyes What You See," "This Little Light of Mine," "Two Little Eyes," (a fingerplay with pictures) and "Way Up High in the Apple Tree."  We have an apple tree felt activity with red, yellow, and green apples.  As the children place these on the tree, we will talk about the color; and when they remove each apple, we will count them up to 10.  For art time, we will make apple prints.  I will slice the apple in half horizontally in order to find the star in the center to make prints on a paper apple shape and on a paper plate that we will make into a shaker for music time.  During our opening time at the blue table, we have red, yellow, and green paper apples to make a collage with little paper squares.  Storytime will be a favorite book of many children called "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" and also "Great Big Animal Book" showing farm animal families and what the baby animals are called.  We will also fill up our "Surprise Box" with many items to reach in and identify, such as a candle, rock, pinecone, lock, comb, etc.

We are looking forward to another great week!  

Mrs. Shelly

TWO LITTLE EYES

Two little eyes to see the bright sun

to see the little raindrops falling one by one.

Two little eyes to see the green tree,

to see the flying bird, and the buzzing bee.

TWO GREEN APPLES

Way up high in an apple tree,

Two green apples(substitute red and yellow)

Smiled at me.

So I shook that tree as hard as I could,

And down fell the apples,

Mmmm, they were good!

It was so nice to meet all our new families at the Open Houses. We are excited to start a brand new year with your children.
Our theme this week is "The 10 Commandments--God's Rules for Me," where we will focus on the Bible story of Moses receiving the 10 Commandments and that rules are not mean, but keep us safe. We will introduce our welcome bear, "Barry" to the children as he welcomes each of them by name with our song. We will sing "The Bible, We Love the Bible" before we learn our Bible story, and "Jesus Loves Me," If You're Happy and You Know It," and "Twinkle Star." For art/craft time, we have 3 sponge hearts we will stamp with red paint and talk about small, medium, and large. Our snack will be animal crackers, with a special birthday treat on Thursday to celebrate Gabriel's 2nd birthday.
During our opening time, we will have crayons, stickers, and paper available at our Blue table for art expression. We will then turn on some music to move to with our streamers. We also have bubbles during this time, which the children always enjoy.
We are so thankful for the cooler weather for our first week as we will plan to play on our playground and learn to walk to our playground in a line holding our rope.
After lunchtime each day, we enjoy storytime. This week, our story/song includes "The Wheels on the Bus." and "Who's Hiding?" a lift-the-flap book showing Bible Friends and how God loves and cares for us.
We are looking forward to a great first week. We will also try to take a nice picture of each of the children to attach to our apple tree on our bulletin board.
Have a blessed week!
Mrs. Shelly

Our year is winding down as this week is WATER WEEK. Please read through the blue paper that was sent home last week for all the details. Along with water week, our Bible theme is "Jonah and the Whale." I have some beautiful pictures ready this week to tell the story of Jonah. We will be gluing a "lift-the-flap" praying Jonah onto the whale's belly before we paint him a bluish gray for our craft time. We will sing "I've Got Peace Like a River," "My God is so Big," and "ABC Song." We will also be singing a new song about Jonah and the Whale that goes like this:

Come listen to my tale

Of Jonah and the whale. Where?

Way down in the middle of the ocean.

How did he get there?

Whatever did he wear? Where?

Way down in the middle of the ocean.

A preaching he should be

In Nineveh, you see -

He disobeyed, O what a foolish notion.

But God forgave his sin.

Salvation entered in. Where?

Way down in the middle of the ocean.

We are planning another new song called "Slippery Fish" with felt board characters of slippery fish, octopus, tuna fish, great white shark, and humongous whale.

SLIPPERY FISH

Slippery fish, slippery fish, slding through the water,

Slippery fish, slippery fish, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp!

Oh, no! It's been eaten by an ...

Octopus, octopus, squiggling in the water

Octopus, octopus, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp!

Oh, no! It's been eaten by a ...

Tuna fish, tuna fish, flashing in the water,

Tuna fish, tuna fish, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp!

Oh, no! It's been eaten by a ...

Great white shark, great white shark, lurking in the water,

Great white shark, great white shark, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp!

Oh, no! It's been eaten by a ...

Humongous whale, humongous whale, spouting in the water,

Humongous whale, humongous whale,

Gulp! ... Gulp! ... Gulp! ... BURP!

Pardon me!

A couple weeks ago, the children decorated coffee filters which have now been turned into flowers which we will be attaching to a Mother's Day card. This week, they will decorate the card with stamps and coloring.

Storytime is a fun book called "Tickly Octopus" by Ruth Galloway about an octopus who is really good at tickling his friends until he tickles Oyster and causes her to lose her pearl. How will they find it? "Slowly, Slowly Said the Sloth" is an Eric Carle story that encourages us to slow down our hurried lives.

We have enjoyed watching your children grow and mature over the year and hope you have a wonderful summer.

Mrs. Shelly

REMINDER: This week will be our Easter Egg hunts. Last week, you hopefully received six Easter eggs to fill with toddler appropriate treats to return this week.

Our Bible story emphasis this week will be Noah builds an ark and God's promise through a rainbow. We will sing "Mr. Noah builds an Ark" (sung to "Old McDonald Had a Farm,") "Deep & Wide," and the "Rainbow Color" song, sung with a brightly colored rainbow on a stick.

RAINBOW COLORS

Tune: Hush, Little Baby

Rainbow purple, rainbow blue

Rinbow green and yellow, too.

Rainbow orange, rainbow red.

Rainbow smiling overhead.

Come and count the colors with me.

How many colors can you see?

One, two, three, down to green,

Four, five, six can be seen.

Rainbow purple, rainbow blue,

Rainbow green and yellow, too.

Rainbow orange, rainbow red,

Rainbow smiling overhead.

Other songs we will sing include "5 Little Ducks," "Twinkle Star," and we will have a nursery rhyme of "Humpty Dumpty" with finger puppets. Our craft activity should be fun as we have pudding in red, orange, yellow, and green to make hand print pudding rainbows.

Each child will paint his/her own Easter egg on a stick. We will use the color resist method by first coloring with a white crayon. Then, when we use watercolor paints, and the colors will not adhere to the paper where it has been colored with the crayon.

Storytime this week includes "Duckie's Rainbow" by Frances Barry which follows a duck on her colorful walk and a rainbow is formed as each page is turned. Our second story is "My Easter Basket" about each of the different colored items in the basket remind us of what Jesus did for us. Green = palms. Red = Jesus' Love. Brown = Jesus' grave. White = angel. Yellow = Bright sun.

Have a wonderful week,

Mrs. Shelly

This week, we will continue with our Easter emphasis with "Jesus is Alive!" Our Bible story will be about Jesus' death and resurection. We will paint paper crosses by stamping silk flowers into pink, purple, and blue paints. During our opening music time, we are bringing out our flowers again to play "musical flowers." This time, we have bumblebee masks the children can wear and pretend to be bees flying around. When the music stops, all the little bees find flowers to stand on. We are going to try a new craft of making coffee filter flowers by coloring on coffee filters with markers and spraying them with water to watch the colors bleed into each other. When they dry, we will form these into Spring flowers to enjoy. Our songs this week include "Alive Forevermore," "Praise Him," "I've Got the Joy," "Baby Bumblebee," and "ABC Song."

We will read "Jesus Rose on Easter Morn" and "The Runaway Bunny," a Margaret Wise Brown story about a little bunny who keeps trying to run away from his mother and her steadfast love in finding him every time.

Last week, we planted seeds in a meat tray and plan to check on the progress and give each child an opportunity to water the seeds.

Over the weekend, I made four file folder games. The manilla folder opens up and reveals 10 different shapes. The shapes are different colors and cut out to fit in the appropriate spot. I am hoping they will enjoy these as all the shapes will be reinforced with the children.

REMINDER: Next week will be our Easter Egg hunt. This week, we are sending home a bag of six eggs to be taken home, filled with Toddler appropriate treats, and returned next week. Thank you so much.

Mrs. Shelly

This week begins our emphasis on Easter beginning this week with The Triumphant Entry and Palm Sunday. I have this Bible story on seven leaf shaped pages. As the story is told, each leaf will be attached to a yard stick and form a palm branch at the end that we will wave and say Hosanna. For craft time, the children will each have their own miniature version of the story leaves which they will color and glue to a strip so they will be able to wave their own palm branches. A new song we will sing to the "Farmer in the Del" tune is:

Jesus is my King

Jesus is my King. Jesus is my King.

That is why I love to sing that Jesus is my King.

Jesus is my Lord. Jesus is my Lord.

I learn of Hi-im in God's word. Jesus is my Lord.

Jesus is my King. Jesus is my King.

He leads me in everything. Jesus is my King.

Jesus is my friend. Jesus is my friend.

He stays with me-e until the end, Jesus is my friend.

Jesus is my King. Jesus is my King.

That is why I shout and sing. He'll always be my King.

On our felt board, we have a brown felt donkey and a white felt Jesus. Each of the children can wear heart-shaped sun glasses (instead of blindfolds) and place Jesus on the donkey as we sing to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down:

Here comes Jesus to the town, to the town, to the town.

Here comes Jesus to the town,

Ho-ho-sanna.

Other songs we will sing this week are "Alive Forevermore," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Twinkle Star," and "ABC." Our snack will be honey graham crackers and raisins.

Upon arrival, we will have Easter eggs hidden in our room. As the children find these eggs, they will match the egg colors to the appropriate colored bag, which are pink, blue, yellow, and orange. We are also planning to plant some grass seeds in potting soil for each class. We will water the seeds and try to find a sunny place for them. Each week, we will observe the changes and also water our seeds.

Storytime this week is a Nancy Tafuri story called "Blue Goose" about a goose, hen, chick, and duck who decide to paint the barnyard when Farmer Gray goes away, but can they finish before his return? Our second story is an Iza Trapani story song called "Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?" The children always seem to enjoy when the story is sung to them.

I'm sorry I haven't introduced you to our new assistant in our classroom. Her name is Mrs. Chelsea Hutchinson, and we are very happy to have her! We also have a new friend on Tuesday and Thursday--Cassie is Mrs. Chelsea's daughter.

We're looking forward to a great week!

Enjoy the Easter season.

Mrs. Shelly

Our new friend, Sophia

Listening to our Bible story

REMEMBER: Picture week is this week. Please return your order form to the office if you would like individual and/or group pictures of your children. If you did not receive an order form, please inquire at the preschool office for one. It's not too late.

This week, we will begin to talk about and observe our new friendly caterpillars we now have. Right now they are very active, and we are looking forward to seeing them change and then releasing them as butterflies. Our Bible story to go along with that is about the conversion of Saul, God speaking to him through the bright light that blinded him, and leading him to Ananias who prayed with him to receive Jesus. We will sing "2 Little Eyes," "Be Careful Little Eyes," and "Jesus Loves Me." We have two new songs about butterflies (listed below) and a picture of a caterpillar, a chrysalis, and a butterfly to show the changes as we sing.

The Fuzzy Caterpillar

(Tune: Itsy Bitsy Spider)

The fuzzy caterpillar

Curled up on a leaf,

Spun her little chrysalis

And then fell fast asleep.

While she was sleeping,

She dreamed that she could fly,

And later when she woke up

She was a butterfly.

The Butterfly Song

(Tune: Up on the Housetop)

First comes a butterfly and lays an egg.

Out comes a caterpillar with many legs.

Oh see the caterpillar spin and spin,

A little chrysalis to sleep in.

Oh, oh, oh wait and see!

Oh, oh, oh wait and see!

Out of the chrysalis, my oh my,

Out comes a beautiful butterfly!

During our opening time, we plan to use bug stamps in glue and then sprinkle purple sand on our paper to make them show up brightly. During our music time, big colorful flowers will be taped on the floor, and we will pretend to fly around like butterflies. When the music is paused, the children will quickly run to stand on a flower and identify the color of the flower.

For art time, we will sponge paint one butterfly wing with blue, purple, and pink paint. We will then fold the wing over and press to show symmetry in the butterfly. Then, they will add the antennae and the body. These turn out so pretty and each is unique!

Storytime this week includes one of my favorites: "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. Also, we will read "Wee Little Chick."

We are excited to be able to play outside on the playground once again. Please be sure to send along a change of clothes just in case.

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Shelly

WELCOME SPRING!!

This week, we will welcome Spring as we make our kite collages and emphasize the Bible Story of Moses and the parting of the Red Sea. I made a display (pictured above) of water and waves that pull apart so that Moses and our Bible friends can walk across on dry land. The Bible says in Exodus 14:21 that Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and God caused the wind to blow all night which caused the water to be divided. We will also be playing with our parachute and feeling the wind it creates. For our craft, we will decorate a kite with different colored shapes. Our songs this week include "I've got peace like a river," "My God is so big," "Whole world in His hands," "ABC Song," and 2 kite rhymes and songs listed below:

I'm a Little Kite

Sung to: I'm a little teapot

I'm a little kite up in the sky.

See me flying, oh, so high.

When the wind begins to blow and blow.

I twirl and swirl, just watch me go.

5 Little Kites

Five little kites just beginning to soar,

The wind blew one away and that left four.

Four little kites so colorful to see,

The wind blew one away and that left three.

Three little kites waving high for you,

The wind blew one away and that left two.

Two little kites flying in the sun,

The wind blew oneaway and that left one.

One little kite having lots of fun,

The wind blew it away and that left none.

For storytime this week, "Splish, Splash Spring" will help us welcome Spring (it seems to need a little help this year). Puddles, peeping birds, sunshine, kites, and then rain threatens as the children quickly pick posies to bring to their mother welcoming them home. "Seymour and Henry" are two ducklings whose antics take them farther from their Mommy and how they find her again. This week, we will be adding plastic Easter eggs to our rice table to fill and empty and talk about their colors.

Hope you had a nice Spring break as we now welcome Spring and begin the Easter season.

Mrs. Shelly

Creation, part 2 will continue this week as we focus on "God creates the birds and fish." We will paint paper plate birds blue this week and hang them up in our room in place of our snowflakes. We will have a new activity of play dough time during our opening time. I made this over the weekend out of flour, salt, Kool-Aid, oil, and water. We will use craft sticks, animals, and rolling pins and talk about God creating the fish, birds, and animals as we try to form our own. Our singing time will include "My God is So Big," "I'm in the Lord's Army," and our rhyme from last week, "God Made Everything." We will try a new song this week using our felt board with pictures of a bare tree, nest, and 3 little birds as we sing:

THREE LITTLE BIRDS

Three little birds were taking a rest,

Way up high in the baby bird nest.

One little bird said I'd like to fly,

So he flapped his wings

(flap, flap, flap)

And he started to sing

(chirp, chirp, chirp)

And away he flew off into the sky!

Two little birds . . .

We will also do a counting fish rhyme:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, once I caught a fish alive.

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, then I let him go again.

Why did you let it go?

Because it bit my finger so.

Which finger did it bite?

The little one on the right.

For snack time, we will have Goldfish and cheese slices. For storytime, we will read "Seven Hungry Babies" about 7 eggs in a nest that begin to hatch. The babies come out very hungry, and keep mama bird very busy finding a cricket, a cherry, bread crust, pea pod, minnow, bird seed, and an earthworm to feed them. "Fidgety Fish" is our second story about a wiggly fish his mom sends out to the sea with all its adventures to wear him out.

At the end of our day, we will play at our rice table and also play our color fishing game. We throw our ten fishes into our felt water, and they take turns catching fish with a magnetic fishing pole. We will then talk about the color of each fish.

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Shelly

This week, we will begin part one of three on the creation. This week, our Bible story is God created Light and Day and Night. For our art time, we will sponge paint a sheet which is half black for night and half white for day with stars. We will also glue a paper moon and stamp a bright, shining sun with yellow paint. During our opening time, we have yellow, shining suns on sticks which we will string paint with orange using strands of yarn. Also, during our opening time, we have shapes of the moon as a crescent, half, gibbeous, and full. We will place these shapes in a box lid, coat marbles with yellow paint, and let the kids hold the lid to watch the marbles paint our moon shapes. We will then put glitter on the moon shapes, and we have a display to hang it on our wall for a couple weeks. When you have opportunity, please point out the moon at night to your child as this will reinforce what we are working on.

For circle time, we will sing "This Little Light of Mine," "Give Me Oil in My Lamp," "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (with emphasis on "our came the sun and dried up all the rain") and "Twinkle Star." We have a creation rhyme called "God Made Everything" (words below) which we will also learn. We have another nursery rhyme for this week with stick puppets as we say "Hey Diddle, Diddle the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon . . ."

For storytime this week, we have an Eric Carle story "Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me." A second story is "Goodnight Sun, Hello Moon" about a bunny family as their day goes by. As the pages are turned, the sun gets smaller and then a moon appears at the end. "Someone to Love, Story of Creation" is our last story.

GOD MADE EVERYTHING

God made the sun (hold arms in circle over head)

Up in the sky. (point up)

God made the fush (put palms together and wiggle hands back and forth)

and the birds that fly. (Place hands under arms and flap up and down)

God made the lion. ("Roar")

God made the lamb. ("Baa")

God made our world. (Hold arms out and turn in a circle)

See how happy I am? (Clap and smile)

Have a wonderful week,

Mrs. Shelly

Words to new Songs

Little Hunk of Tin
(Tune: I'm a Little Acorn Brown)

I'm a little hunk of tin.
Nobody knows what shape I'm in.
Got four wheels and a tank of gas.
I can go, but not too fast.

I'm a little ice cream truck.
I wibble, wobble like a duck.
Got four wheels and lots of cream,
I make children shout and scream.

I'm a little yellow bus,
Newly painted, not a spot of rust,
Brand new wheels and kids inside
Hold on tight for a happy ride.

Chorus:
Honk, honk (pull ear)
Rattle, rattle. (shake head)
Crash, creash. (push chin)
Beep, beep. (push nose)

The Car Song
(Tune: When Johnny Comes Marching Home)

We like to travel in our car,
Hurrah, hurrah.
A car can take us near or far,
Hurrah, hurrah.
We buckle up before we go,
Whether we're going fast or slow,
So we'll all be safer while riding in our car!

This week, our focus is from the Bible story, Jesus welcomes the little children. For our art time, we will be painting salt dough heart shapes to hang up which say "Jesus Loves (child's name). Our songs will be "Jesus Loves the Little Children," "Whole World in His Hands," and "2 Little Eyes," and "This Old Man." A secondary theme this week will be transportation. During our circle time, we will have pictures of a junky car, ice cream truck, and school bus while we sing "Little Hunk of Tin" (words below). Another song is "The Car Song" (words also below). During our opening time, we will roll various toy cars over our ink pad and then to our paper to show the tire tracks. Our snack this week will be cheese crackers and bananas. Story time this week is "Beep, Beep Let's Go," "From Head to Toe" (by Eric Carle), and "Tweedle Dee Dee."

We will try to play outside if possible, so please dress your children warmly. Have a wonderful week.

Mrs. Shelly

WE JUST LOVE PRESCHOOL!!!

This week will be our Valentine party week. Each child should bring 9 Valentine cards to exchange with friends, and you may also bring special treats for snack time. Our Bible story this week is the Good Samaritan and how he showed kindness when others passed by. We will sing This is My Commandment, I've Got the Joy, ABC Song, 5 Little Ducks, and I'm a Little Valentine. I am trying to incorporate nursery rhymes into our lessons, and this week we will do the Queen of Hearts poem with a picture to look at. To go with that, we will decorate Queen/King of Hearts crowns for Valentine's Day. During our opening time, we will move with our pink heart balloons and bubbles. Our Blue Table will have Valentine stamps to decorate cards from the kids to Mom and Dad.

Storytime this week will include "My Somebody Special" about animal kids in a preschool and their excitement at the end-of-the-day reunion. "Guess How Much I Love You" is about Big and Little Nutbrown Hare who compete for loving the most. "Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse" is about the "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" mouse and his special day.

We are excited about the forecast this week, and we may venture out to our playground. It may be a bit muddy, so please dress your child accordingly.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day and share God's love,

Mrs. Shelly

WE JUST LOVE PRESCHOOL!!!

As you can see from the pictures, we couldn't play outside, so we brought the snow inside and had fun. It was also a science lesson as the snow began to disappear, and we talked about where it was going.

This week will be our Valentine party week, and we welcome you to bring in special treats. Also, please bring in Valentine cards for your child to exchange with his/her friends.

During our opening time, we will be sponge painting hearts onto a paper heart folded in half. When they are finished painting, we will press the halves together to show the transfer of the heart painting and that a heart is symmetric. We will also have our music time with our twirlers and bubbles and pink heart balloons.

Our Bible story this week is about Mary and Martha who were Jesus' special friends and how Jesus commended Mary for her devotion to him. We will sing "This Little Light of Mine," "This is My Commandment," "Oh Be Careful Little Eyes," " Into my Heart," "I'm a Little Valentine" (words below), and "5 Pretty Valentines" (words below which we will sing showing real Valentine cards). We will also be working on our colors as I have 8 different colored felt heart which I pass out to the kids as we talk about the color of their heart. We say this little rhyme:

Use your eyes, use your eyes.

You can look and see.

If you have a big _______ heart,

Come and give it to me.

Our storytime this week includes "How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You" which always seems to be a hit with the large dinosaur pictures. Also a new twist on "Mary Had a Little Lamb" as Mary's lamb one day decides to go off alone and finds herself on a farm with many animals and many adventures before finally returning home safely to Mary. If time and attention allow, we have a third story called "My Heart is Like a Zoo." This story shows 20 animals shaped like hearts. Some animals will be familiar and some will be new.

At the end of the day, we will play in our rice table and with board puzzles. We will also exchange our Valentine cards with our friends.

For our craft time, we will make heart sun catchers using clear contact paper for the children to decorate with small paper hearts.

I'm a Little Valentine

(Sung to: I'm a little teapot)

I'm a little Valentine,

Red and white,

with ribbons and lace,

I'm a beautiful sight.

I can say I love you

On Valentines Day

Just put me in an envelope

and give me away.

5 Pretty Valentines fingerplay

Five pretty Valentines waiting at the store.

(name) bought one and then there were four.

Four pretty Valentines shaped like a "V"

(name) bought one and then there were three.

Three pretty Valentines said "I love you"

(name) bought one, then there were two.

Two pretty Valentines, this was so much fun .

(name) bought one and then there was one.

One pretty Valentine sitting on the shelf.

I felt sorry for it, so I bought it for myself.

Have a very blessed week,

Mrs. Shelly