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)

Joseph's Coat of Many Colors

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors.
Genesis 37:3

It was a very colorful day in class. Ahead of time I cut out paper bag vests for each child. They are simple to do, just cut open the middle of the front side of the bag. Cut a hole in the top for the neck. Cut a hole on each side of the bag for arm holes.

I always like to give the children lots of choices so I had paint, markers, crayons, tissue paper, fabric, glue and even chalk out on the tables.

At circle time we talked about Joseph and all of the reasons his father gave him a coat of many colors. The responses are always so cute and some were even funny. Some of the responses from them were:

“Joseph’s father gave him the coat because he was cold.”

“He gave him the coat because he wanted him to be pretty.” (my personal favorite)

“He wanted everyone to know that his coat was special.”

“He wanted to share.”

I asked them if they wanted to make a coat of many colors and they couldn’t get to the tables fast enough.

They colored, painted and glued fabric on their coats. Of course no two of them were alike. I made one along with them as we talked about how Joseph’s coat was probably made. Most of them thought it was sewed together by his father.

After the coats were completed we decided to have a parade through the school to show them off. It was so much fun as I let each child lead the parade for a little while.

I hope you will make Joseph’s coat of many colors with your students and have as much fun as I did.

As always, peace and joy,
Barb

The Prayer Lap Book

Have you ever made a lap book with your students? They are great fun and can be very interactive.

Today we made a “Prayer Lap Book.”

Before we started I put out the following items:

File Folders
Magazines
Print outs of people praying
markers
crayons
glue stick

I read them the story, “I Can Pray” by Happy Day Series.

We talked about praying, how we can kneel when we pray, fold our hands/arms and close our eyes.

We started creating our lap books. The children could choose from a variety of pictures, magazine cut outs or even color the outside cover to assemble their prayer lap book. I had them write with markers the words “My Prayer Lap Book” on the cover of their folder.

On the inside cover, I asked them to put pictures of what it looks like when people pray. They could draw or color pictures, or glue on the pictures that were already out on the table of people praying.

On the opposite cover I asked them to dictate to myself or my aide the things they pray about and perhaps a prayer they would like us to write down.

On the back cover they could do whatever they wanted.

Each book came out unique and colorful. I hope you will consider creating a lap book with your children.

As always, peace and joy,
Barb

Don't Be A Litter Bug - Earth Day Lesson

Earth day is fast approaching and I wanted to give you an activity idea to use with your children.

One lesson we use this time of year is to teach that God wants us to protect our earth, take good care of it and honor it. One way to get the message across to young children is to teach them not to be a “litter bug.”

Take some newspaper, scrap paper, clean bottle caps, clean string and other items that resemble litter. Go outside to the playground or outdoor setting and toss the “litter” all over before the children arrive, (yes, you read that correctly, make a mess and spread the litter).

As soon as all of the children have arrived tell them that something happened on the playground that you want to show them. Be prepared to answer questions about why there is litter all over the playground. Take garbage bags with your when you go outside or have them out there ahead of time.

Ask the children how God would feel if he knew that someone had spread litter outside. Most likely you will get answers like sad, mad, upset and not happy. Take a moment to sit outside with them and ask them if they know what a litter bug is and if they have ever been a litter bug.

Suggest to the children that we need to pick up the litter from the playground or outdoor area and once we pick it up we are going to go inside and make “litter bugs” with it. Explain that this litter is actually items you brought from home to help them practice picking up litter, and that the items are clean and OK to use for a craft project. Litter that they find on the ground in other settings should be disposed of properly.

In advance have
glue, scissors and crayons ready for the children to create their litter bugs.
One way to start is to show them how they can crumble the newspaper into balls and glue the bottle caps, string and other litter to the newspaper to create their bugs. This can be a creative, unguided project where the end results can be anything the children imagine.

Have little signs made up ahead of time that say “Don’t be a litter bug!” The children can attach these signs with a craft stick, straw or twig for their litter bugs/creatures to hold. Remind children when they see litter outdoors they can help keep the earth beautiful by picking it up and disposing of it properly.

At the end of class you can read a story about the earth. One of my favorites is “Dear Children of the Earth” by Schim Schimmel.

I hope you have great fun with this activity and let me know how it went.

As always, peace and joy,
Barb

Cows, Eggs and Families

Families come in all shapes and sizes. When teaching about families, one of the concepts I like to begin with is that not every family is exactly the same. As a class we talk about how all of us in our families are special in our own way and we each bring something special to our family. We talk about how we are all of God's children and we are all family in His eyes, and we are special in our own way.

I let the kids describe their own families, and then we discuss that no matter what defines our “family,” it’s important to be loving and kind to our family members and remember that each of us in turn are unique and important to our family, who loves us very much. One of the books we like to read in our class of 3- and 4-year olds is about a cow and an egg, aptly named The Cow That Laid An Egg, by Andy Cutbill.

The story surrounds a farm where a cow named Marjorie feels very ordinary. The chickens on the farm decide to play a joke on her and make her think she’s laid an egg. But when it hatches what will it be? Certainly not a baby cow… And, sure enough, a chick eventually pops out of the egg. However, when it makes its first sound, it’s clear that Marjorie is the rightful mom after all, for the chick lets out a resounding MOO!

I bring in hard-boiled eggs for the kids to decorate. I usually bring one pre-decorated to have black cow spots on it, like the one in the book, and I let the kids take turns holding it during the story, if they can do so without being too distracted. After the story the children decorate their own eggs (with markers, glitter glue, crayons, stickers) any way they want. Then we look at all the different eggs and talk once again about how, just like each of us and our families, each egg is special and beautiful in its own way.