Letter of the Week: Bb

Today we began our day reading a book

about the different stages of the apple tree. 

After that we went to the table and painted
our very own apple tree using real apples!

I prepared the trunk of the tree

and the branches by cutting out strips brown construction paper.

The children needed to glue down the tree trunk

and all the branches in a way that pleased them.

They were busy!

Next, they dipped the apple half 

into red paint and stamped it where they wanted apples to
appear on the apple tree.

My boy said, "Mommy, I love this craft."

When they were finished stamping apples on their tree,

 I gave them each a leaf stamp.

They stamped leaf prints on the trees too.

After cleaning up we headed over to our Circle time area

and reviewed our alphabet, numbers, shapes etc.

Next, we sat and listened to the Bible Story.

The letter of the day was Bb. 

"The Bible is the Best Book."

With that I chose to read from the

 Bible the story of David and Golliath.

The children went back to their seats to work on their Bb page 

or Bible Craft of the day.

Here is a student stamping the letter B.

All done!

After a snack break we reviewed our vowels 

and vowel sounds.

The vowel of the day was Ee.

They needed to know their letter and the two sounds it makes.

Next was handwriting.

They were excited to be able to write the letter E.

As you can clearly see!

(This little guy is not yet four years old!)

We ended our day with a seasonal story on Johnny Appleseed.

We talked about what a great Christian man he was.

We talked about how he never carried much, 

but how made sure that he did carry his Bible.

 We learned that as he stayed with different 

families along his path he would read the Bible to the children.

Upon leaving them he would tear out pages from his Bible and leave it with them.

 He would tell them to hold onto the pages for he would come again

to take them back and give them new ones in return. 

Many people don't know that Johnny Appleseed was a missionary,

but he was.

When we were done reading we made our seasonal craft

of Johnny Appleseed.

In our bit of time left we had our first music time.

I taught them:

"I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy,"

The B-I-B-L-E 

and 'Only a Boy Named David."

Whew! It was a big day, but they did great! 

It's going to be a wonderful year-I just know it!

Letter of the Week: Aa

To start off our second day of Joy School

I set up the pieces of a future marble chase.

One of my students had no idea what we

were building, but when we finished

she squealed with excitement and it was delightful!

In the beginning they all just sat back and watched,

but it didn't take them long to jump into the 'chase.'

We also made a marble chase out of 

a wooden set I have.

Much harder to make and keep together,

but more rewarding when it actually works!

The marble run grew taller and taller.

After our morning play time,

we moved right into Circle Time.

This year I have incorporated our Bible Time

 at the end of our Circle Time. 

Our lesson today was the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden.

I read the Bible story to the children and 

then brought out my new felt Bible characters to enhance the lesson.

Each child wanted to take a turn in putting an apple in Eve's hand!

Here are Adam and Eve 'hiding' from God.

We talked about how we never have to hide from God,

He knows us, sees us no matter where we are and forgives us 

because He loves us so much.

Here they are coming out from hiding and

confessing their sin to God.

Here is the Angel, sent by God, to guard the Garden,

and Adam and Eve leaving.

The children each wanted a turn placing the angel down

onto the felt board.

And of course the flaming sword was all to much to resist

they each took a turn putting it into the angel's hand.

"A is for apple, a,a,a.'

After our wonderful Bible time

we went to the table to do our Bible craft.

I encourage each child to take their time and 

color within the lines.

It was a busy morning and time for a much needed

snack break.

This week I allowed them a fifteen minute play time 

outside after snack.

They ran, shouted, squealed, and laughed.

When they came back in they were ready for 

 our CLIFFORD magazine!

I love how excited they all get when they see me pull out 

the Clifford magazine.

We read all about apples- of course!

Our task was to see how many foam apples

we could pile on top of Clifford's head.

Next we reviewed our vowel sounds

in preparation for reading!

Today's vowel was Uu.

I really am so proud of these little guys.

I am pouring into them

the months of the year, days of the week,

colors, shapes, the alphabet, Bible stories,

vowel sounds, a thematic unit on apples,etc. 

and they are following my lead very well.

This is going to be a great year!