EASTER, PART 1--TRIUMPHANT ENTRY (PALM SUNDAY)

 

This week begins our emphasis on Easter beginning 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 create their own scene of "Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem."  We will use a palm branch imprinted in green paint on their papers.  Then they will add pictures of Jesus on a donkey, the people shouting "Hosanna," and crepe paper cut-outs of tunics that the people lay down on the street.   A new song we will sing to the tune of "Farmer in the Del" 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," and "ABC." Our snack will be a crunchy mix of Goldfish, Cheerios, pretzels, and animal cookies.

Upon arrival, we will make a triangle shape collage with glue and fun cut-out shapes and confetti.

We are thankful for the nice Spring weather so we can play outside.  When we come in, we will plant grass seed in potting soil, water the seeds, and try to find a sunny place for the grass to grow. Each week, we will observe the changes and also water our seeds.

Storytime this week is a Margaret Wise Brown story called "My World of Color" with each page devoted to a specific color and many items of each color.  Our second story is an Anna Dewdney  favorite story called "Llama, Llama Misses Mama" about young llama overcoming his fears and enjoying all the adventures in school.

We're looking forward to a great week!

Enjoy the Easter season.

Mrs. Shelly

CREATION, PART 3--God Creates Man, Woman, & Land Animals

  We will conclude our emphasis on creation this week with "God Creates a Friend for Adam" as our Bible story.  For our craft time, I have prepared personalized Creation mini books for each child to color and take home.  These books tell what God created on each day.  During our opening time, we will continue our Play-doh time with rolling pins, craft sticks, and plastic animals.  This week, I will bring a gingerbread boy mold to press into the Play-doh as we tell the story of God creating man from the dust of the ground and breathing into him His breath of life.  One of our "end of day" activities will be the "Creation Matching Game" which is a shoebox with 12 pictures of things God created.  A smaller version of the pictures is attached to 12 clothespins.  We will hand out a clothespin to each child, and he/she will match their picture to the picture on the shoebox as we talk about all the things God created.  Snack this week will be animal cookies.  On Thursday, we have a birthday boy, Keegin, and will have special treats.
  Our songs this week include "Praise Him, Praise Him All You Little Children," "I've Got the Joy," and "Old McDonald Had a Farm" (with felt board animals).  We will have our creation fingerplay of "God Made Everything."  Also, we will try a new song called "The Bullfrog Song" with pictures of each animal to add to our feltboard as they are introduced in the song (words below):

THE BULLFROG SONG

The bullfrog sang the strangest song, he sang it night and day:
Kerrunk, kerrunk, kerrunk, kerrunk was all it seemed to say.

A duck who liked to sing thought he would give the song a try:
Kerrunk, quack, quack, kerrunk, quack, quack they sang as I walked by.

The spotted cow had never heard a more delightful song.
Right then and there the spotted cow began to sing along.
The frog, the duck, the spotted cow sang out so loud and clear:
Kerrunk, quack, quack, kerrunk, moo, moo was all that I could hear.

The speckled hen, a mother hen, whose work was never done,
began to sing for she knew when you sing your work is fun.
The frog, the duck, the cow, the hen, all sang the happy song:
Kerrunk, quack, quack, moo, moo, cluck, cluck, they sang the whole day long.

  Storytime this week includes "Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are You Waking Up?" written by Bill Martin, Jr. and Michael Sampson is a fun, rhyming story about a kitty who should be getting ready for school, but instead she is practicing her purr, looking for her socks, chasing a little mouse, and more.  We also have a counting book called "1, 2 Buckle My Shoe" by Anna Grossnickle Hines to reinforce number recognition and counting.  "Wee Little Lamb" written by Lauren Thompson is our third story about a shy little lamb who meets a new friend.
  Another end of day activity is our "Brown Bear" books that have been completed and made into personalized books for each child.  Last week, we handed them out during our group activity, and they were so excited to see all the animals they had painted.  The most excitement came when they reached the end of the book and found their family picture.  Big smiles and exclamations of Mommy, Daddy, Brother, and Sister were so enjoyable for us.
  Have a wonderful week, and remember NO SCHOOL next week as it is Spring Break.

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 raisins. For storytime, we will read "Seven Hungry Babies" by Candace Fleming 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" by Ruth Galloway is our second story about a wiggly fish his mom sends out to the sea with all its adventures to wear him out.

The Brown Bear books the children painted are now complete, and we will spend time talking about the books they made, the colors they used, and the animals.  At the end of the book will be a surprise to see their family picture "looking at them."  At the end of our day, we hope to play outside and also play our color fishing game. We throw our ten fishes into our felt water, and the children take turns catching fish with a magnetic fishing pole. We will then talk about the color of each fish.

Book orders for March will be sent home this week and due by March 29.  Also, thank you for all the wipes that were brought in.  I think we will have enough for the remainder of the year.

 

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Shelly