Week 3 (September 22-26)

Week 3 brought us the story of Abraham. We learned that Abraham obeyed God by gathering up his animals and family to move far away. Then Abraham let Lot have the best grass because Lot was selfish. When he did so, God gave him the best for his animals because he was NOT selfish. Then God told Abraham to count the stars. Abraham said that he could not because there were too many. God said he would give Abraham a child, then grandchildren and great grand children. Soon there would be so many children that we would not be able to count them, just as the stars. Then when Abraham and his wife Sara were very old, God sent them a son, whom they named Isaac. One day God tested Abraham's love for Him by asking Abraham to take his son, Isaac, to kill him. When Abraham was going to obey God, God told him no, don't kill him, kill the ram! God saved Isaac because He knew Abraham's love for Him.

Our devotional:

C is for crying. It hurts when you fall but please don't cry about nothing at all. (From: "Big Thoughts for Little People" author Kenneth Taylor)

Bible Verse: A cheerful heart does good like medicine. Proverbs 17:22



The letter of the week is Cc (uppercase C and lowercase c). Cathy Cook helped us out with the letter Cc.

Cathy Cook

(tune: "The Farmer in the Dell")

Good morning, Cathy Cook.

Make something good for me.

There are lots of yummy things

That start with letter "Cc":

Cookies, candy canes,

cupcakes and a drink.

Carrots, corn, and cauliflower

always make me think.

The End

The color of the week was Yellow.

Yellow

(tune: "If You're Happy and You Know It")

Y-e-l-l-o-w spells yellow.

Y-e-l-l-o-w spells yellow.

Like the early morning sun,

when the day has just begun,

Y-e-l-l-o-w spells yellow.

Daffodils and baby ducks are yellow.

Lemonade and scrambled eggs are yellow.

I like the smiley face that's yellow.

He's such a happy fellow.

Y-e-l-l-o-w spells yellow.

Then End

The shape of the week was Triangle. Trixie Triangle helped us identify triangles.

Triangle

(tune: "Are You Sleeping")

Trixie Triangle, Trixie Triangle

Has three sides, has three sides.

She says yield, but don't stop!

See her on the rooftop.

Count her sides.

1-2-3

Trixie Triangle, Trixie Triangle

Has three sides, has three sides.

See her on the boat sail.

And upon the dragon tail.

Count her sides.

1-2-3

The End

Also this week we practiced our number 2.

Number Two (Sing & Write)

(tune: "Mulberry Bush")

Curve around, slant down and slide across

to make the number TWO.

For cooking class we made chocolate cookies! They had a blast making cookies with Ms. Jennifer. Then of course they made a nice mess eating those cookies. But see, the word "clean" also starts with the letter Cc. So, cleaning turned into a Cc lesson as well. :)

Of course we went on treasure hunts, wore our yellow on Wednesday and played lots of games... "I spy in our classroom", etc.

Everything around here is a learning lesson!!! We just know how to make it a fun one!!!

Week 2 (September 15-19)

During week 2 we learned about Noah and the big boat. We learned how Noah obeyed God by building the big boat when God told him to, even when others thought he was silly. We learned how Noah took 2 (one mom and one dad) of every kind of animal onto his boat. He loaded his family on the boat, obeying God once again. They were all on the boat for 40 days and 40 nights. Then when they were able to get off, God sent a rainbow. The rainbow reminds us of God's promises to us.
We sang about rainbows and played charades to describe which animals that we thought Noah took on the boat.


Our devotional for the week:
B is for Behave. It means doing what's right. Be happy and helpful; Don't argue or fight.

Bible Verse: Jesus said, "If you love me, obey me." John 14:15


This week Benjamin Bunny brought us things that begin with the letter Bb.

Benjamin Bunny

(tune: "Beautiful Dreamer")

Benjamin Bunny, what do you see?

Name all the things that begin with a "Bb":

Babies and bubbles,

Butterflies too,

Beach balls and bears,

And balloons that are blue.

Then End

Since we had the letter Bb this week, we decided to go ahead and add blue to the mix.

Blue

(tune: "The Farmer in the Dell")

B-l-u-e spells blue.

B-l-u-e spells blue.

Hi! Ho!

Did you know?

B-l-u-e spells blue.

The big sky is blue.

The ocean is too.

Hi! Ho!

Did you know?

B-l-u-e spells blue.

To go along with with the blue theme we sang Little Boy Blue and learned it was a nursery rhyme.

Little Boy Blue

Little Boy Blue,

Come blow your horn.

The sheep's in the meadow.

The cow's in the corn.

Where's the little boy who looks after the sheep?

He's under the haystack, fast asleep.

Will you wake him?

No, not I.

For if I do, he's sure to cry.

The End

Suzy Square introduced to us that she has 4 sides and we talked about things in our room that were square shape.

Square

(tune: "Camptown Races")

Suzy Square has just four sides,

One-two three-four

Suzy Square has just four sides,

And they are all the same.

Standing on the ground,

Or turning upside down,

Suzy's shape is still the same

And square is still her name.

Squares have just four corners too,

One-two three-four.

Squares can play a game with you,

Tic-Tac-Toe and Hopscotch, too!

Standing on the ground,

Or turning upside down,

Suzy's shape is still the same

And square is still her name.

The End

We practiced writing our number ones with a neat little nifty tune.

Number One

(tune: "Mulberry Bush")

Start at the top and pull straight down.

Start at the top and pull straight down.

Start at the top and pull straight down,

to make the number ONE.

For our cooking lesson... snack, Benjamin Bunny brought us the Bubble Juice recipe.

Benjamin Bunny Bubble Juice

ingredients:

pineapple juice

club soda

8oz. paper cup (per child)

spoon (per child)

1. Pour 1/2 glass of pineapple juice.

2. add club soda

3. stir

4. drink

To add to the letter Bb this week we ate bananas and played with bubbles.

Week 1 (September 8-12)

We are off to a great start!

We are learning about creation. We learned that God created EVERYTHING! We learned that Adam and Eve did NOT obey God. They were naughty and ate the fruit that God told them not to. For punishment God said they had to get out of the garden and never come back again!

Our devotional for the week: A is for asking. We ask God when we pray. God's happy to answer and help us each day.

Bible verse: Tell God your needs and don't forget to thank him for his answers. Philippians 4:6

(The lyrics to the alphabet, shape, and color songs as well as the images are from Frog Street Press)

We began the school year off with the letter Aa. Apple Annie showed us her favorite things that start with the letter a.


Apple Annie

(tune: Jingle Bells)

Apple Annie, Apple, Annie,

how are you today?

Tell me all the things

you know about

the letter "Aa."

Alligators,

astronauts,

apple trees that sway;

these are all my

favorite things that

start with letter "Aa."

We talked about apples and ate apples for snack as well.

Then it was off to the color red. We hunted for red items around the daycare. Wore our red clothes on Wednesday and of course ate red apples.

R-E-D Red

( Tune: Are you Sleeping)

R-E-D red, R-E-D red,
I can spell red, I can spell red,
Firetrucks are red,
Stop Signs are red too,
R-E-D, R-E-D.

Our shape of the week was Circle. Cindy Circle helped us to identify what a circle looks like.

Cindy Circle
(Tune: If you're Happy and you Know it)
Cindy Circle goes around and around
From the sky to the ground, she goes around
She is on the ferris wheel.
She's a beachball for the seal.
Cindy Circle goes around and around.
Cindy Circle goes around and around.
You will see her on the stop light in the town.
She can bend from end to end,
roller skating with a friend.
Cindy Circle goes around and around.

Well, the hunt for red was such a hit, that we decided to hunt for circles too. Looks like we are going to be doing a lot of hunting around here!

Welcome to Lily Pad Learning Center

We are off to a great start this year! The kids are having a great time with all of our new learning materials.

Each morning after free play, we clean up and begin our "school time" activities with exercise. We get the blood flowing and the brain working. I am beginning to think this is their favorite time of the day. Exercise time lasts for about 15 minutes.

Each day in circle time we begin with the day of the week. They have a song they like to sing as well.

There are seven days, there are seven days, there are seven days in a week
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Then we move on to the month of the year. We talk about where it falls at in the calendar (September is the 9th month). Why yes, there is a song for this one as well....

January, February, March and April
May, June, July and August
September, October, November, December
those are the months of the year

I then show them on the calender the day of the week, and the date.. for example Tuesday, September 16, 2008. I would show them Tuesday at the top of the calendar, the word September at the top and there where the 16 is located in the Tuesday column.

Next we move on to the weather outside with weather bear...

Weather bear, weather bear what do you see?
the kids respond with what they see.... I see rain looking at me.
Weather bear, weather bear what do you see?
I see cloudy looking at me.

Then we move on to the season of the year and words to describe that season.

We then begin with our letter of the week. Our new Frog Street Press flip charts are wonderful! The kids love to sing. Each letter has a cute little song to help the kids remember things that start with that letter. We have the reproducible book as well. It contains each song and then activities to reinforce the information as well. The kids love creating the mini books.

Next is the color of the week. Again, the Frog Street Press flip chart comes in handy. Each color again has a song, only this song spells the color and identifies some things that are usually that color. It also has a page with identifying, sorting, "which one doesn't belong", etc. We also have the reproducible book to go along with this one. Again, it is great!

We then cover the shape of the week... yes Frog Street Press helps us out with this one too. They don't have a flip chart yet. So, we use the reproducibles.

Each week we have a number of the week as well. We use the Frog Street Press reproducible book. They don't make a flip chart for this one yet either.

We have to cover the things with songs first to get better cooperation for what follows.

We then begin with our Bible lesson. We use the "Little Hands to Heaven" curriculum. Each day reinforces the letter of the week and the Bible story with a finger play. There is a Bible story and a devotional. The devotional reinforces the letter of the week and labels it with something ie: B is for behave. This curriculum adds throughout the week: a few art activities, a math activity, a snack activity. It is all laid out for each day.

We discuss how God is always with us! He is always watching over us and protecting us! He is always shining us light upon us!

Each day we review what we learned the day before. On Mondays we review what we learned the week before.

Before we head in to the classroom for some coloring and writing, we take prayer requests and pray. Then we say the Lord's Prayer. We learn that God forgives us we just have to ask Him. God also always knows what is in our hearts. We also learn that God loves us all the same even though we are different.

The kids go run a couple of laps around the huge play area and head into the classroom.

In the classroom, we will color our printables, pracitice writing our names, practice writing our letters, numbers, shapes, etc. We will also do our art activity.

We then move on to what is considered Learning Centers. During centers we play with blocks, read, play games, put puzzles together, play restaurant, etc. We do it all together. So, we work together. We learn to work as a team. We have also been doing what has been considered some science.

In the afternoon we have implemented cooking with the children. We are making our own snacks. We have found some things on the internet as well as our Frog Street Press book for fun snack recipes. We try to use things that go with the letter of the week, shape, color, etc.

Each day we talk about good choices/bad choices. We use the terms "safe" to refer to how we use our hands, feet and mouth (biting, our words). This is working well for us.

We have also learned that we should treat others as we want to be treated. We also do alot of encouraging of one another. Let us not forget our manners.... please and thank you are big around here!!!!

I am going to find some type of behavior chart or whatever that will work well for young ones. At the end of the week, they can dig from the treasure chest or have a sucker.

I am always working to improve our center. I want it to be a wonderful learning and growing experience for all of us!