2014-2015+WHAT+HAPPENED+TODAY+IN+4K?

WELCOME TO "WHAT HAPPENED TODAY?"
On this page you will find Mrs. Otten's blog of happened in the classroom on a daily basis. Reading this blog will give you a snapshot of what your child experienced in school. Sometimes there will literally be snapshots (photographs) of things we did or made.

May 27, 2015
So glad to see everyone again after a week apart (and, in the case of Eli, three weeks apart!). Is it just my eyesight or did they actually GROW in a week's time?? Maybe I'm just not used to seeing the l o n g legs sticking out of shorts! Hooray for warm weather! Hope we will be blessed with good weather for our picnic on Friday, as well! We had fun with each other at table time and then started our day a little later. We welcomed back Eli and then Mrs. Otten realized we needed to make haste and get to the second grade room to practice our song with Mrs. A. We cooperated and got in a super quick and quiet line (Mrs. A. will attest to it!) and then we practiced. When we got back to our room, we began our day the usual way with calendar, weather, and then we sang Happy Birthday to Ryan. We looked at a book called //I Want a Hat Like That// and identified the hats in the book. Mrs. Otten reminded us that we should think about wanting the "hats" that God wants us to have: the hats of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, love, peacefulness, and thankfulness. As we see others show these qualities, we should think, "I want a hat like that!" After our drink break we did our last wacky Wednesday song, which was one we had done before and really enjoyed: //The Chicken Count.// We read a book that was really THREE books! After our outdoor time and a photograph outside, we read another story about writing a book called //Danny's Drawing Book.// We looked at books that were scrapbooks and talked about making a scrapbook. We added a page to our memory book. We had Ryan's birthday snack of chocolatey deliciousness and then had choice time!

May 20, 2015

 * WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY FIELD TRIP TO BOOKWORM GARDENS!! **

May 18, 2015


Exciting Monday! After our usual start to the day (table time, prayer, schedule, job assignments) and welcoming Soren and Nolan back to school, we had a lesson about putting on clean "clothes" because Jesus has "cleaned" us on the inside by forgiving our sins. Our clean clothes were examples of things that show the characteristics of the hats we have learned about: kindness, gentleness, humility, patience, etc. We also had examples of clothes that we would not want to put on if we are clean. After our monkey Monday, we listened to two books that told about what police officers do, and then we had a visit from a REAL police officer: Nolan's dad Officer Schmitt! He showed us his special equipment and answered questions for us. Then we got to go outside and see a brand new squad car and the things in the car! It was very exciting! We had a very short outdoor time because it was the "big kids" turn for recess. When we went in, we read our number books to each other and then worked on the covers for our memory books. Then we got to enjoy some more outdoor time before coming in to practice a song with Mrs. A. playing the piano for us. During snack (delicious yogurt and apples provided by Kellen) we heard the story //Officer Buckle and Gloria.// We had a short choice time and then heard about our schedule for next time when we head off to Bookworm Gardens for a field trip!









May 15, 2015
Fantastic Friday! We had a couple friends gone today. Nolan was not feeling well and Soren was off to Rhinelander so he could participate in a bike race. During table time Mrs.Otten met with some of us to write down some of our favorite things from the year. When our day started, we did our prayer and then our hello song with the opposites of quiet and loud. We did the calendar numbers...forward and backward as Logan chose the rocket wand for counting. We practiced Psalm 100 and then we talked about our hat of thankfulness. We got together with a talking partner to tell each other various things for which we are thankful. Then we read a story about writing letters to show thankfulness. We found out about our gym circuit and our warm up song before heading down to the gym. We warmed up with the song //Exercise Is Cool.// And then we did 14 different things all around the gym. It was a lot of fun. When we were done, we were each assigned a clean up job and did a super job with our assignments. When we got back to the room, we reviewed our book about the thank you letters, seeing how many of the 10 we could remember. Our suitcase surprise had two parts: Mrs. Otten showed thank you letters that she had received and then we each got a blank piece of paper and an envelope to start working on our own thank you letter. After a time of writing, we had snack and a story about a dog who wanted mail. Then we had 4 friends do their show and tell. Kellen showed a car that was really two cars in one. Audrey showed a collection of 14 beautiful shiny colored rocks. Noah showed the figurines that he and his brother like to play with. Hallie showed her lullaby CD (and we got to listen to a couple of the songs at the end of the day. Then we were excited to have CHOICE TIME!

May 13, 2015
After our table time of games and play dough, we started our day welcoming Ryan D. back to school and then sang our morning prayer and our hello song. Audrey chose the snowflake for counting the numbers on the calendar. We sang //Just Say Thanks// and then learned about Philip preaching to the man from Ethiopia, baptizing him, and then being taken by God's Spirit to a new place to preach! We reviewed our Psalm 100:5. Our wacky Wednesday song was the Echo Dance. We had to use our listening skills to repeat and do what the song said. We completed the last page in our number books! We enjoyed time outdoors, getting exercise in the fresh air. When we came in we did our centers (and were very understanding when Mrs. Otten realized that she did not switch one of the groups the right way!) It was actually our very last time of centers for the year! During our snack of delicious rice krispie treats made by Elizabeth and her mom, we read the book //Robot Dog.// Then we had show and tell. Today's cool things were: Lego X-Box game, Spiderman bouncy ball, Lego creations, princess pom poms, a real turtle shell (minus the turtle), and a transformer.

May 11, 2015
We enjoyed puzzles, play dough, and Candyland at table time today. When our day started, we celebrated a new brother for Kellen (Jess) and we looked at a photograph of Eli's new brother, Zion. Ryan D. was missing school today, and we missed him! We talked about our hats of thankfulness and the gifts we got for our moms for mother's day. We learned a new song about giving thanks. We had our last Bible story for Paul and learned that he survived a shipwreck on his way to Rome and that some of the books in the Bible are the letters he wrote while in prison in Rome. We took a break for a drink and monkey Monday and then practiced our songs for the last day. We did our number 9 page for our number books. Since it was too wet to be outside and it was time for the middle school break, we took time to learn about our new centers before having our running time in the gym. We played "Man from Mars" and did a lot of running! When we got back to our room, we did our centers. We enjoyed a room snack today and made tents for our animal cracker with graham crackers. We listened again to //Down by the Bay"// and made up a lot of our own rhymes when it was finished. Show and tell was Kid's Choice and we shared some fun special things (new x-box Lego superhero game; a colorful remote control candle; Little Pony people; and Lego vehicles.

May 8, 2015
Welcome back to Hallie and Lydia! With Eli in Pennsylvania and Ava and Ryan D. at home for the day, we counted 14 students in school today. After our table time (getting to use the centers from the week), we started our day with our morning routines and reviewing Psalm 100:5. Then we had a suitcase surprise, which was a treat. We had many guesses for what the treat might be. It was Mrs. Otten's favorite store cookie: Nutter Butter. We each got a package of cookies, including Mrs. Kiel. Mrs. Otten wrote down two numbers: 15 and 1. Fifteen was the number of treats passed out and ONE was the number of "Thank yous" that were said! That reminded us of the story of Jesus healing the 10 lepers. So we read a book about being thankful and talked putting on the hat of thankfulness. We each got a sticky note pad and we wrote or drew something for which we are thankful and we stuck them on the "blessings board" in the hallway. For gym today, Mrs. Otten decided that the best way to get exercise would be to have a long time on the playground where we could run, climb, and use our muscles on the swings and the bars. When we came in from our outdoor gym time, we practiced the songs for the last day. Then we read //The Cowboy// and talked about the parts (beginning, middle, and end) of a story. We also talked about some of the decisions the author/illustrator made in the book. We had animal crackers for our snack and listened to a couple Raffi songs and a couple Veggietales songs during snack (a lot of us knew the Veggietales songs and sang along!) We had show and tell and today we learned that some dads like to snuggle and read (Lydia), throw a boomerang (Hallie), play wiffle ball (Noah), watch movies (Nolan), catch bugs (Soren), and fly Frisbees (Kellen). We sealed up the envelopes with our Mother's Day and Father's Day gifts and the WE HAD CHOICE TIME!

May 6, 2015
We were missing three classmates today: Eli in Pennsylvania and Hallie and Lydia out sick. During table time we drew and colored and wrote and then played games. We did our circle routines and started to learn a song that we will sing for our parents on the last day. Our Bible story was another story of Paul having to escape from people who wanted to harm him so he would stop preaching about Jesus. After our drink break, our wacky Wednesday song had us moving in opposites: big, small, hurry, slow, heavy, light, etc. We then did our number page with the most difficult number to write: the 8! We all tried to draw something new for our 8 page. Since we were a little late for outdoor time and the wood chip playground was too wet, we did our run-walk-skip, jump, gallop around the block for outdoor time. When we came it we did centers. During snack (yummy banana muffins from Ava), we listened to the book //My Daddy and Me//. After snack the Wednesday friends showed what they like to do with Dad. We saw an adventure game, a derby car, an X-Box game and control, a skid steer, and tickle monster hands! We are looking forward to Friday, when we don't have centers and can have a long choice time!

May 4, 2015
Today we started with a special coloring sheet at table time. Our friend, Hallie, was out sick today, but Ryan D. was back. We did our prayer, hello, calendar, and weather. Then we sang a song and recited our poem from waaay back in December when we were in the Christmas program. We remembered all the words! We practiced Psalm 100:5 for the first time. We even sang a song with the words of Psalm 100:1. Our Bible story was about how Paul escaped from the men who wanted to harm him. Then we started thinking about all the things Dads do, and acted out some of them. We had a story about what Dads //can't// do. Our suitcase surprise was something a dad wears (that a mom usually does not wear). We had our drink break and monkey Monday and then did page 7 for our number books. We went outside for exercise. When we came back in, we had centers. We had a special treat from Eli for snack: ice cream bars! Messy, but delicious! We had show and tell to end our day.

May 1. 2015
Sorry for the late entry! I hope you had a chance to check out the photographs on the SCS facebook page! We had a fun day being the only ones in school! We had our normal table time after adding our initials to the thank you notes that we would hang on the doors of all the rooms we visited for our "field trip". Then during our morning circle time, we sang happy birthday to Kellen who will turn 5 on May 2. We went over our schedule and talked about how we were going to do some of our same things, but in different rooms. We practiced making a quick, quiet line because we were going to be doing a lot of moving from place to place today. We took turns doing girls first and then boys first. Our first destination was to look at the newest kindergarten art. From there we went into the music room to watch the tape of our performance at the spring program. We practiced our Bible words and then had a story about being a peace maker by using kind words, even to someone who is not nice to us. We next went into first grade and added people to the city they are making out of boxes. We went to the office and sang to our office ladies and then we went in the science room. We looked at "Sharlene" and talked about bones. We went in the basement to see where we would go for a tornado and to look at the middle school plant experiment. Then it was time for math in room 2. We had a partner and had to find 10 rings. We were going to do a count to 100 by 10s song, but the smart board had turned off on us :( Next it was off to 5th grade to do a cup stacking game that involved crawling under the desks. It was time for snack! We went back to our room. After snack, we did a dance around listening song with the smart board in 5K and got to use the creation stuff with our partner in the 5K room. We went back to our room for show and tell and then our day was over!

April 29, 2015
Our last day together for April! New month next time! We were all in school! After our table time, we did our morning routines quite efficiently today. We tried to talk like robots this time when we were assigned our jobs. Oh dear! One job was not able to be done today as we noticed that our fish had died overnight :( We will have to get a new fish soon. Today we sang the song about obeying the Spirit of the Lord. Then we had a Bible story demonstrating how Paul and his friend, Silas, obeyed the Spirit by singing, praying, and talking about Jesus even though they were in jail. They also told the jailer and his family how to be saved. We did a moving song and got to shake hands, give high fives, smile and wink, and hug our friends. Then we read the book //A Mother for Choco// and talked about how God makes families through children that come by birth and children who come by adoption. We talked about how Eli's family will be growing through adoption and that Eli will be gone for a few weeks during that time. After our drink break, we did our wacky Wednesday song and changed the first sound while singing Fee Fi Fiddly-I-O. We did our number 6 page and then enjoyed outdoor time. After outdoor time, we did our centers. We had snack that Audrey brought for us and most of us ate it all up because we were so hungry!. After snack we had show and tell and learned that Logan and his mom like to read the Chronicles of Narnia; Ryan D. and his mom like to play with Beyblades; Levi and his mom like to play Uno; Elizabeth and her mom like to do puzzles (400 pieces!!); Brody and his mom like to play Legos; Jonathan and his mom like to change tires on the car; and Lydia and her mom like to do crafts. We love spending time with our moms!

April 27, 2015
Today we had one friend out sick: Noah. Some of us are still working on completing missing letter pages at table time. After table time, we did our morning routines and guessed some more "robot talk" words. We practiced the first four verses of Psalm 100. We almost know the whole Psalm! We sang //All In All// from our spring program. We had the story of Saul's conversion. After our drink, brain gym, and monkey Monday, we read a silly story about what Moms can't do. We got a number card and lined up for our outdoor time by number. We enjoyed the warm weather and playing outside. When we came in we did our number 5 page for our number book. Then we learned about our new center activities and did center time. After center time, we lined up again with new numbers and then had a snack that Soren brought. After snack time, we had just enough time for show and tell. This week our theme was "something I like to do with Mom." I guess most of our moms are just "kids at heart" because our moms play Barbies and cars with us and read Disney stories to us!

God blessed us with wonderful weather for enjoying our "gym/choice" time at the park today. We enjoyed our walk there and back as we saw "the pig house", a chipmunk, a very large crow, squirrel, dandelions, and we did not have to stay in our line (but we did have to stay on the sidewalk behind Mrs. Otten and the line leader, Hallie). At the park, we had fun trying all the different playground equipment. Some of the other things we did today: make up letter pages (more to go for some folks); table time games and book making; reading //The Rain// books; figuring out words from "robot talk"; friend songs; learning about being a peacemaker (the Bible tell us that peacemakers will be called children of God); starting to learn Psalm 100:4; snack (thanks, Juliana!) and show and tell. We also did some listening practice with a "listening line".

April 22. 2015
After taking time to draw ourselves again and having some table time, we started our day. We were missing Hallie today, who was out sick. We listened for //ending// sounds, which is a lot harder than beginning sounds! Our suitcase surprise was all about //waiting!// And our Bible story was about Jesus' friends waiting for the Holy Spirit. We learned a new song about obeying what God leads us to do with His Spirit. We did our number 4 page for our number book and then reviewed our centers. We had outdoor time in the surprising spring snow! When we came in we had our center time. Levi brought snack for us. After snack we had show and tell time and a very short time of choice time. At the end of the day, we shared prayer requests and we finally got our suitcase surprise treat!

April 20, 2015
After doing some handwriting and our table time, we started our day with our morning routines. We sang a couple songs, including one of our spring program songs! Then we had the Bible story about Jesus' return to heaven and His promise of the Holy Spirit. We practiced our Psalm 100:1-3. After our drink break and monkey Monday position, we learned about our centers for the week. We are making new decorations for hanging in our room and will get to take home our kites soon. After the explanation of the centers, we had some outdoor time (on the parking lot playground because of the wet wood chip area). We did a lot of running and hopscotch. When we came in we had our center time. Hallie brought snack for us and we enjoyed our apple cinnamon cereal bars. We learned how to make number 3 and then did the number 3 page for our number book. We had show and tell and got to bring in something of our own choice. Then we had a short choice time before closing our day with prayer. We prayed for a number of requests, including a prayer for our friend, Lydia, who was out with a fever.

April 17, 2015 GRANDPARENTS DAY!
Our day started with table time. Then we talked about our different schedule and practiced our parts for the program. We enjoyed some outdoor time and then we welcomed the grandparents into our room. Together we did puzzles, made pictures, built with blocks, played with scarves, read books, did a guessing game, made letters, played toss and catch, looked at the job chart, looked at art in the hallway, and had a photograph taken. (**apologies to Juliana, Jonathan, and Eli, whose photo we missed!) After time with our grandparents, we took a quick bathroom break and then did our poem and song for the grandparents in the gym. We did great! We ate snack, including a tasty piece of gingerbread! Thanks to Jonathan's grandma for the wonderful rice krispie treat bears. They were fun to eat! We did our number 2 page for our number book. We heard a great story that got to help read by reading the "OH NO!" part.While waiting for our grandparents and parents to pick us up, we did a "What's Missing" picture. It was a great day!



April 15, 2015
We started our day with some handwriting and table time. We talked about the friends who were gone (Ryan D. and Levi) and then began our day with prayer and finding out our schedule. Ava chose the pink heart wand to count the calendar numbers and then we sang //Shout Hosanna// before hearing the Bible story of Jesus appearing to his friends after a night of fishing. We took our drink break and did our wacky Wednesday song (//Granny at the Fair).// We practiced for grandparents day and then enjoyed some time outside. When we came in we drew a picture of something we like to do with grandparents. We had center time and then had snack. Ava was also our snack person and she brought bananas, cinnamon graham crackers, and chocolate milk. We were hungry and enjoyed our snack. We had a short choice time and then we talked about our schedule for grandparents day.

April 13, 2015
Audrey returned. Levi was gone with his family. We started our Monday with more handwriting and then tried out the new activities that were out for table time. When we had circle time, we prayed and sang our hello song. We found out about our schedule and jobs. After singing //Shout Hosanna// we had the Bible story of Jesus appearing to his disciples after Easter. We learned how Thomas did not believe he was alive until he saw Jesus. We practiced our Psalm 100:1-2. After our drink and monkey Monday, we reviewed the book we read about grandmas and grandpas and compared them. We practiced our song and poem. We found out about our new centers and then had outdoor time. When we came back in, we did our center time. We had snack and learned about writing numbers. We did the first page in our number book, writing number 1 and illustrating the page with one thing. We had choice time at the end of the day.

April 10, 2015
Today our friend, Audrey, was sick :( After practicing our handwriting this morning, we had table time. When our day began, we had our prayer and then talked about our schedule and what we would be learning today. We had to clap syllables with the job chart and we each had a one syllable word and did not get tricked! We sang //Stand on the Rock.// Then we got a talking partner and a beanie dog (to hold when it was out turn for talking). We told our partner about what makes us sad and what makes us scared. Then we talked about what we like about our bedrooms. Our new hat is the peacefulness hat and Mrs. Otten read the Bible words where Jesus tells us that he gives us peace and that he is also preparing a room for us in heaven. We know that when we are scared or sad, we can ask Jesus to help us to feel his peace. We can also look forward to our special room in heaven and we hope it will be decorated with our favorite things! In gym we first did a warm up song with skipping and then we practiced a controlled bounce and catch. Some of us also started working on dribbling with either two hands or one hand. When gym was done, we returned all the balls we borrowed to the classrooms that lent them to us! Our suitcase surprise was KAYLEE! (Actually it was a photo book Mrs. Otten made to send to her. We each got to sign our name in the book). Then we talked about the very serious subject of tornado safety. We read a book that told some facts about tornadoes, and we looked at damage caused by real tornadoes. We talked about staying safe and we practiced "duck and cover". After snack we practiced our song and poem for grandparents day and learned how to finish the project we will give them. We had project and choice time and then collected all our things.

April 8, 2015
Back to school! We were all in school, although several of us shared that we were sick over the break. After enjoying games and activities at the tables for a while, we started our day with our prayer of thanks for the new day. We got our jobs and clapped syllables. No one got tricked by the one syllable words today! Our suitcase surprise clue was "It is something that has to do with Easter" and many of us thought it might be Easter eggs. IT WAS! But then we talked about how the //**real reason for** **Easter**// //**is not Easter**// **//eggs//.** When we told something from the real story, we got to pick an egg from the basket. We told how Easter was when Jesus rose again and was alive. We told how his body was wrapped in cloths and laid in a cave. We told how there was a big rock in front of the gave and "knights" were guarding it. We told about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. When every one got an egg, we opened them and saw an empty cross sticker with the fish symbol on it. Then Mrs. Otten told us that believing in Jesus means that we will live again, as well. Then she showed us a picture of her dad and told us that he died during our spring vacation and that he is now with Jesus. He loved Jesus and he loved to give hugs and is waiting to give each of us a hug when we get to heaven! We sang ,//Shout Hosanna!// After our drink break, we did our wacky Wednesday song, acting out sport actions and clapping their syllables. Then we practiced our new Bible words. We will be learning //a whole chapter of the Bible!! (Psalm 100)// We read a silly alphabet book called //Q Is for Duck.//We had a short time outside and played a few rounds of "Man from Mars" and then we took a walk (skip, run) around the block for some extra time of fresh air and exercise. When we came in we read a book about grandmas and grandpas and then talked about the song and the poem we will say for our grandparents. We worked on a gift for them at project and choice time today. We had a snack and talked about some of the things we did during spring break.

March 25, 2015
How nice to see everyone in school on this last day before break! Hopefully all the winter germs will die off and the fresh spring air will keep us healthy! Today we clapped word parts with our job assignments. The tricky ones are those words with only one part like bed or dog (especially for us Sheboyganites who like to make two syllable words out of one syllable words anyway) We talked about our Bible words and what they mean for us. We sang praises with //Hallelu, Hallelujah// and //There's Power (in the Name of Jesus).// We had the Bible story of Daniel and his courage to worship the true God even when it meant being thrown into the lion's den. We had outdoor time on the parking lot playground and played several rounds of "man from mars". When we came in, we sang the ABC song with Ryan D. pointing to the letters for us. Then we looked at ABC books with a partner. We listed the different words that our books showed for A, B, C, D, and then Z. Some were the same, and some were different. Our wacky Wednesday song was really wacky! We did the //Tooty-ta// song with the /z/ sound. We reviewed our centers and then had center time. During snack, (YUMMY cookies that our birthday girl, Juliana, helped to make) we had a silly ABC book called //Z is for Moose.// After snack we had choice time. See you in two weeks!

March 23, 2015
We celebrated Lydia's birthday today! She told us about some of the presents she received. We sang our friend songs again. Then we thought about what happens when paper or wood catches fire. They get black .They burn up. But our Bible story was about Daniel's friends and how God rescued them from the fiery furnace and they did not get burned at all, or even smell like smoke. God showed that He is the true God, and not the 90 foot golden statue. After a drink, monkey position and some brain gym, we did our letter of the week. (but not our Bible words! ooops!) We learned about our center time. We had some outdoor time and took full advantage of it with lots of noise and running (which is the best place for noise and running!) When we came in we had center time. Lydia brought birthday cupcakes and juice boxes and we listened to the story //The Book of ZZZZs.// We had choice time!!!

(belated!)March 20, 2015
Today we learned two songs about friends. One of them had the same words as our Bible verse: //A friend loves at all times.// We read a book about being a friend. We prayed for two friends who were sick: Lydia and Ryan D. Before gym we walked through the fourth grade room to see their entrepreneur sale and Mrs. Otten purchased some crayons and we each got to take one home. They were all mixed up colors and made from old crayons. In gym we warmed up with a silly song and then did stations with a friend. We got to play toss and catch, bounce and catch, hopscotch and pull up bar, jumping from "stone" to "stone", balance beam, scoop catch, monkey positions, and tossing swim rings around a cone. When we got back to our room, we looked at different kinds of art and then had a story about an artist who heard music when he looked at color and made abstract art. Then we added designs to our watercolors for our own abstract art. During snack we hear another Elephant and Piggie story. We had friends so show and tell and then it was time to go home.

March 18, 2015
Hallie's birthday today! Soren was back but Ryan D. (sick) and Juliana (sick brother) were gone. Today we switched our usual "end of our day" prayer to our morning prayer. We will do a different prayer at the end of our day. After finding out our schedule and doing the calendar (we did numbers counting up and then counting down because Hallie chose the rocket wand), we had a suitcase surprise. It was Betsy's book, which she is letting us read if we are very gentle! We also got blank books to take home in case we want to write stories at home. Today Hallie brought in a story she wrote about a scary thing that happened at her house. There was an electrical problem that caused smoke and they had to evacuate and call the firefighters. It was a good lesson for us to know how important our fire drills are! We reviewed our Josiah story and then had the story of Daniel and his friends. They were bold and obedient and did not eat the king's food that had been offered to idols. God made then strong and wise. We next went to church to practice for our program. We needed to practice our walking line and singing in a big voice. Since that took a little longer, we had to go back to our room for a little while before we got our outdoor time. We reviewed our centers and then did center time after our outdoor time. Finally, we had snack and show and tell right before it was time to go home.

March 16, 2015
We were missing Soren today! We prayed that his ear infection would get better. After table time, we practiced our songs for the program. Next time we will practice in church. We had a suitcase surprise, guessing the things that would help us learn about King Josiah. After our story we found those things hidden in the picture of the broken down temple. We sang //Stand on the Rock// to remind ourselves that it is important to do what God's word says to do. We had a guest author come and read a story to us. Then we took our drink and Monkey position break before talking about our letter of the week. We sang our vowel song, since A is one of the vowels. We had some lovely outdoor time before our center time. During center time we also had a fire drill. After centers we ate the dirt that Noah brought for our snack! We had the story of Elephant and Piggy and Piggy's new toy. Then the Monday show and tell friends showed the things that they like to do with a friend! (dress up, play Legos, play games, and play Barbies) Then it was time to go home!

March 9, 2015
Springtime cold viruses have hit our classroom! Audrey was back, but Ryan D. was out sick. Today we finished our art projects from last week. We traced numbers and painted them with either primary or secondary colors. Today we glued them to a background. At circle time we did our prayer, hello, schedule, helper assignments, calendar, and weather. Then we practiced our program songs. We had a longer Bible story told with a story book. It was the story of Ruth and Naomi. Ruth showed love to Naomi and God showed love to Ruth through Boaz. After our drink break and monkey Monday position, we learned about our new letter of the week-letter J. Nolan found the alphabet town house. Then it was time for Author's Chair! We each read our //Things That Make Me Happy// book and several friends had other books they had made. Our books went on our book shelf so we could read them again! After our snack time, we went outside for a short time, wearing our boots, but not our snowpants (so we stayed off the snow and just ran and played hopscotch). When we came it, we had choice time and did our letter J page, adding a "jewel" to the page for the sound. JJJJJammie day next time!

March 6, 2015
Eli and Lydia returned, but our friend, Audrey, was sick. Hopefully everyone will be healthy next week!! After our table time (we reviewed cup stacking with Mrs. Otten and we could do some of the centers from this week), we started our day. Because we needed to be sure the middle schoolers got their gym time, we went to gym first. We moved s l o w l y and fast, fast, faster by listening to how the music was being sung. Then we did our upstack/downstack cup race. First we did it with running in place, and then we had a real race! The last race Mrs. Otten gave us a "head start" and we all beat her! When we got back to the room, we sang asong that reminded us that God is strong and mighty and a song that reminded us that we have to DO what God says and not just know what he says. We talked about the "greatest commandment" and the "second like it" and then we showed love for our neighbors by decorating bags for the people who get meals on wheels. We had our own snack and then show and tell. Today's numbers were 8, 95, 76 (and 4.99), and the numbers on clocks and on a phone. We had choice time and some of us did "free stacking" with the cups. Kellen called it the Great Wall of China!

March 4, 2015
We had a visitor checking out our 4K program this morning and she even participated in our morning circle and Bible story time! After our table time, we began our day with prayers for our day and our friends who were out sick (Eli and Lydia). We identified letters with our job assignments and then practiced a program song. We reviewed what we knew about the Esther story so far with a story book and finished the rest of the story. When the story ended we all just needed to break out in applause for the great way that God worked to save His people! We moved a little and then settled back down to listen for the sound of /n/ (our letter of the week) and to discriminate it from the sound of /m/. When we heard /n/ we pointed to our noses and when we heard /m/ we pointed to our mouths. Noah pointed at the letters for the alphabet song and found the N on the wall chart and in Alphabet town. It was a story of a nightingale who had a nut fall on her neck! (At snack time we listened to a similar story of a chicken who thought the sky was falling when an acorn fell on her tail!) We played the running game in the gym again and then had our center time. Our centers were a bit more involved this week, so we ended up running out of time again today. After snack, we had show and tell. Friends showed things with these numbers: 95, 17, 911, 273, and 1-12. Since our day was nearly done, we just used the last few minutes to use rhythm sticks. We did a marching song and a pattern song.

March 2, 2015
New day...new week...new month! We were all in school today (hooray!) We practiced our letter from last week at table time because it was a difficult one to write. Then we enjoyed games and activities with friends before starting our day. We looked at the special events coming up this month. Then we sang one of our program songs. We had the first part of the story of Esther and we were mesmerized by the story. It will be interesting to hear the rest of the story of God's plan to save his people through Esther. Since our Bible words for the week are //Nothing is too hard for God,// we sang //My God Is so Big//.Then we did our letter of the week activities. After a drink break and a silly monkey position, we learned about our new centers. Our suitcase surprise was a stop watch. We played Man from Mars in the gym and got to run when Mrs. Otten called a letter in our names. She timed us to see how fast we could run "to the stars" and back. We had center time and then we had snack and show and tell at the same time so we could be sure to squeeze in some choice time!

February 27, 2015
Fabulous (freezing) Friday! We had table time and a few of us were finishing center projects or doing centers that we did not choose earlier in the week. We had special sitting spots again this morning and got to celebrate Jonathan's birthday. Although his real birthday is tomorrow, he had some early presents to tell us about. His grandma also gave a present to each of us! WOW! We sang our friends song and one of our program songs before finishing the story of Jonah. We reviewed our Bible words for the week. We got silly bands on our writing hand in preparation for learning cup stacking in gym. After warming up with lots of running and other movements, we learned how to hold the cups (on the side) and how to use our silly band hand first. Then we learned how to up stack, using three cups and both hands, always starting with our silly band hand. Once we practiced that, we learned the down stack. Guess what? We had to start with our silly band hand again. After practicing that, we took our cups and mats to a spot. We took three of our cups and put them on another paper mat. Then it was time for the UP DOWN RACE! We up stacked one stack, ran, up stacked another stack, ran, down stacked, ran, and down stacked. We were fast! Back at our room, we learned about different kinds of books. We listened to the descriptions and then sorted some of the books in our room. We talked with a partner about the kinds of books we like. We heard a story called //The Wonderful Book//, learning the new words //strutted// and //scampered// and //slithered.// We predicted what might happen when the sentence had **. . .** Our birthday boy brought us a whole bag of snacks! Most of us ate our popcorn and drank our juice. We had permission to eat one of the three candies, and we took the rest home. Our Friday show and tell friends showed some exciting things: model jet airplane, mask and snorkel, D.S., Yo-Yo, and homemade beads and glass bead necklace. Audrey told about her new build a bear, as well. Then it was choice time!

February 25, 2015


After table time we went to the circle and sat in a special spot today! We counted the calendar with Ryan after repeating "special codes" (sequence of 4 random numbers). We learned another song for the program and then had the first part of the Bible story of Jonah. Next we tried to remember and repeat a sequence of movements (and we made it up to 5!) We reviewed our letter of the week, with Kellen finding the K and the alphabet town house. Our story was about a kind kangaroo. She made mistakes, but they could be fixed! Mrs. Otten had to fix a mistake she made with our sign language for our song today, too. We did a wacky Wednesday ABC song with a disco beat and then reviewed our centers. By the time we got to the gym for our moving time, the middle schoolers were using it for break. So we took our drink break and then talked about our gym time. We had fun kicking a ball to our partner for our moving time. After centers and snack, we lhad show and tell from 5 more friends. For choice time we closed the dress up and kitchen because we only had a short time for choice time.

February 23, 2015
Back to school on another cold, cold Monday! We were all in school and enjoyed being with each other. We did our circle activities, sang our song from Friday, and had the story of Jesus forgiving the woman who came to the well. She was so happy that she told everyone what Jesus had done for her. We started learning one of our songs for the spring program. We listened for our new letter sound. Some of the pictures with the sound were actually words that were spelled with a C and some were spelled with our letter of the week: K We also saw some words spelled with KN at the beginning and learned that those words actually make the N sound. Our suitcase surprise was for our letter page: a KitKat candy bar! After trying to make K with our bodies for our monkey position, we learned about our new centers. This week we will be following directions, cutting, counting, and graphing as well as working more on our books about things that make us happy. We spent some time running in the gym and then we did a kicking song and a moving song. After centers we had snack and show and tell before our choice time.

February 20, 2015
We welcomed back Ryan and Jonathan and began our day trying to say "secret codes" (i.e. listening to a sequence of numbers and repeating them back!) After our calendar counting, we sang //Friends Love One Another// and //We Love// and then we had a story of forgiveness. The person forgiven (Zaccheus) also showed that he was sorry for his sin by doing good. We sang the //Zaccheus// song, adding a second verse. We reviewed our letter of the week and then did a group reading of YO! YES? focusing on the words and the punctuation. Then we reread the story, acting out the parts of the two boys who became friends. After our drink break, we found out about our centers and then did an echo story of pirates looking for treasure. We did our center time and then ate snack. After snack we had show and tell and most of our friends today had something to show that someone else had brought back from a trip for them. We had choice time to end the day.

February 18, 2015
It was a full, busy day! We were missing two friends: Ryan (on a special trip with Grandma and Grandpa) and Jonathan (sick at home). We hope to see them both back on Friday! After starting the day by decorating our "Coins for Uganda" cans, we did our opening circle time. We are practicing saying the //next// number and today we also looked at the numerals that make those numbers. After singing a familiar song //This Little Light of MIne,// we had our Bible story in which Jesus was even able to heal when someone just touched him. He said that the woman was healed because of her faith. We learned the sign language for the Bible verse: //Don't be afraid! Just believe!// We learned that our letter of the week was Y and we learned its usual sound. But we also noticed that it makes other sounds (like in the names of Brody, Ryan, and Audrey). Our suitcase surprise was not in the suitcase! We went to the (former) second grade room and did YOGA by following a leader on the smart board. Our leader told us a story about a Dodo bird named Dodgsen and we acted out the story using yoga positions. It was so much fun. Check out the pictures below! When we came back, we learned about our center activities and then we did our Wacky Wednesday song //Booyah, Booyah// before doing our centers. After centers we had Lydia's delicious apple and caramel dip snack and then had show and tell before a quick 10 minutes of choice time.

February 16, 2015
Although it was Presidents' Day, we did not get a chance to talk about our presidents today. We had a rearranged schedule today because of our "country visit". The first part of our day was the same as usual: table time, circle time (we got to hear about Nolan's real birthday and sing to Eli for his half birthday), helper assignments, calendar, weather, song, and Bible story. Today we heard the story that contains the words, "don't be afraid! Just believe!" It was the story of Jesus raising Jairus's daughter. After that it was not a typical Monday. Instead we had gym time and we practiced tossing and catching a variety of balls and other things. After gym, we tried our monkey Monday position with our gym groups and then had show and tell. We then looked at a book with a guessing activity: we tried to guess which 1 or 4 pictures did not belong with the others. Some of the groupings were tricky, and we thought of some groups that the author did not choose. Then we had a short snack time (most of us had left over snack to take home) because we had to get ready for our trip to SPAIN! We even got to meet Martina, who was born in Spain and is living with Mrs. Otten's family for this school year. We learned about some food of Spain (pa amb tomaquet in Catalan, Martina's language; pan con tomate in Spanish; tomato bread in English and Magdalenas-lemon muffins); we made mosaic art like Antoni Guadi; we made a bull for the Spanish tradition of bull fighting; and we made castanets and did Spanish dancing with them. Our "flight" home was a bit delayed! Thanks for waiting for us, parents!

February 11, 2015
OOPs! Forgot to let you know about our busy day (so busy that we did not get outside for snow play choice time...boohoo) We started with table time and circle time. We used our ears to listen to sounds and we tried to identify them Then we heard the story of Jesus healing the man that had never heard a sound! We reviewed our letter of the week and had a story about a family of x-ray fish. Our suitcase surprise was more real x-rays that we looked at with the light box and we figured out which bones we were looking at. After a drink break we did our wacky Wednesday song: //Make Any Shape and Freeze.// The readers from John Michael Kohler Arts center and the kindergarteners came in our room. We heard some silly stories and poems. We got to help make sounds in one of them. We reviewed our centers, had snack and then had center time. After seeing some very special things that friends brought for show and tell, our day was almost over. We just had 10 minutes of choice time!

February 9, 2015
Today we talked about things we could see and then had the Bible story of the healing of the man born blind. We used our eyes to spy for letters that were made with only two big lines. Last week's letter was one of them and this week's letter was the other. We learned about the different sounds our letter of the week makes and we did our Bible words. After trying some jumping jacks, we did our Mandy Mae Moo song. Our suitcase had three surprises that showed us different things we were going to do in centers. After a "run around the gym" time, we did our centers. We had snack and learned about the importance of our bones. Three friends had show and tell and then we had a short choice time.

February 6, 2015
We were glad to welcome Elizabeth back so we could celebrate her half birthday! After table time, we sang to her and had to change our song so we could sing "happy HALF birthday". We also gave her 5 claps and a half clap. When we came in we voted for where we wanted to do our outdoor play and the names on the "hill" were more than the names on the "playground" side, so we decided to go on the snow hill. We went over our schedule and Hallie counted our numbers and we sang //The WaWa Song.// We learned that our new "hat" is the hat of forgiveness. We had the Bible story of Jesus //forgiving// the lame man (and then healing him). Then we remembered that we had forgotten our opening prayer and our hello song, so we took time to pray and sing (serious and then silly). After our drink break, we made a circle for our suitcase surprise. It was something special that happens in February and many of us could guess: valentines! We looked at a lot of valentines and then shared ideas for how they could be grouped. Then we did a valentine moving song. Mrs. Otten brought a new big book for us to read and we could read it because it was from a rhyme we know. The name of the book was //Big Fat Hen//**.** After reading the rhyme part of the book, we looked at the illustrations and noticed some things. Then we read it again and Mrs. Otten finished the reading because the illustrator had added a new ending to the rhyme. We had snack and a story about a pirate treasure map. Then our "Friday friends" showed their show and tell. Some of our friends gave us clues to guess what they had brought. We had a short indoor choice time and used it well. Then we ended our day and helped Mrs. Otten get the order right for the snow clothes cards. We got ourselves ready and then enjoyed the snow hill!

February 4, 2015
We were so sad that Elizabeth was sick on the day we were going to celebrate her half-birthday. Her mom brought us the birthday snack anyway and we loved it! We hope to celebrate with Elizabeth on Friday. We were glad to see Kellen and Lydia back today and enjoyed playing with them. Today the authors of the snow books made their covers and dedicated their books. All of us dedicated our page in the snowman book and Levi was the first one chosen to take it home. We sang another new song today which some of us knew from Sunday school: //I'm in the Lord's Army.// (and our verse this week assures us that victory is through Jesus!). Our Bible story also had a song that we sang after hearing the story from a Bible storybook. It was the story of the beggar being healed by Jesus through Peter and John. For our letter of the week we did some careful listening to the beginning sound in words to see if we heard the /v/ sound or the /b/ sound We had an alphabet town story of Victor the vet. Our wacky Wednesday song had us shake, shake, shake our hands all different places. We did our centers and then had snack. During snack we heard the story //Beach Day,// which ended up being a beach NIGHT for Sam, Pam, Will, and Jill. Then we enjoyed the show and tell from the "Wednesday" kids before closing our day and getting ready for snow play.

February 2, 2015
Today we celebrated Audrey's birthday and it was her //real// birthday! She chose //Let's Go, Froggy// for her birthday book. We practiced writing our letter S today during table time because it has tricky curves. We were missing Lydia and Kellen today (and our friend, Kaylee, who moved away). We looked at the special days on our February calendar. We had a Bible story of Jesus healing a man just with his words. The man could not walk or stand for 38 years, but Jesus healed him just like that! We did our letter of the week activities next and then took our drink break. Our monkey position was a difficult balance with our arms making letter v and one heel touching our leg. Try it and see! We learned about our new centers and then had some running and moving time in the gym. When we came back, we did our centers. This week we are doing our letter V page and our valentine bags. Our choice centers are the listening barn, the hermit crab letter game, a lower case letter finding game, a heart toss and count game, and a ground hog puppet craft. Audrey brought cupcakes with blue frosting for her birthday snack. We had show and tell from the "Monday" kids and then we had a short choice time.

January 28, 2015
Table time was games, coloring, cutting, and building with blocks. We welcomed Ava back and she told us about her favorite water park activity. We listened for the first and last letter of names to see if we had a job. We sang one song with letters (//L-O-V-E, Love, that's why//) and one song with numbers (//1-2-3, Jesus loves me//) Our Bible story was about the prophet Elijah (we compared his name to the other prophet..Elisha). We learned how God used him to show that the God of Israel was the true God, not the Baal that King Ahab was worshiping. For our letter of the week time, we listened to words that Mrs. Otten said and if we heard /s/ at the beginning, we made our arm move like a snake, but if we heard /sh/ at the beginning we put our finger in front of our lips. After our drink break we tried some letter s movements: sway, shake, sit, and spin. We did our wacky Wednesday song: //A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea.// We reviewed our centers and then played a new running game in the gym: Ship to Shore. We got to run, swim, be a shark, surf, and sink, too. We did our centers, with the activities of book page making, sequencing, paper shape picture making, letter page, or snowflake cutting and dying. We had snack and a story of six snowy sheep and then had choice time.

January 26, 2015
Today we learned how God provided for the widow. She got many jars of oil from her jar with just a little oil! God did a miracle! We learned a new letter-s-and two sounds that it can make. We said many words with the sounds! We ran in the gym and did the exercise spots with a partner again. We did our centers and had a snack from Eli shape sandwiches (train shape). Hey that snack made the sounds of our letter of the week! We had a story about super socks during snack and then had choice time.

January 23, 2015
Greetings from Michigan! You will have to go to "Question of the Day" and tell me your favorite part of the day. Mrs. Kiel was the teacher today and plans included learning about the disciples waiting (patience hat!) for the Holy Spirit. In gym you were going to play the "Clean up the Yard" game. You had a story of a snowball fight, snack and show and tell. I hope you had a fun day! I got to spend some time with my grandson (he was kicking a football that we set up in his shoe!) and then I drove to Michigan and enjoyed time with my daughter and our relatives here. See you Monday!

January 21, 2015
Jonathan and Levi back; Nolan out sick. Guess it is "that" time of year! Today we celebrated a birthday with Logan, who will turn 5 tomorrow. We had the rest of the story of Elisha and the Shunemite family, learning how God healed the boy through Elisha's prayers and touch. For our letter of the week, we listened for the /w/ sound at the beginning of words. Lydia led us in the ABC song and found the W on the poster and wall chart. Our alphabet town story was about a whale who had a water party. We had our wacky Wednesday song and centers. Many of us are making pages for a book about snow and we read our pages sitting on the author's chair. Logan brought a birthday snack with toys on top. Our Wednesday show and tell friends showed us a wooden chest, a wooden cross, wooden tools, a wooden key, and a wooden train track. Then we finished our day with outdoor play.

January 19, 2015
We had three absent today :( Two were sick-Jonathan and Levi-and one was on a family vacation-Ava. Our table time today included some of our centers from last week and some games, writing, and a puzzle. After table time and our morning prayer, we found out our jobs, saying our names with a /t/ sound at the beginning. We learned a new song today-//The WaWa Song.// Our Bible story was a review of the kindness story of Elisha and the family from Shunem. Our letter of the week makes the sound at the beginning of whistle, winter, and weather. Our Bible words are a song we have learned //(When I Am Afraid).// After our drink break, we did a partner monkey position and then we learned about centers. In the gym we ran and ran and ran and then did different exercises with our partner. After our running time, we had a special guest and then did centers. We had a snack from Levi and we had to write a note to thank him since he was not in school. Our show and tell time was next and the wood things that we brought to show were things we (or our cousin) made! We enjoyed 15 minutes of choice time and then our day was over.

January 14, 2015
I think the prospect of going out to play in the snow gave each of us an extra shot of adrenaline today because we sure had a lot of energy. (teacher talk for wiggles and sillies and talking out of turn!!) We enjoyed our table time. At attendance time we were asked a rhyme for "bed" and most of us could make a rhyme. We made a lot of different rhymes, too: BED, GED, KED, NED, HEAD, RED, FRED, JED, DEAD, AND MED. We were missing three friends today and prayed for them.For our song, we sang //Friends Forever.// Our Bible story was the story Jesus told about how to be wise-to understand what is right (like our Bible words for U) and TO DO what is right. We saw how a house on the sand falls when the water falls on it, but the house on the rock stands tall. We sang the song //Stand on the Rock.// Juliana was our letter of the week and alphabet town house finder today. Our story was about a silly umpire who was looking for his uniform while wearing his red long underwear! After centers we had snack. We had a story with rhymes on ever page, called //Red Sled.// Then we learned about the steps we should follow to get ready for outdoor play. We did a great job getting ourselves ready and enjoyed our snow play!

January 12, 2015
Everyone in school today! We began with our attendance and practiced cutting a circle. We are getting so good with our scissors skills! After table time, we began with our prayer, schedule, and jobs. Today we had to guess the helper by listening to what was the first and last letter of the name! Our calendar counter started with K and ended with N. Can you guess who it was? We sang the songs //Praise Him, Praise Him// and //This Is My Commandment.// We had the story of what happened after the wise men left Joseph, Mary, and Jesus and then we heard the one Bible story of when Jesus was a boy. After a snowman action rhyme, we did our letter of the week activities, learning the sounds for U (and giggling when we learned that our cow's name would be Undie U U) After our drink break and learning a "pretzel stand", we learned about our new centers. We played the "Man from Mars" game in the gym again for our moving time. We did centers when we came back from gym. We had delicious, healthy bananas from our snack person (begins with H and ends with E). We heard a story with rhyming words and guessed some of them. Our suitcase surprise was pretend snow that some of us chose to play in during choice time. Can you guess what it was?

January 9, 2015
Today we were missing Ryan D. and hope our prayers for his return will be answered quickly. With our attendance today, we were able to find the thing that "did not belong" in the group of marker, scissors, pencil, and crayon. It was the scissors! We knew that the pen belonged in the group instead. We said our helper names with the /g/ sound again and then we learned a new song: //L-O-V-E, Love, That's Why.// We added another hat to our heads: the hat of patience. We had the Bible story of David waiting patiently for his turn to be king. In gym today we warmed up with the //Rumble Boogie// song and with a mitten match running relay game. Then we practiced our throwing form and threw some silly pretend things (mud, jello, and rice krispie treats). We were given a small ball and we practiced throwing over a wall. We will keep practicing and refining our throwing form in the coming weeks. When we got back to our room, we had the story //Tiptoe Joe.// Joe had a secret to show his friends, but they needed to be quiet! During snack we listened to the story //Mrs. Fickle's Pickles.// After snack we saw more new things and listened to our friends tell about them. We saw a paint factory that dropped paint barrels into train cars, magnetic tiles that could make cubes and towers, a wooden air force jet, a triceratops that moved and made sounds, and figures from Mario Kart. We also listened to Audrey tell about her new tea set. We ended the day with choice time.

January 7, 2015
Another birthday day! On Monday we celebrated with Soren, who turned 5 while we were on Christmas break and today we celebrated with Kaylee, who turned 5 yesterday. Today the friends who had a job said their names with the /g/ sound at the beginning and it sure was silly! We sang a song that had our Bible words-God is love. Many of us knew the song from Sunday School (//Praise Him, Praise Him, All Ye Little Children).// Our Bible story told of how Simeon and Anna waited, prayed, and watched for Baby Jesus. Anna made up her own praise song about Jesus and many of us also made up praise songs that we sang for the class. God loves the praises of children! We did our letter of the week, with Ava finding the letter and the alphabet town house. The story was of goat, who learned that it is fun to give gifts as well as receive them. After our drink break, we did our wacky Wednesday song about bubble gum. We did it faster and faster! Then we did it all over again! After reviewing our centers, we played a new running game in the gym called Man from Mars. Mrs. Otten tried to tag us if we did not have the thing she said. We did centers and then enjoyed Kaylee's birthday snack while listening to a story of some gooey gum. Our Wednesday show and tell friends showed a magnetic ball, a Lego 1,000 sticker book, a alphabet bead bracelet, a sewing machine, a Hello Kitty figure, and wolverine claws. We had choice time at the end of the day.

January 5, 2015
Welcome back! Welcome to the new year! Our calendar changes; some of us have changes in our hair or shoes or clothes or toys; but we know that our God does not change and He is with us in 2015 just like He was with us in 2014! It was so nice to see each other again and to return to school with no sickness. Today we had the Bible story of the "Secret of the Star" which told the story of the wise men coming to see the new king-King Jesus. We learned that our new letter of the week, G, has two sounds and we learned the letter pieces that make the G and the Bible words and signs for our Bible words. After lining up by matching our mitten with Mrs. Otten's mitten, we took a drink break and then did a monkey position with a partner. We learned about the week's center activities and then had a suitcase surprise: a boot jack! We did an echo dance song inside for our moving time and then we did centers. We had snack with one of our favorite stories: //Go Away, Big Green Monster!// Six friends showed something new for show and tell: a birthday train engine, a new Barbie, a new purple scarf, an Igby stuffy, a red tractor and trailer, and moosie and a lobster with spying eyes! We had choice time to end the day.

December 22, 2014
A day of fun! After our table time, we did our circle activities, welcoming Kaylee back and singing "Happy Birthday" to Noah. We listened to several example of "quarter" and then did our letter page and a page of precise coloring. We colored a picture with a quilt and some of us colored our quilts with a repeating pattern. We then played games in the gym and were able to be in three teams with the help of Juliana's daddy. When we got back to the room, we heard the story of Hans and how he learned the meaning of Christmas and gave away his red boots to little Elsa. We then chose and opened the gifts we were giving to MOPS moms and babies. We took them down to the office to give to Mrs. Balint after our snack time. We enjoyed Noah's birthday treat while listening to that silly book with no pictures. We finished our day with some choice time and then the singing of "We wish you a merry Christmas". Have a wonderful, safe, fun break!

December 19, 2014
We were sorry that Kaylee was gone today and prayed that she will get better by next time! After table time and finding out about our schedule, we counted the numbers on the calendar and sang songs with bells. We had a story to remind us about what it means to be gentle. A baby hippo learned that his friends like gentleness, too. In gym we played two running games that we enjoyed: "What day is it, Mrs. Otten?" and "Shopping, shopping, presents!" We had the Friday show and tell friends show their quiet things after gym. During snack, Mrs. Otten read a book with no pictures. We then enjoyed a loooong choice time, while we finished our special (surprise) project.

December 17, 2014
During table time we were asked questions about ourselves and our answers were used later to finish our "All About Me" Christmas trees. All of our friends were in school today! I hope we stay healthy for at least one more week! We told Kaylee and Juliana the story of the pine tree and we talked today about how the story can also tell us about Jesus. The perfect pine tree is like Jesus, who was perfect, but who was sacrificed (died) so that our sins could be forgiven. Instead of our usual wacky Wednesday song, we put on some fun clean up/marching music and we sorted our BIG MESS from last time. We all worked together and had fun at the same time! We took a drink break and then did our letter of the week Alphabet Town story. We did our moving time in the gym with the guess-and-run game. When we came back, we completed our Christmas trees. Brody was our snack and half-birthday boy and he brought popcorn that looked like a snow man and also a candy treat for everyone. We had a shorter choice time and Eli reminded Mrs.Otten about show and tell, so we ended our day with our show and tell.

December 15, 2014
Today we prayed for two friends who were not at school: Juliana and Kaylee. We celebrated Ryan D.'s birthday and enjoyed his birthday treat of Christmas cookies! After hanging up our attendance hats today, we made an opposite puzzle and then had table time. We sang some songs while we shook bells for Christmas. We had a story that was a parable. Today we just listened to the story. We listened for why the farmer's wife loved one tree more than the others and why she gave that tree away. Next time we will learn how this is like another sacrifice. We did our monkey position and then did our letter of the week. We went outside and played in the mist. When we came in we had small group time and a project. We learned how to cut a triangle and then we cut, snipped, and glued. We will complete the project next time. After snack we had quiet show and tell and then we had our suitcase surprise (it is really a surprise, so we can't tell you what it was!) We had choice time. Uh-oh! Some of us chose to move ALL the kitchen stuff to the barn, which was not a wise choice. We will talk more about the consequences of that choice next time!

December 12, 2014 MAKE AND TAKE WORKSHOP!
Photo gallery coming soon!

December 10, 2014
We were sorry that Nolan was sick today and prayed for him to get well so he would not miss our program tomorrow. Today we had just a short table time and then we started our day so we could get over to church to practice for our program. We learned how to walk to our places, sing in big //singing// voices, and where we were going to meet to get into our costumes. After practice we played the guessing game outdoors (guessing in which hand Mrs. Otten held the pompom and then running to that sideline. When we got back to our room, we did our calendar counting and letter of the week. After our wacky Wednesday song with the vowels, we did table time and small group time. Lydia brought string cheese and pretzels for our snack. Then we had choice time and did our letter page.

December 8, 2014
We were missing Ava today and hope she feels better soon! We hope to stay healthy this week for all of our special activities! We practiced our program songs while standing in our lines and next time we will get to practice at the church! After our drink and running in place and our monkey position, we learned our new letter of the week. Since it was one of the vowels, we sang the vowel song and we learned two sounds for our letter. Since it was raining, we did our moving time in the gym. We moved different ways with the tambourine sounds and then we did our relay game with presents this time. When we got back to our room, we had our suitcase surprise: it started with our letter of the week: O We had small group and table time. For our snack, Logan brought santa hats made from fruit and a marshmallow. We had choice time after snack time.

December 5, 2014
We were sorry that our friend, Eli, was sick today. Hope he feels better soon! Today we began by reviewing how to write the letter R. After table time, we found out about our schedule and Noah counted the numbers for us. We practiced our program songs and then talked about our new "hat". In addition to putting on **compassion, kindness, and humility,** God says we also must put on **gentleness.** We practiced being gentle with our hands today by passing around a fragile egg. We felt and listened to gentleness by feeling and dropping feathers. We CAN be gentle, but remembering to be gentle when we are moving around the room is not as easy! After our Bible time, we went to the gym for more parachute activities! First we each had a turn to run under the parachute and retrieve a Christmas bow, and then we bounced the bows and popped the bows. Our last activity was making the tent/igloo. When we got back to our room we read the book //Blue Sky.// We were able to read the book by using picture clues and letter sound clues. We also thought about what was happening in the story and thought about what might come next. We had a special snack from Juliana (Sinterklaas cookies). After snack, we had the "Friday people" show their collections During choice time, we also did our letter of the week page and many of us chose to eat our letter C sound reminder: **CORN CHEX CEREAL** //(//which demonstrates all three of the sounds we focused on this week.

December 3, 2014
We were all in school today and we are doing pretty good at remembering to use tissues for our runny noses! After making some rhymes and practicing our program songs, we had the Bible story of the angel visit to Joseph. Our suitcase surprise was the costumes we will wear for the program. Nolan and Soren showed us how the shepherd costume looked and Juliana modeled the angel costume. We got to choose which we want to wear for the program. Our wacky Wednesday was an echo song called //The Chicken Count.// It had some funny rhymes in it and we were all squawking like chickens! We reviewed our letter of the week and Ryan found the letter for us. Cat and her cousin had the alphabet town adventure at the carnival. Since most of the snow has melted, we were able to have our moving time out doors. When we came in, we had more table time and some small group time. Audrey brought us a snack of animal crackers and sausage sticks. During snack we found out about some new choice time options. After snack, we had the "Wednesday" kids show their collections, which took us to nearly the end of the day. We just had time to do the wacky Wednesday song again and then it was time to go. We will have to try those new projects and do our letter page on Friday.

December 1, 2014
We did well with our new schedule for the month of December. After a very short table time, we started our day with our circle time, program song practice, and Bible story. After our drink break, we got to read the stories we wrote and illustrated last week //while sitting in the special "author's chair"// that Mrs. Otten made. We had great stories. Some were about things that really happened and some were stories we imagined. For letter of the week, we had to listen to three sounds because our letter, C, does not have its own sound! We learned the sign language for our c verse and then sang our song with the cow. We took a break and played a running game in the gym (delivering good news!). When we came back to our room, Mrs. Otten did some work with small groups and Mrs. Kiel played table time games with us. During snack we listened to the story //Hannah's Collections.// Then the "Monday" people did their show and tell. Today our collections were rubber band bracelets, hair ties, vehicles, and bed buddies, (Ryan D. was sick and Logan told us about a rock collection that he used to have.) After show and tell we had choice time and then Elizabeth reminded Mrs. Otten about the books to check out! Thanks, Elizabeth! Juliana and Jonathan got to take home books today.

November 26, 2014
Today we stayed pretty much on schedule! We were missing Lydia and Logan today. We practiced our songs and Audrey was able to shake the bells for one of our songs. We had our alphabet town story and Hallie found the letters and the house for us. Our story was about a raccoon who was a "rascal" because he played a trick on rabbit. We sang our cow song with lots of different beginning sounds and then had a suitcase surprise with an /m/ sound. We sang //Granny at the Fair// for our wacky Wednesday song. We played a moving game in the gym and then had center time. Nolan brought our snack. It looked like a turkey, but it was made from cheese and crackers and a pear. We added more parts to our advent activity and then had choice time.

November 24, 2014
November is drawing to a close and the busy month of December looms ever closer! So we have added song practice into our day. I will send complete details about the program and Make and Take after Thanksgiving. We will also bring home our advent activity on December 1. After practicing our names today, we had table time. We did our morning routines and practiced clapping the parts of words. We learned about three more promises of Jesus and some of us told what promise was special to us. We listened for the /r/ sound today and learned our sign language for our verse. After our drink break and Monkey Monday, we learned about our new centers. Since it was raining, we played a game in the gym. When we came back to our room, we had center time. After center time, we had snack and made words from the sounds Mrs. Otten made in "robot talk". We had a short time for books and then our day was done!

November 21, 2014
We are sorry that Elizabeth was sick and had to miss today. Today we practiced our Christmas songs and then we reviewed how Jesus showed humility by leaving his throne and becoming a baby. Then we heard the foot washing story from the Bible storybook that Jonathan's family gave us. We talked about waiting for Christmas and we made a project to help us with that. We will bring that home next week Wednesday. In gym we warmed up with //The Boogie Walk// practicing our left and right. Then we reviewed the things we could do with a beach ball and we had time to play with beach balls. When we got back to our room, we read a story called //Buttons Buttons.//We tried to figure out the words on each page (they were covered up) by looking at the pictures in the book, and by thinking of beginning sounds. We had snack and then show and tell and then our day was over! We each showed something special to us for show and tell, beginning with Logan showing his grandpa and his special robot leg.

November 19, 2014
I don't think we could have packed more into 3 short hours than we did today! These children will be so ready for 5K in the fall; sometimes I envy the extra time that Mrs. VanDerPuy has with her class! We had a great morning of table time, playing games and sharing play dough. We had to collect the leaves that fell in the room, now that the cold weather is here. Now our room is ready for our Christmas "lights". For our circle time, we had a couple different things on the schedule and we had extra circle time as we started learning our songs for the Christmas program. We broke up our sitting time with drink break, Wacky Wednesday song, and a moving activity with turkey feathers. We had a very funny B story and our alphabet town story with a big bear and a basket of blueberries and a bad bird and a balloon. We had center time and enjoyed playing games with counting, remembering, and matching and identifying letters. We enjoyed creating block structures and making patterns with beads. Lydia brought our snack today and each of us was able to put our own straw in our juice box! During snack we had a story called //The Big Bad Bullybug.// There was something **similar** to our wacky Wednesday bee song. Then we enjoyed our choice time and some of us enjoyed the bubbles in the water table. Our day ended with a suitcase surprise, and Levi guessed correctly: it was our //Dots!// book. Today we took home our caps picture. Did you notice our paintings in the hall?

November 17, 2014
After table time today, we did our morning routines. We clapped the parts of our name with our job assignment. Juliana counted with the snowflake wand! (And we were excited about the real snow, as well!) We began to learn our first song for the Christmas program. Then we talked about the promises that Jesus has made to us. After some moving time, we did our letter of the week activities. We listened for the sound of /b/ and said words that had that sound. Brody told us the letter pieces that make the letter B since he gets a lot of practice writing the B at the beginning of his name. After our drink and monkey Monday position, we learned about our centers for this week. Some friends got to go with Mrs. A. for a center!!! (Each of us will get a turn to do a center with Mrs. A. at some point) This week we have 3 games, blocks, and beads for our centers. Since we did not all have boots and snowpants, we did our "outdoor time" in the gym. We ran, slid, galloped, and skipped. When we got back to our room, we did our centers. The friends doing the letter page had fun popping the bubbles of their bubble wrap. The friends who worked with Mrs. Kiel made a new decoration for our room. After centers we had our snack. It was a special Thanksgiving snack from Levi. During snack we each got to talk about our paintings. Then we had choice time.

November 14, 2014
We probably came home hungry, thirsty, and tired because we did a lot of brain work today! We started with our table time and some conference time with Mrs. Otten. At our first circle time, we talked a little bit about our verse, //Praise the Lord.// We confuse "praise" with "pray" although we do praise when we pray! We talked about the reasons that God is so great and that praise is telling God that he is great in our words, songs, and actions. After singing //Stand Up and Clap,// we had two stories to try to understand "humility" a bit more. We had the story Jesus told about the two men who prayed in church and the prayer that God listened to (because the man had humility). We also had a story about how humility is recognizing that we are not always the "best". Not sure how well that transferred; it is not an easy concept to bring to the 4 year old level! After a "get up and move" break, we did a shared reading of another book in the Bookworms Ready for School series called //We Listen.// Then we talked about the importance of listening for our parachute activities. Then it was time for those fun activities. We did such a good job listening (and it helped that we let go of the parachute when we listened!) that we actually got to do 6 activities, and not just 4! We also did a great job cooperating and we did some awesome giant pops! When we got back to the room, we learned a new word. We already knew "same" and "different", but now we learned about "similar". We used that concept to sort the food we brought for the food pantry a couple weeks ago. During snack we read a story that was very **//similar//** to the story we had on Monday. It was called //Peter's Pockets.// The Peter in this story had the same problem at the Peter in the other story, and the mom solved the problem in a similar (but not the same) way. Then it was time to show and tell about what we had in our pockets! We showed some really special stuff and enjoyed talking about what we brought. We also were very good listeners to each other. We ended our day with choice time.

November 12, 2014
Everyone back at school! As you can tell (from the fact that we got out about 10 minutes late!) it was a full and busy day! We had extra table time today so Mrs. Otten could meet with us to talk about our paintings and to write down our idea for our book dedication. Soon there will be new art in the hallway and a new book to check out! Our Bible story was another promise for a baby that God provided to someone who never had a child: Elizabeth! The baby was named John and he was going to point the way to Jesus, who was also the answer to a promise that God made to Adam and Eve. For our letter of the week, we listened for the /p/ sound in words and if we heard the sound, the picture of that word went in the purple purse. Our wacky Wednesday song was all about restaurants, starting with the /p/ sound restaurant: Pizza Hut! We had to remember the signs and sing the pattern of the song. We reviewed and did our centers and then enjoyed some outdoor time. We had two stories during snack, //A Pair of Socks// and //Peck, Peck, Peck.//Then we had a bit of choice time before the end of the day.

November 10, 2014
We had two girls out today, but, thankfully, it was not from sickness. We missed you, Ava and Lydia! The room looked a little different today in preparation for our centers. After table time and prayer, we took a few minutes to share things we wanted to tell each other. Then we put names on the helper chart, but Mrs. Otten said the names with the letter of the week sound first instead of the name sound first. After finding out about our schedule and what we were going to learn today, Mrs. Otten counted the calendar numbers for Ava. We sang a song from last year: //Stand Up and Clap.// Our suitcase surprise was things you might use with a baby. Our story was about how God kept his promise to Hannah and she had a baby that she named Samuel. We figured out that the sound we heard at the beginning of pink, purple, pen, and pencil was /p/. We also figured out other words that begin with that sound. Some of us knew the letter that makes that sound. We talked about the letter pieces we needed to make the letter P and Soren was the one chosen to point at where we start our letters. We learned that our Bible words were //Praise the Lord// and we sang a praise song with a pattern (//Hallelu, Hallelujah)// with boys and girls taking different parts. After our drink break and monkey position, we found out about our new centers for the week. We had outdoor time and then centers. Hallie brought a snack for us, and during snack we heard the story //Peter's Pockets// and learned about our show and tell. We got to choose a pocket to take home in which to hold our show and tell. Then we had choice time until the end of the day.

November 7, 2014
Whew! Busy day, and we were able to do about 90% of all I had planned! Again we did our own nametags using our initials and most of us remembered them and quite a few of us remembered to put the "dots" after each letter. After our table time, we started our day with reminding ourselves of the importance of being reverent during prayer and then we began our day with prayer. We looked at our schedule and Mrs. Otten spelled the names of the people who had jobs. (some of us could even guess which classmate's name was being spelled). We sang a couple songs and then talked about our new "hat": the hat of humility. Our example is Jesus, who left heaven and became one of us and even washed the feet of his friends! Our "D" Bible words also fit quite nicely into our lesson: "Do to others as you would have them do to you". We had a fun gym class! First of all, our warm up song was a **D**ancing song and we love to dance! Then we had one and a half dozen stations! We stayed at each station for one minute. There was balancing, hopping, tossing and catching, strength challenges, monkey positions, jumping, and tossing at targets. After gym we all helped out and cleaned up a station! When we got back to our room, we learned about what is on the cover of a book and we read a book together called //We Are Kind.// We are readers! Then it was time for our "dozen" snack. After an explanation, we did our bathroom break and then we put our snack on trays that had placemats with numbers 1-12 on them. During snack we heard a story called //The Dark.// It seemed like it was going to be a scary story, but it had a happy ending. finally it was time for our show and tell. We enjoyed giving our descriptions and guessing each other's show and tell from their descriptions. We ended our day with a little choice time and made the most of the time we had.

November 5, 2014
Something different today! We did not have our name tags with our names, but we got to choose our own cap and write our initials on it for our name tag! Today started with a very long table time so that Mrs. Otten could confer with each of us about our center choice from Monday. During that time, we played games, sorted, counted, made designs with rubber bands, and made animals with magnetic shapes. When our day started, Mrs. Otten talked about showing God how important He is when we are praying (by closing our eyes and just talking to God). After our job chart (with initials, not names!) and calendar, we learned a new song //God Is Bigger.// We finished our story of Jericho, learning that God showed his power by making the water of the river stop and by making the walls fall down with just a shout. He kept his promise to give his people their own land. Joshua also kept the promise to protect Rahab and her family. After our drink break, we did the //Dancing Machine// song for our wacky Wednesday song. We got to dance like washing machines, robots, trains, and more things. We reviewed our Bible words for D and learned the sign language for it and then Kaylee found the letter of the week in the room and in Alphabet Town. Our story was about a dinosaur who "daydreamed" and "dilly-dallied" (so we talked about the meanings of those words. By the time we finished letter of the week, we needed to adjust our schedule, so we had snack next. After snack, Ava was able to share her show and tell. She did some good describing because we could guess what was in her bag! We reviewed dozen and learned that we have a dozen and a half dozen children in our class. We talked about our Friday snack as well. We reviewed our centers and then we had our outdoor time. When we came inside, we did our centers, which took us until the end of the day!

November 3, 2014
It was so nice to see everyone in school again today! Hopefully we will keep staying healthy! Today we got to swat flies and count them and match what we counted to ten-frame boards. After table time, we did our morning routines and then had the first part of the story of Jericho. For our letter of the week, we listened to the /d/ sound and then we listened to clues about words that start with that sound. Some of us already knew that it was going to be letter D and some of us could think of other words that start with the /d/ sound. After our drink break, we danced to silly songs with Larry before we settled down to find out about our centers. We read the book //Ten Black Dots// and talked about our project of making a book with dots. For our letter page, we are going to add a dozen dots to remind us of the /d/ sound. We will talk more about "dozen" next time. After centers, we had snack and learned about our upcoming show and tell. We listened to Mrs. Otten describe some toys and we guess what they were. After snack we had choice time, as well.

October 31, 2014
End of the week; end of the month; end of the first quarter! It is said, "Time flies when you are having fun" and if that is true, we are having a lot of fun in 4K because this first quarter just flew by! After our table time today, we began the day looking by seeing how our numbers make a pattern and counting the teens, the twenties and the thirties. Hallie counted our calendar numbers with the ladybug wand (she was remembering how she saw ladybugs in her house.) We had a kindness story of the friendship between David and Jonathan and how David was even kind to Jonathan's son with a long hard-to-pronounce name: Mephibosheth. For gym today we counted to 100! We did a different exercise for each 10. Then we had a circuit of balancing activities and some moving as well. Our circle activity after gym was to swat flies! We compared how many stuck to the fly swatter and how many were left on the mat. We matched what we saw to picture mats. Noah brought our snack with a surprise inside!! Thanks, Noah! We then sang our //I Like to Eat// song with vowel sounds and then showed what we like to eat that we brought for the food pantry. Finally, we had some choice time and we also got to do some counting with Mrs. Otten.

October 29, 2014
A wonderful Wednesday! We had table time and then a short circle time. We reviewed our letter of the week name and sounds and then talked about our Bible words. We sang a song about the command to love one another and then had a story about a boy who learned the importance of following the rules. We had a short time outdoors and then we used the bathroom and got ready for our field trip. We learned about what we could expect at the arts center and what was expected of us. Then we boarded the bus for a fun ride to an awesome place. We saw lots of different ways that artists think about and do art about "home". We got to embellish our own house with interesting materials. Look for them in the hallway next time! At the end of the day we enjoyed a quick snack that Logan brought for us.

October 27, 2014
Even without centers, we filled our day with learning and activity! After our morning routines, we sang //1-2-3, Jesus Loves Me// again after first seeing what it is like to use sign language to show the numbers. Our Bible story was of an army captain who had to trust God and do what prophet Elisha told him to do to be healed of his leprosy. After our drink break and monkey Monday, we learned that our new letter of the week was another vowel, so we would listen for two of its sounds. Kellen showed us where to start the letter (at the top!) and Elizabeth found the letter in the room and in Alphabet Town. Our story was an adventure that an iceman had. We also tried an exercise for our letter: walking like inchworms. After our outdoor time, we learned the answer to "What Is an Insect?" (which was also the title of the book we read) We sang and insect part song and then we each got a play creepy crawly and had to decide if it was an insect or not. During snack we had a story of an inchworm. During choice time we also did our letter page adding an insect stamp and an icicle ornament to it for our letter sounds. FIELD TRIP NEXT TIME!

October 22, 2014
We started the day in a very unusual way! Even before all our friends were here we had a fire drill! We did a wonderful job exiting the building and responding when our names were called. After a bit more table time, we started our day. Mrs. Otten decided to start with the most important thing first, so we started with our Bible story. We learned how we could trust Jesus to keep us safe just like he kept his friends safe when he made the storm stop. After getting a drink, we enjoyed our wacky Wednesday song that used our letter of the week sound: //Tooty Ta!// We had our Alphabet Town story of Turtle taking a trip to see Tiger. He needed to go on three different vehicles (that start with /t/) Can you guess what he took? Brody got to find Turtle's house in the book today. We reviewed our centers and choices and then had our outdoor time. When we came in we had centers. Kaylee brought us some very delicious muffins for snack. During snack we had a story with a mystery called //Alone in the Forest.// We finished our day with some choice time.

October 20, 2014
We celebrated a birthday today! Ava turned 5 on Sunday. Today she wore a pink crown and the birthday badge and chose a book for her birthday. We sang to her. We looked again at the pattern that our numbers make as we moved from the teens to 20. Levi found the 20 card and we counted as he pointed at the numbers with the pointer finger wand. We did our letter of the week activities and many of us figured out that our cow's name this week would be Tandy Tae Too. We were excited to learn that we would get to put a Tootsie Roll wrapper on our letter page (and eat the Tootsie Roll!) and we would get to wear a Temporary Tattoo. Our centers also included playing a number identification game with Mrs. Kiel, trying to uncover a treasure; a tic tac toe bean bag game; Tinker Toy construction; paper tube construction; torn paper art work; or making a book. After we learned about our centers, we had our outdoor time. After centers we enjoyed Ava's birthday snack of strawberry shortcake with whipped cream. During snack we saw pictures of apple pie production. After snack we got to see it first hand! Some of us saw parents or other relatives working in the gym. When we got back to our room we had our choice time. Some of the boys were so inspired by what they saw in the gym that they used the Tinker Toys to fashion their own apple peelers and apple corers!

October 17, 2014
We had a very different schedule today! After learning more about kindness, we took our bathroom break before heading to **Vollrath Park** for gym! When we came back, we **made our own apple pies for snack.** We had show and tell while they were baking and then heard a story while they were cooling. That's it! That was our day! Look for a photo gallery of our day on our page on Parents Web next week!

October 15, 2014
Another full day of activity and, hopefully, some learning thrown in! Today we were thankful for doctors and for our bodies that can heal from illness and injury as we talked about Audrey's injury and other injuries we have had. Levi was our letter finder today and we listened for the short and long E sounds in words. We had fun with our wacky Wednesday song //Apples and Bananas// because we could change the sounds to the long vowel sounds! After a nice time of running outside, we did our centers. During the snack that Juliana brought for us, we heard the story //And Red Galoshes// and were able to say those words on every page. Our Bible story was another story of God providing food. This time it was Jesus who feed 5,000 people with just one boy's lunch of 5 little loaves and 2 little fish. We sang a song about the story, too. We again had a rather short choice time, but we enjoyed it, nonetheless. Mrs. Otten remembered to send home the books this time thanks to a reminder from Brody!

October 13, 2014
Well, the first thing that happened today was that Mrs. Otten bit off more than she could chew! Too much planned for the morning and not enough time allowed for moving around. We did get through everything, but I will have to keep today in mind when lesson planning in the future! We were all in school today! We learned about our new letter of the week and the special name given to it (vowel). We listened for the short e and the long e sounds. We learned how to write the letter and were introduced to our new verse. We will talk more about the verse and its meaning next time. We were not able to take a drink break because our bubbler is in the middle of repairs. We learned about three new words that begin with letter e: embellish, equal, and elect. These words helped to tell us about 4 of our centers. We also did a "write the room" center and an fine motor center picking up jelly eggs and putting each one its own compartment. Before we actually did centers, we took time out for some outdoor time on the blacktop playground where we ran and hop-scotched. After centers we had our snack break and then we sang //My God Is so Big// and had the story of God providing manna for his people). We ended our day with a very short choice time (and a promise for a longer choice time next time!)

October 10, 2014
Levi back...Lydia gone! Today we learned how we can use the zero and the other nine numbers to make all the numbers! Kaylee and Eli must have been paying close attention because they used their snack (string cheese and sausage) to make the numbers 10 and 100! We listened to //We're Going on a Leaf Hunt// and we matched real leaves with the leaves in the book. Then we acted out the story. We got together with a partner and sorted leaves by color or by shape. In the gym we learned what we could do with a hula hoop. After gym we thought again about wearing a kindness hat and we had a story about hats (called //Hats!//) which showed us how we can use kindness to make an unkind person want to be kind. After snack we saw many different things that can be handmade. Some of us used our own hands to make a lego creation or a leaf creation or a jewel creation. We saw things carved from wood and things painted and colored. We saw a paper airplane and a puppet that was knit and a very special blanket made by an aunt. Mrs. Otten even used her hands to make honey cookies shaped like hearts. After show and tell we had choice time. Some friends chose to do centers that they had not been able to do on Monday and Wednesday. It was a busy, fun day!



October 8, 2014
Ryan D. returned and Levi was gone on vacation. Our colorful trees are hanging in the hall and we see many colorful leaves blowing on our playground. Today we enjoyed a silly alphabet town story about a hippo with hiccups. Soren was able to find the H house in the book and the H wall chart and poster. Brody was able to wear the big pointer finger as we sang and reminded ourselves that we start our letters at the top. We did centers and then enjoyed a snack that Nolan brought. Most of us were able to open our packages with our own finger pinching power. We enjoyed our outdoor time. We sang our Bible song with the /h/ sound and learned a new song called //Hinges//. We had the story of God's provision for his people when they were faced with the sea in front and the army in back. We had a short choice time, but made the most of it!

October 6, 2014
This morning we did some name writing practice after our attendance and then enjoyed some new activities for table time. We were missing Ryan D. and prayed from him to get well soon. Nolan counted our calendar number with the pointing finger and then we played a listening game to see if two sounds were the same or different. We listened to the sound at the beginning of hat, hammer, and hinge. When we listened and realized that it was the same sound as the name of one of our classmates (Hallie) we realized that our letter of the week was letter H. We looked at some picture cards that were in a heart box. Some of them were tricky because they could be called more than one word. We needed to think about the /h/ sound word. We learned our Bible words and sang the song for our cow (Handy Hae Hoo this week!). We identified numerals for lining up for our drink break. After a drink, /h/ exercise (hops) and our monkey position, we learned about our new centers. We will put a hard hat on our H page; finish our tissue paper collage; and then have a choice of listening, grabbing a handful and counting, counting and coloring a shape to fill in, drawing a kindness story, making a leaf with melted crayon, or playing a listening game in the barn. After centers we enjoyed a great H snack from Noah! (cheese cut in H or heart, ham, and letter crackers...many of us found an H on our crackers, too!) We had a wonderful time outdoors. We sang a song with lots of /h/ sound words that sounded like laughing and we sang //Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise Ye the Lord.// We read our Bible story of Moses and Aaron talking to Pharoah from the Jesus Storybook Bible that Jonathan gave to our class. We were excited to tell about the Bibles that we all have at home :) We learned about the 9 "warnings" that God gave to Pharoah and about the 10th most terrible one. After our Bible time, we had a short choice time.

October 3, 2014
Today we learned about a new hat that God wants us to wear: the hat of kindness. We learned how to walk ON a line (in different ways) and we learned about leaves and //why// they change color. We listened for the /l/ sound at the beginning of words, but we also noticed that many of our friends' names have the letter L and the /l/ sound in the middle of the name. We sang //Father Abraham// to review our left and right. We heard a Bible story of how the woman from Shunem was kind to Elisha (and how he was kind in return). In gym we had fun warming up with //The Freeze// and then walking different ways on different kinds of "lines". After gym we had an informational story about leaves and learned about their summer job (when they are green). Our suitcase surprise was an unusual thing to use for adding colorful leaves of paint on the brown tree trunks that we painted last week. During snack, Mrs. Otten read //Our Trip to Maywood// and we learned about checking out classroom books. Today Levi and Lydia were able to take classroom books home. We enjoyed seeing all the things brought for show and tell. We did a great job listening to our friends. Soren got the patience award today, because his stick was chosen last for show and tell! We enjoyed a nice time of choice time and we finished our trees to finish our day.

October 1, 2014
Today we had to decide if the picture that was on our name tag belonged in the fish bowl or in a line on the lace by listening to the beginning sound. We also used our listening skills to guess what object Mrs. Otten put into a can by the sound it made when she shook the can. We heard some exciting news from Elizabeth about her brother being born. Ryan D.'s stick was chosen to find the letter L on the poster, wall cards, and in alphabet town. It was a story about a little lady and a lost locket. After our drink, we learned about left and right and did the wacky Wednesday song //Looby Loo//. We did centers and had snack. During snack we had the story //Show and Tell Day// and talked about our upcoming "kid's choice" show and tell. We enjoyed some active outdoor time, with most of us getting warm enough to take off our jackets. When we came in we sang //Rise and Shine// again and then had the amazing story of a bush on fire that did not turn into ashes. We learned that God was choosing Moses to help rescue his people, even though Moses was afraid. We had choice time after our Bible story and then reviewed our letter L Bible words. Here are some of our choice time creations:

September 29, 2014
Hallie returned from her vacation, so we were all in school today! We had a full day of activity today. We started our day with a listening game and then we listened to the sound for our new letter of the week. After our letter of the week activities, we took our drink break (oh no...we forgot about our monkey position!) and then did centers. After centers we enjoyed Brody's snack of graham goldfish and string cheese. We also had the apple juice that Soren brought last week (and Mrs. Otten forgot to serve!).We also read the book //Meet the 4K Class//, which we will soon be able to check out. We enjoyed some book time and then outdoor time. We were fortunate to get outside before the wind switched and brought in the cool lake air!. When we came in we had a song about our Noah story and then heard our new story of Moses and how God protected him. During choice time we finished our project for the auction by adding a glow-in-the-dark and glitter star.

September 26, 2014
A perfect day for exploring the wonders of God's creation at Maywood! Unfortunately, there were some issues with uploading the proof in pictures. Watch for the pictures to be uploaded when I get that issue resolved!



September 24, 2014
A wonderful Wednesday, with a bit of wackiness thrown it! We had a shorter table time so we could practice our first fire drill before the side doors were being painted. We did an excellent job of walking quickly and staying in our line and responding when our names were called! Mrs. Otten thought we should get stickers just like the children in the story //Fire Drill.// After our fire drill, we did our letter of the week activities and Logan was chosen to find the letter F on the poster, wall cards, and in Alphabet Town. Our story was about four foolish fish who flooded a fountain! After our drink break, we did the wacky Wednesday song //Make Any Shape and Freeze.// We had so much fun making our bodies into different shapes. We did centers next. After centers it was time for our school pictures to be taken. I hope you like the result! We were happy with the comb we got to keep, as well. We enjoyed our snack from Soren and then some wonderful outdoor time. We came in for 15 minutes of choice time and then ended our day talking a little about our field trip next time.

September 22, 2014
After table time and our morning routines, we did the fingerplay //5 Little Speckled Frogs// before finding out our new letter of the week. It makes the sound you hear in the beginning of feather, foam, and face: /f/ We identified many pictures with this sound and then learned the name: F. We learned our new Bible words and we sang our Mandy Mae Moo song with the /f/ sound (Fandy Fae Foo).After our monkey position we talked about our centers. We reminded ourselves that our letters start at the top and learned how to make F. We also talked about how we were going to do a project for the auction. We had 5 new "choice" centers, involving taking turns, and using our finger and hand muscles and dexterity. After centers we had our snack break. We enjoyed some wonderful time outdoors before coming in for our Bible story of the flood that God sent. We had a short indoor choice time before ending our day.

September 19, 2014
Sorry for the late update to the wiki today. We had some generous donations of emergency snack brought in, so after class I was working to fit that into our cabinet, which meant I had to move other things, and one thing led to another! Before I knew it, it was time to change out of teacher "hat" and into library page "hat" and when I got home it was time to put on the lawn maintenance "hat"....We had a full and busy day in 4K today. After our table time and morning routines, we talked about a "hat" that God wants us to wear: the compassion hat. We read a book called //Understand and Care// which gave some examples of what it means to have compassion. Up next was gym. We warmed up with a start and stop song and then we played a relay game. We had to find balls in our team color that were hidden under hats. When we got back to the room we talked about why we have seasons and then we read a book about the changes that happen in autumn (fall). One of the most noticeable changes are the trees. today we used brown paint to paint a tree trunk and branches. We will add colorful leaves on another day. After our painting time, we had snack. How appropriate! We talked about squirrels collecting acorns and Jonathan's mom had made "acorns" for us for part of our snack! Next came show and tell! We first talked about magnets and what sticks to a magnet. We took out our show and tell made of metal and then we passed the magnet around the circle to see if our metal object had the kinds of metal that stuck to a magnet. Twelve of us had our show and tell stick to the magnet! Finally, we enjoyed some choice time at the end of our day. Ryan D. returned to school today, so we were able to take a whole class photograph. We enjoyed table time while Mrs. Otten did letter pages with some of the friends. Logan chose the spaceship bell sound and Kaylee counted our calendar numbers with the pink rose. We reviewed our letter name and sound and sang the Mandy Mae Moo songs. Today some friends had picture cards that did NOT go in the box because they started with a different sound. We had our first Alphabet Town story and Nolan was chosen to find the M letter cards in our room and the M house of Alphabet Town. Our story had a sad part and a happy part. Our wacky Wednesday song had us moving like machines. Then we did our center time. After center time, we did a song with rhythm sticks. We had Minion crackers and apple juice for snack. It was a wonderful day for our outdoor time, and most of us got quite warm and took off our jackets. When we came in we had a short choice time and then Ryan D. shook a number 4 so we waved good bye to each other.
 * September 17, 2014 **

September 15, 2014
We started our day with a prayer of thanks for the birth of Ava's baby brother, Simon, and a prayer of thanks for Kellen's fun grandparent time, and a prayer for healing for Ryan D. who was out sick. Lydia chose the pink rose to count the calendar numbers today. Today we had our first letter of the week. We learned the song that goes with Miss Mandy Mae Moo and we each had a picture of a word that starts with the /m/ sound. We learned how to write the letter M and we learned our Bible verse for letter M. Our suitcase surprise was also a /m/ sound friend: Mat Man! After our drink break and our Monkey Monday position, we did centers. Today we had one center that we had to do and one center could be a choice. After centers we sang //He's God the Whole World// with lots and lots of moving, since we could not get outside to burn off that energy! We learned how God gave Adam the job of naming the animals and caring for the garden. We had our bathroom and snack break. We talked again about how we use the things in our room to play at choice time and we talked about our choice time "bees" (Bee slow, Bee safe, Bee sweet).

September 12, 2014
Our friend, Kellen, was having some "grandma time" today, but the rest of us were in school. After our table time and morning routines, we talked about how we can tell about a person by the hat he wears. Then we learned that God has "hats" that he wants us to wear, too. The first hat is the //compassion// hat. To learn what compassion means, we heard the story Jesus told about the good Samaritan. After our Bible story, we had gym today. We reviewed moving around the outside of the circle with our warm up song. Then we reviewed running across the gym safely. Finally, we played a relay game and learned how to do relay races. We are fast runners! When we got back to our room we had a story called //Hooray for Bread!// It was a "tale" which means it was just a story and did not really happen. We listened to what happened to each slice of bread, even the two slices that ran away and were "unaccounted for". We listened to the story again at snack and tried to finish each page with the rhyming word. After snack, we had our first show and tell! We saw hats, headbands, masks, a bridal veil, a game headband, and even a rock that people put on their heads. We had a short time of choice time and a project for those who did not get to do it on Wednesday. Then it was clean up time and we had **A BIG PROBLEM!** We had to have a little talk about the difference between playing with toys and "dumping toys". We will review this again next week :)

September 10, 2014
We were glad that Soren was back and he was able to do the project that he missed on Monday. Today we reviewed what knew about creation: what God made and how he made it. Then we learned how God did something different when he made the most special part of creation. We sang //If I Were a Butterfly// and then we took our drink break. Since it was Wednesday, we had a wacky song. It was an echo song called //Ooga Booga Boogie// and it was so silly! Center time was next.Today when we came into the classroom, we got to choose our first center. After we did that, we got to choose a new center. Since we could not go outside (too wet and rainy), we had our snack next. We talked about good things to do on a rainy day. After a short book time, we "beat the bubbles" and got ready for a BIG BOOK story. We heard some different words in this story: peddler, wares, and upset. We also got to help with the story, playing the part of the monkeys! It was just a story, but we enjoyed it. Our project was to make a stack of caps on our own heads, and some of us did the project today, and some will do it on Friday. We did our project during choice time and we were blessed with an extra helper: Mrs. Tislau who had a break from helping other children and decided to offer her services to us! Eli shook a number one for our good bye so we did finger kisses today. I didn't manage to get everyone, but here are a couple snapshots of choice time today!

September 8, 2014
We were missing Soren today :( Ava chose a new bell sound for us: the space ship sound! After table time we began our day with prayer and our moring routines. Ryan D. counted the numbers on the calendar and used the same pointing finger that Ryan Burgard had used! We learned a new routine of thinking time. We also learned how to wait to take our turn to talk or to talk all together. Then we had the Bible story of the creation of all the animals! We had fun making animal sounds. After our drink break, we found out about 2 new centers and our center partner for today. Then we did centers. After centers we went outside to play (and Mrs. Otten stayed inside to find her monkey cards!) When we came back in we practiced our body X's and did our Monkey Monday position. We read the story //Hooray for Hat!// and learned how we can read the words //and// the pictures! We had a yogurt snack provided by Juliana. She led us in prayer with her own words today. After snack we had our first "suitcase surprise": MIRRORS! With our center partner, we shared a mirror and looked at our faces. For our project, we drew our faces and added the hats we had colored. We added sticker circles and glue dots and glitter to our pictures. Kellen shook the number 5 for our goodbye and we did high 5's for our goodbye today.

September 5, 2014
Whew! What a day! We were busy, busy, and very warm! Eli chose our bell sound today! He chose the clapping and cheering sound. After reviewing our stop, look, and listen, we continued to have table time while Mrs. Otten weighed and measured us. At our circle, we got to celebrate Levi! He had a birthday and we sang to him and he got to wear a crown and a badge and pick out a birthday book. Nine of us had jobs today and the rest of us were "on vacation". Ryan chose the pointing finger for counting our calendar numbers. Mrs. Otten had us think about whether something was "just a story" or "really happened". Then we heard about what "really happened" when God created the world. We learned some signs to go along with the song we sang about the world. We took the looong walk down to the gym and only had to stop 2 times (we stop if our line is not being safe or efficient or respectful). We learned about some gym procedures and did lots of moving different ways. After a drink, we did our center time with different partners. Then we practiced TALK and LISTEN and told our partners things that we like. During our snack we heard the story //Things I Like.// After snack we had choice time and we got to tell Mrs. Otten some of our favorite things.

September 3, 2014 FIRST DAY OF 4K!
It was a fantastic first day! However, between our "grown up" 4K children and our full class, it seemed at times as if there were a lot more than 18 of us in the room! This morning we started with table time and reviewing/learning what to do when we hear the bell ring. We had our photographs taken during table time. When we went to the blue carpet for circle time, we learned about pretzel legs and choosing a spot to sit. Today Mrs. Otten did all the jobs because some jobs are new and some children are new. Our jobs are bell, calendar, fish, plants, leader, caboose, stop sign, name tags, and good bye. In a few weeks we will be doing learning centers, so today we had our first practice of working at a center with a partner. After all this new information, we were ready to get out and move. We first had to review how to make and move in a line. We had a wonderful time outside and (the teachers) were happy for pleasant weather for our outdoor time. When we came in we did our Wacky Wednesday song, //Born to Move.// Next we learned about talking partners and we took turns telling each other what we knew about germs. We read the book //Germs Are Not for Sharing// and talked about hand washing in preparation for our snack. Today Mrs. Otten helped Ava pass out her snack so we could see how that was done. During snack we heard the story //Wow! School!// and Mrs. Otten showed how to make the word W-O-W with our hands and our mouth. We looked at books after snack and then had choice time. At the end of the day we found out that we would have a new dismissal procedure and would say goodbye on the blue carpet before we go to our cubbies. Our good bye today was a wave. The teachers were kept so busy today that there are no photographs of our day....hopefully there will be some next time!