Noah's Ark

Last week we discussed the story of Noah’s Ark. We read many books about the story of Noah’s Ark, looked at various pictures of real boats, and did many experiments involving water. We also learned that the Hebrew word for ark is “teivah”.

We worked together, because we have such a small class, to create an ark out of craft sticks, glue, and brown paint to create an ark. We also used blue, aqua, and green finger paint to create the water. We included pictures of stuffed animals two by two that the children brought to school. Finally, we created a rainbow using scented paint for each color. 

Each child also made a small Ark to take home in the same way – ½ of a paper plate, brown paint, and smaller craft sticks. When this was dry they got to put as many animal stickers on the ark as they wanted. To finish this project each child used the other ½ of the paper plate and created a rainbow with crayons, paint, tissue paper, colored glue and beads, oil pastels, and watercolors.

To end our discussion, we created yummy edible Arks! Each child got ½ of a whole wheat pita, a kid-friendly plastic knife with some chocolate frosting and animal crackers. We put the items on the plate and asked the children to create an Ark!

Suggested Products from Discount School Supply®:
Large Wood Craft Sticks - 500 pieces (500T)
Colorations® Washable School Glue - 1.25 oz (SCWG)
Colorations® Simply Washable Tempera - brown (WSTBR)
Colorations® Washable Finger Paint - set of 10 (CWFPS)
Colorations® Crayons
Colorations® Tissue Paper
Colorations® Glitter Glue Classroom Pack - set of 30 (GGCLASS)
Multi-Mix Beads - 1 lb (BEAD)
Colorations® Outstanding Oil Pastels Classpack (COPACK)
Colorations® Liquid Watercolor - set of 18 (LW18)
9" White Paper Plates - 100 pieces (DIXIE)

In the Beginning....

This week we’ve been discussing the story of Creation. Our teaching team decided that rather than making a large classroom display, each child would make their own book about the story of Creation. To start our discussion we read many books and looked at pictures of lightness, darkness, the ocean (water), the sky, sun moon and stars, birds and fish, other animals and people from around the world and people resting. The majority of our discussion focused on the 7 days of Creation and what God made each day.

Here is one of the books our children enjoyed the most:

The first page in our book was for the first day of Creation: lightness and darkness. To make the lightness page we gave the children white oil pastels, white paint, and black paper. We encouraged the children to color the whole page and paint the whole page to represent the lightness. The children were given white paper, black crayons, and black paint and encouraged to cover the whole page to represent the darkness.

The second page in our book was for the second day of Creation: sky. We gave the children white paper, blue and white paint mixed together and white pom poms to represent clouds. We encouraged the children to paint the whole paper and place the pom poms on the paper in the shape of a cloud.

The third page in our book was for the third day of creation: separated land from water and flowers, trees, and grass. We created this page by having the children rip green construction paper (grass) and blue construction paper (water) and placing it on the paper with the green near the bottom and the blue near the top. Next we had them create a tree by cutting a trunk out of brown construction paper and adding leaves that corresponded with our current season, fall. Finally, we had the children look through magazines and cut out pictures of flowers and had them add these to this page of the book.

The fourth page in our book was for the fourth day of Creation: sun, moon, and stars. We had the children create the stars by tracing a star stencil, covering it with glue, and adding silver glitter and pieces of aluminum foil. They created a moon by coloring with white and black oil pastels to produce a gray moon. Finally, they created a sun by painting a pre-drawn sun with yellow paint and covering the paint with yellow and orange glitter.

The fifth page in our book was for the fifth day of creation: birds and fish. We created this page by doing some research about birds commonly found in our area (Illinois) and the families printed pictures of these birds at home with their children and then cut them out and glued them onto a piece of white paper. For the fish page we used the fish rubbing plates with crayons that did not have wrappers on them.

The sixth page in our book was for the sixth day of Creation: animals and people. To create the people page we all drew self portraits by looking into a standing mirror, using crayons, and white paper. To create the animal’s page we used animal print paper and animal stencils.

Our seventh page in our book was for the seventh day of Creation: rest. We took pictures of our children sleeping. We also colored pictures of items that we commonly use during Shabbat (Kiddush cup, challah, and candlestick holders) because we rest during Shabbat.

We finished the book by using a binding machine and putting all the pages together. We covered the ends of each page with contact paper so they were reinforced and wouldn’t come apart as easily.

Suggested Products from Discount School Supply®:
Colorations® Outstanding Oil Pastels Classpack (COPACK)
Colorations® Simply Washable Tempera - white (WSTWH)
Colorations® Simply Washable Tempera - black (WSTBK)
Colorations® Simply Washable Tempera - blue (WSTBL)
Colorations® Simply Washable Tempera - yellow (WSTYE)
Colorations® 9x12" Heavyweight Construction Paper (9ALL)
Bag of Pom Poms (POUNDPOM)
Familiar Shapes Stencils (ESTEN)
Colorations® Extra Safe Plastic Glitter (GLSET)
Colorations® Washable School Glue (SCWG)
Junior Rubbing Plates (JUNIOR)
Colorations® Chubby Crayons (CRCHB)
Amazing Animal Paper (AAPR)

Introducing the Jewish Holiday of Rosh Hashanah:

This week we started our discussion of the Jewish holiday called Rosh Hashanah. Because the children in my class are just turning 3-years-old, I have to lay the foundation to introduce them to this holiday. Rosh Hashanah is the celebration of the Jewish New Year and the World’s birthday. We celebrate this holiday by hearing the Shofar, a hollowed out ram’s horn, blown every morning. We gather as an entire school to share this ritual. We wish our friends and family a sweet new year by saying, "L’Shana Tova." We also eat sweet things during this time like apples dipped in honey. We spend the majority of our time discussing apples in depth throughout the week. Apples and honey symbolize a sweet new year during the holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

The first activity we did is an apple taste test. Each child was given one piece each of red delicious, golden delicious, and granny smith apple to try. The children were then asked to decide which apple they liked the best. We gave them small pieces of white paper, encouraging them to write their names on the paper with markers and put them on a chart above the apple they like the best. This activity encourages children to begin to attempt to write their names, count, and begin to become familiar with graphing. Once everyone had voted, we counted as a group to see how many of each apple they liked and which they like best.

Next, we looked at various types of fruits that grow on trees that the children are familiar with. We read the story, A Star in My Orange written by Dana Meachen and discuss the different shapes we might find in the foods we eat. Before we cut the fruits in half, we had the children guess what shape we will find inside each fruit. We cut a red and green apple in half and found a star. We cut a banana in half and found a triangle. We might cut a yellow and green pear in half and find another star. From reading the story, they also knew that we could cut an orange in half and find a star!

Green Apple

Banana

Yellow Pear

                                                                                        
Lastly, we made stained glass apples using Con-Tact® paper, Colorations® red, yellow and green tissue paper and construction paper. The children each cut an apple shape with a hollow center from the construction paper. We then placed the apple cutout onto the Contact® paper. We encouraged the children to put as many pieces of tissue paper onto the apple cutout as they want. However, they quickly learned that if they put on too many they will fall off. Eventually they figured out that putting one piece on at a time will work best. This activity helps the children make a connection with the apples, fruit and shapes we have been studying while allowing them to express their creativity.

"Forsake Not Your Mother's Teachings"

I Peter 4:8 - Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.

This has been a very busy month for us. Our school year is coming to a close and Mother’s Day is just around the corner. We will be working on craft for our moms and our end of the year project. These are happy and sad occasions. We love to celebrate Mother’s Day, but I am sad to see my kids move on to another class or school.

I asked the children what they would like to do for mom on Mother’s Day. They gave me wonderful ideas, but one struck me as really cool sounding. Julia, who loves art a lot, wanted to do something with all the pictures that we have been taking throughout the year.

We decided to go on a nature walk and pick up leaves, flower petals from the garden and anything else flat that they wanted. We put these items in the flower press for a few days and talked about how we wanted to display them.

In our classroom we have four great windows and I try to put see-through items in them. The children are used to doing a lot of activities for our windows.

We took all the nature items that we collected, pressed them on the sticky side of laminating film along with five of their favorite pictures. This was about 8 ½” wide and about 12” long. Once they were happy with their activity we added a thin border of scrapbook paper around the edge. We ran it through the Xyron® No-Heat Laminator (NOHEAT). This laminator allows the children to laminate their own art without fear of burns. We punched holes in the top and strung red ribbon through the holes for hanging.

These keepsakes made a great Mother’s Day gift, that was completely done by the children.

It will be exciting to see the expression on mom’s face when she opens her gift. We had so much fun making these and hope you do too.

Oh, the Wonderful Things of Valentine’s Day!

“We Are Wonderfully Made”

I so love Valentine’s Day that I make it the two weeks of Valentines. I love the wonderful colors of pinks, reds, purples, and all the lace, doilies and ribbons.

I also love to cook in the classroom during these two weeks. We love to make pancakes in heart shapes and waffles with red strawberries and yogurt.

This is a great time to use so many books and activity extensions. One of my all-time favorites is Jamberry, by Bruce Degan. I use this book to help my children understand that God has given us our five senses to experience all the, wonders of everything In this book.

For the sense of sight, I put all kinds of glitter, sparkle, and construction paper in the art and writing center for them to use to make cards and hearts.

For the sense of touch, we used silk scarves for dancing. We filled the sensory table with lace, doilies and material along with scissors for cutting. They used these items also in the art center. This was also a great small motor skill builder.

For the sense of taste, we made, Jamberry Tarts. We took refrigerator biscuits, rolled them in to small balls and put a thumb print in them and a spoonful of jam. We went to the school kitchen and watched them bake.

For the sense of hearing we make sound sensory bottles with all the colors of pinks, reds and purples.

For the sense of smell, we made Valentine heart potpourri that we could give away. We used the large doilies from Discount School Supply®. If you double them it makes them pretty sturdy and can be sewn easily with yarn and stuffed with whatever scent that the children would like to put in them.

We made red, pink and purple play dough with koolade and of course used a lot of heart, cupids and Valentine shaped cookie cutters.

Valentines is a great time to talk about love for one another and that God loved us so much, “We are Wonderfully Made”.

Have a blessed week.

Lynn

It's a New Year

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature;
old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new."
2 Corinthians 5:17

Our first week back at school and our theme is The New Year. I thought long and hard about how I wanted to help my kids understand that we are now in a new year and the old year is gone. Being four years old, they really can’t grasp the "New Year" concept so I decided we would go with celebrating the old things we still love and the excitement of discovering new things.

This was a good theme for me and the kids. I am in a new school and I am a new teacher for the kids in this class. They are used to Miss Jessy, whom they felt comfortable with and knew the class routine. Change is going to be hard for me but harder for them. We talked a lot about how we like to hold onto things that are the same, and it is hard to give those things up. We also talked about how something new can be very exciting and a little scary.

We talked about what is old and what is new. For show and tell they brought in something old that they have had for a long time and something new they just got. They talked about what they liked about the routine in their classroom and if they would like to change anything. We prayed each day that God would help all of us not to be scared and that we could all work together, have fun with the old and enjoy the new.

I started with adding "New Year” items to the sensory table. I put in sensory bottles that had glitter. We put in confetti, hats, noise makers, streamers and glasses that said “2012" on them. We sprinkled in Insta-Snow® (SNO) for winter along with Opal Glitter (OGLI) which made it shimmer. This was a very popular activity for the kids. They wore the glasses, played with the snow and enjoyed making noise with the noise makers. They continued to make suggestion of new items to put in and you can see by the picture.

We all learned that if we trust in the Lord, no matter what changes come along, he will guide and protect us. When we become a new creature in God, old ways pass a way. It is exciting to see what new things He has in store for us.

This is a new year. Enjoy the changes that happen in your classroom and remember to thank God for all the things that stay the same and all that are new.

Have a blessed week.
Lynn

The True Meaning of Christmas

Christmas is rich with all the gold, silver, reds, blues and green colors that surround our room. We are talking about, exploring and using all of our senses to experience the sights, sounds, textures and smells of Christmas. 

For this post, I am going to let you know what we are doing in my classroom to help my children understand the true meaning of Christmas and to get the feel of how it felt on the first Christmas morning.

We read the Christmas story from the Bible and other children's books to help them understand that first Christmas morning.
Mary was going to have baby Jesus very soon, so she must have been tired and uncomfortable riding on the back of a donkey or walking. I invited a mom, who is pregnant and due very soon, to come talk about how she feels and if she would like to travel a long way on the back of a donkey. The children had many questions for her.  

We talked about how there was no hotel for them to stay at so they had to stay in a stable where the animals lived. I brought in hay and animal feed so they could experience the smell of the stable.

We talked about the shepherds and how they travel a long way outside of Bethlehem to see baby Jesus and the glorious angels. We dressed as Joseph, Mary, shepherds and angels for dramatic play.

We also put out lots of items that help us celebrate the Christmas holiday. We put colored bows in the sensory table for matching. We added wrapping paper, scissors and tape to wrap packages. We made candy canes with red and white pony beads and white pipe cleaners. This was great for sorting, making a pattern and developing small motor skills. I put angel shapes in the free art area and let them decorate them however they wanted. This was one of the most popular art activities. We had a host of angels throughout our room. Our angels were beautifully adorned with gold and silver paint, opal, red and silver glitter.

The children enjoyed all this, unstructured time for exploring the many things of Christmas. We don’t talk a lot about Santa Clause unless the children bring it up. We try to focus more on the caring and sharing of this blessed holiday.

Enjoy your Christmas time in the classroom.

God bless.
Lynn

Lily of the Valley

Spring and Easter are here and it is always an exciting time in the classroom. The true meaning of Easter is hard for young children to understand so in our classroom we concentrate on new life.

The Easter Lily is a great example of Easter and new life. So we decided to let the children plant Easter Lily bulbs. During circle time we looked at pictures of all different kinds of lilies and discovered that they come in many different colors. The popular colors are purple, blue and white. We looked at our bulbs and talked about what we needed to make them grow. The children decided that they needed dirt, water and sunshine. This was an outside activity. Each child had a pot and filled it 1/3 full of soil. In went the bulb, then water, and more soil to cover. They had the choice to leave it in the classroom or take them home. They all chose to take theirs home.

We explained that the bulb would take a long time to grow, so we decided to make Easter Lily's for Easter dinner decorations. The children had a choice of what color they would like to make. Some chose purple and blue, but most choose the most popular white. They laid their hands down on the colored paper, spreading their fingers wide, and we traced around them. They cut them out and used pencils to curl the fingers. We taped both hands to a green straw and pushed a yellow pipe cleaner up through the straw as the yellow part of the flower. They taped on green construction paper leaves and put them in clear plastic bottles.

Parents, teachers and the children enjoyed both of the Spring/Easter activities. I heard comments such as, "This is a keeper," "It was fun!" and "They are so cute."

Easter and spring are definitely here. Enjoy all the new life that both bring.

Have a blessed week,

Lynn

Let Your Light Shine

...let your light shine before others.... ~ Matthew 5:16

Our Bible verse this month is about having the light of God in us and letting that light shine so others can see our good works.

I wanted to help my children understand, in fun hands-on activities, how we see light and how it reacts in different ways. In my sensory table I put mirrors in the bottom, to see reflective light and magnifying glasses on the science tables to show refractive light.

In circle time we read the story “Northern Lights, A to Z” by: Mindy Dwyer.
and we looked at pictures from Natural Geographic on the Northern Lights.
I handed out flashlights to each of my children. We turned out the classroom lights and I let them shine their lights on the walls and the ceiling. We used the flashlights to spotlight items around the room. I never had a child that didn't love a flashlight.

My aid and I helped each child make a Northern Light activity. We took a large, inexpensive white paper plate. Each child cut their paper plate in half and glued a large craft stick to the cut side. This was their handle to hold the plate. We gave them white school glue and brushes to paint their paper plate. They then glued glitter confetti onto their paper plates and let it dry. When their plates were dry we shut the lights off in the classroom and used our flashlights to reflect the light off the glitter and the colors magically appeared on the walls and ceilings. They had to discover the best angle to hold the flashlights to make the colors appear.

My kids had so much fun with this activity they wanted to take their plates to other classrooms to show them how the lights appeared on the walls. We even went into the directors office.

We kept the glitter plates in their cubbies for a full week and the flashlights on the science table for continued exploration. Then they went home for the families to enjoy.

The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) have been shining long before the dinosaurs roamed the earth and will continue shining forever. God's light has shown from the beginning of time and will continue to shine in our lives for eternity.

Hope you and your kids have fun with this activity and let God's light continue to shine through you.

Blessed week.

Lynn