This week, we will be talking about clocks and lions and prayer which will remind us of the Bible story of Daniel in the Lions Den from Daniel 6. The special verse this week really blessed me as I thought about the troubles in our lives being lions. Daniel 6:22 says Daniel answered (the King), "My God sent His angel and He shut the mouths of the lions." During opening time, we will be coloring a lion and gluing orange felt pieces on his mane. We will also be enjoying our music time with bubbles and twirlers and playing our board puzzles. After we listen to the Daniel story, the children will roll a cube with colorful pictures of Daniel and all the times and places he prayed. The picture on the top of the cube we will use the children's name as we show the picture and say,

1. "(child's name) prayed in his/her house."

2. "(child's name) prayed on his/her knees."

3. "(child's name) prayed morning, noon, and night."

4. "(child's name) prayed 3x a day."

5. "(child's name) gave thanks to God."

6. "The Bible says "At all times, pray!"

For our craft time, we will make a take-home, paper plate clock which will have moving hands. The children will color and glue triangle pictures of six different times when they can pray. We will also be talking about the clock being a circle and showing the numbers from 1 to 12. I have also made a clock with a moving hour hand to teach the "Hickory, Dickory Dock" rhyme. This rhyme has 12 different animals (which we will show as pictures on sticks) playing their funny antics each hour of the day.

Our storytime this week will include "Ten in a Den" which shows baby, wild, stuffed animals which just can't get comfortable and is similar to the tune, "There were ten in a bed, and the little one said roll over. . . rolled over and one fell out." Our second story is "We're Going on a Lion Hunt" so put on your safari hats and get ready to slog through the mud, snap through the sticks, climb through the trees, splash through the river, and swish through the grass to find a lion in the cave, which is similar to going on a bear hunt.

Have a wonderful week!

God bless,

Mrs. Shelly

P.S.--This week, I am planning to have snow for our sensory table time where we will play with our animals showing animal tracks in the snow and also using our scoops and cups. Please send along mittens that your child can use for this activity. Thank you.

This week our theme is "The Garden of Eden--Choose What's Right." Our Bible story will be Adam and Eve giving in to temptation and leaving the garden. For our snack, we will have apple slices and animal crackers. Our songs will be "If You're Happy and You Know It," "I'm in the Lord's Army," "Peace Like a River," "5 Little Ducks," "ABC Song." We will also be playing a game called "which cup hides the stone?" We will have red, yellow, and blue cups and take turns guessing the cup where the stone is hiding. This week, we will also be emphasizing our shapes again with shape stamping during our opening time. We will also have our mystery bag with wooden shapes to take turns reaching in for a shape and talking about what it is. I will be bringing our bean bag shape toss this week which includes a star, triangle, square, and circle shapes with an opening in the middle of each. We will work on tossing the bean bags and talking about the shapes where they land. For our art time, we will make a winter scene with a bare tree and a gray rabbit. The kids will use cotton balls attached to clothes pins to paint snow on the winter scene using puff paint. For story time, we have "Adam, Adam, What Do You See?" about Bible characters (such as Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Ruth, Samson, David, etc.) and the significant events that occurred in their lives. Our second story/song is "All Things Bright and Beautiful" which highlights vibrant pages as I will try to sing this beloved hymn written by Cecil Frances Alexander.

We are once again in need of baby wipes. If anyone could bring these in, we would appreciate it.

Thank you and have a great week!

Mrs. Shelly

Welcome back, and I hope everyone had a very blessed Christmas season. We will start the new year with our emphasis of "Share with Friends" with "Jesus Feeds the 5,000" being our Bible story this week. During our opening time, we will be coloring and playing with stickers. We will also play with wood blocks building towers and trying to balance an animal on top. Our songs will include "My God Is So Big," "I've Got the Joy," "This Little Light of Mine," "Itsy, Bitsy Spider," and a new fingerplay "5 Little Snowmen" (words below). For our craft, we will make a paperplate snowman with eyes, nose, buttons, hat, boots, and Christmas wrap mittens. We also have a new felt board activity called "Dear Old Frosty" (words also below) where we will add the hat, eyes, nose, broom, scarf, mittens, and boots to Frosty as we sing. For our storytime, we will read a selection from Miss Kayla called "10 Little Penguins" who are ready for some fun, but events occur, and there is only one at the end of the day. The second story is called "Just For You" a Mercer Mayer story of a little critter who tries very hard to be helpful to his Mommy.

In order to facilitate the check in process, beginning this week, a computer is now available for check in near our room at the end of the hall.

Many blessings to you,

Mrs. Shelly

5 Little Snowmen

Five little snowmen standing round my door.

This one melted and then there were four.

Four little snowmen beneath a green pine tree.

This one melted and then there were three.

Three little snowmen with caps and mittens blue.

This one melted and then there were two.

Two little snowmen standing in the sun.

This one melted and then there was one.

One little snowman started to run.

But he melted away and then there was none.

Dear Old Frosty

(tune: Mary Had a Little Lamb)

Guess who wears a special hat,

Special hat, special hat.

Guess who wears a special hat

Dear Old Frosty.

Guess who has two eyes of coal . . . (Touch eyes).

Guess who has a carrot nose . . . (Touch nose).

Guess who carries a big yellow broom . . . (Sweep).

Guess who wears a big red scarf . . . (Tie scarf).

Guesss who wears big green mittens . . . (Hold up hands).

Guess who wears big black boots . . . (March feet).