2015-2016+WHAT+HAPPENED+TODAY+IN+3K?

ME TO "WHAT HAPPENED TODAY?"
On this page you will find Mrs. Otten's blog of what 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 24, 2016
One more day! We had a taste of summer weather today for our last "normal" day! We were glad to see everyone in school and enjoyed some table time together. After our morning routines, we took a last day photograph outdoors by the school sign. Then we practiced the songs we will sing for our grown ups. We had a book that reminded us that God knows **everything!** Our Bible words tell us that he knows when we sit and when we rise, but the Bible also teaches us that God knows everything about us **and He loves us!** We had to switch up our schedule a bit, so we had snack time next. After snack time we went outside to do lots of moving. When we came in we still were moving with our moving song! We had a story about how we changed our parents' lives when we came into the family. We had our last choice time!

May 19, 2016
Chase and Jordy were back, but Finnian was gone. We wrote our names during table time and then enjoyed time with play dough and building sets. Jordy was our calendar counter and chose the walking stick wand. We practiced our last day songs and had another story from the life of Paul. This time Paul went over the wall! We enjoyed outdoor time on this lovely, warm day. When we came in, we did a song that had us moving and listening for different sounds called //Party in the Jungle.// The boys did their show and tell. They like to play super heroes. shovel, golf, ride bikes, snuggle, use tools and "double decker" flashlights. Henry wants to do hand surgery like his dad someday, too, and showed us his dad's special hand tie. During snack we talked about the project. During choice time, we did our best coloring and we answered questions about our favorite things during our 3K year.

May 17, 2016
Chase was still on vacation and Jordy had a Grandpa day, so there were 13 of us today. We had some different building sets out at table time and enjoyed making things with them. After prayer, schedule, and job assignments, Isabella found the 17 and counted with the red and white finger wand (the one Rowan gave us for Christmas). We practiced some songs that we will sing for our grown ups on the last day. We had another story of Paul, who escaped people who wanted to harm him because he was warned by his nephew. We had outdoor time. Our suitcase surprise was a yearbook and we talked about the "yearbooks" that we would be making. We talked about how we have learned to draw our bodies and we moved our bodies with a moving song. The girls showed and told about what they like to do with their dads. They liked bike riding and playing with games and toys; dancing, napping, reading books, and playing basketball. Finnian brought our snack and passed it our for us today. We had choice time and project time. Many of us chose to wear dress up clothes and shoes today!

May 12, 2016
Today we were only missing Chase (away on a family vacation). We started in the usual way, with the addition of celebrating Athena's (pretend) birthday. After singing some songs, we had the story of Paul and Silas singing songs in jail. We enjoyed outdoor time for our exercise time. When we came in we had a story that was a story in a story! It was about a boy and him mom and a rainy day. We took a moving break and then the boys had their show and tell, showing and talking about what they like to do with Mom. We had a extra special birthday treat from Athena, because her mom helped pass out the snack. During choice time, she stayed as a helper when Mrs. Otten had to leave. Some of us worked on bags for meals on wheels clients for our project.

May 10, 2016
Everyone in school on this drippy day. We had table time and morning routines. We welcomed Finnian back and sang Happy Birthday to Zachary (a pretend birthday). We sang two songs and had a Bible story about Saul, who changed his heart and his name. We reviewed our Bible words. We played a running game in the gym since it was too wet to go outside. We read a book about animals coming to school and learning what they need to learn. Each animal had to learn something different. None of them learned letters and numbers like we learn. After doing a wiggle song, the girls showed and/or told about what they like to do with their moms. Zachary brought cupcakes with dinosaur stickers for our snack and we talked about our meals on wheels bags project. Then half of us did the project while we all had choice time.

May 5, 2016
We welcomed back Jaliyah, but we were missing Finnian today. We played games, and made things, and strung beads, and played with play dough for table time. We had a brief visit from a family checking out SCS. We sang our hello song fast and slow and then looked at our schedule and got our jobs. We sang //If You're Happy and You Know It//, adding some silly verses. We sang our //God Is Bigger// song and then //Friends Love One Another.// Our Bible story was only partly from the Bible. First we learned all about shepherds and what they do for their sheep and then we heard the story Jesus told about the shepherd who had one lost sheep. We also talked about how Jesus cares for us just like a shepherd takes care of the sheep. We reviewed our Bible words. We had "gym" class outdoors! We got lots of exercise in the fresh air and sunshine: running, climbing, swinging, and doing monkey bars. We had book time when we came in. We did //The Echo Dance// song and then had a story with a character with the same name as one of our classmates: Henry! The character in the story also had a brother named Charlie, just like our Henry! Brooklyn brought a BIG snack for us: dirt cakes with a worm and a bottle of juice! We had choice time and worked on decorating the wrapping paper for our dad gifts and then it was time to go.

May 3, 2016
A new month! Our last month as 3K'ers! We have grown up so much since September! Today Rowan was back, but Jaliyah was sick. After tracing our names and having table time, we began our day with prayer and our schedule and our jobs. Henry chose the walking stick for his counting wand. We looked at the special days in May. We sang a song from the beginning of the year and we sang a Veggie Tales song about our BIG GOD. We had a Bible story about a BIG giant, who was defeated by small David (because David had help from our BIGGER GOD!) We enjoyed a way-too-short-on-this-warm-sunny day outdoor time. We had book time when we came in and a story about mommies and daddies. We had a fun snack from Kellin that looked like the cover of our snack story //Daddy Hugs.// It was a creature with a mane (made with pretzels). Can you guess what it was? After choice and project time, we cleaned up early and headed back out into the lovely weather for some more outdoor time!

April 28, 2016
We had fun making creations and playing games at table time. We welcomed back Isabella and prayed for our friend who was sick: Rowan. We counted numbers for April for the last time and had to count to 28. Natalya chose the pink heart for counting. We sang one familiar song://My God Is So Big// and we learned one new song with numbers. Our suitcase surprise was the thing needed for a campfire. We talked about how the fire smells and how it changes the paper and the wood. Then we had the story of Daniel's friends who were thrown into the fire for not bowing down to the golden statue. God was right there with them and protected them. For our gym time, we got to use the parachute. We did a lot of shaking and lifting and lowering the parachute. We made a mountain and a tent and we popped balls in the air. After our gym time, we had book time and then we enjoyed the snack brought by Henry. We learned about our project and then had project and choice time.

April 26, 2016
Isabella's cough returned so she missed school today. We hope she gets well soon. We had our table time and then our morning routines. We sang two songs from a long time ago: //God Is Watching Over You and Praise Hill all Ye Little children.// We reviewed our Bible words and then had the story of God protecting Daniel. After our outdoor time, we did a moving song and then had book time. After that we heard a story about why our mothers love us. We had a birthday snack from Sadie: kabobs with fruit, cheese, and a mini candy bar! We had choice time and worked on our project. We also glued the parts of our flower together and will add them to the hallway "garden".

April 21, 2016
After table time, we did our morning prayer and our hello song slow and fast. We got job assignments and Zachary pointed to the calendar numbers with the helicopter wand while we counted to 21. We sang our Zaccheus song and then had the story of God proving to his people (and to King Ahab) that he was the one true God by sending fire. We did our Bible words and then sang //My God Is So Big.// For gym we warmed up with different kinds of movement and then did ball stations with a partner. We tried to bounce and catch, toss and catch, knock down bowling pins, land frog bean bags on lily pads, toss a beach ball at the wall and catch it, and we threw balls in bucket and over the mat wall. We all worked together to put our equipment away. The boys had their show and tell after Natalya showed her Ariel. So here were the favorite colors of the whole class: 1 for red, white, and yellow; 2 for green; 3 for purple and blue; and the winner, with 4, was....PINK! We had a birthday snack from Rowan and listened to a story about MICE! We had choice and project time and then cleaned up to go home. We got to take home paintings again. Sadie shook a 2 on the goodbye cube, so we did hugs for our goodbye today.

April 19, 2016
Today we drew ourselves during table time and then did some building, games, and play dough. Our play dough had a special scent! We started with our prayer and job assignments. Rowan used the helicopter wand to count the numbers on the calendar. We sang //Jesus, I Love You.// We had the story of Zaccheus and how he showed Jesus that he was sorry for his sin. We sang the song that goes with our story. We did not have time to do our ABC song, because we wanted to get outdoors. We had a short time of running, climbing, swinging, and sliding. When we came in, the girls did their show and tell. Three girls brought pink things and three girls brought purple things, so it was a "tie". Natalya is bringing her show and tell next time...will she break the tie? We wonder what colors the boys will have as favorities. We did a silly moving song and then enjoyed time with books. During snack time, we learned about the steps we would need to take to make our project. We were going to paint in a different way. Half of us did the project today and the rest of us will do the project next time.

April 14, 2016 GRANDPARENTS' DAY
WE WERE EXCITED! And our room looked very different with many chairs in place of our toys. We started in our usual way with table time and our morning routines. We reviewed our songs for grandparents and then looked at more tornado pictures and practiced our "duck and cover". We enjoyed some wonderful time outdoors. After our drink break, we sat in a circle and talked about grandparents' day the activities that we would do with them. We sang our ABC song, and we each had our own alphabet chart to sing with! We put happy face stickers on our pointer fingers to help us to remember to point at the letters as we sang the song. Then we each chose a book to read while waiting for our grandparents to come (well, actually, most of them were here and had been patiently //waiting for us!// ) When everyone was here, we sang to our grandparents and then had lots and lots of fun doing activities with them. Look for photos on the school Facebook page!

April 12, 2016
What a great day! The sun was shining and we were all in school. We enjoyed some table time and then started with our prayer song and our hello song (singing and speaking). We got our job assignments and Ella counted the numbers for us. We practiced our songs and poem that we will do on Thursday for our grandparents. We had a Bible story about Jesus making the storm stop and we practiced our new Bible words: //As I have loved you so you must love one another.//We got to go outside!!! It was fun to run and slide and climb and swing. We had a story that was two books in one...all about things we like to do with grandpas and grandmas. We had Isabella's birthday snack and saw a book with photographs of grandparents. We had choice time and enjoyed playing with friends and working on our project. At the end of the day we had a suitcase surprise: a duck. But the surprise was a different meaning for "duck". We learned about tornadoes and about being safe by learning "duck and cover".

April 7, 2016
It was great to have everyone in school (so we could get photographs to use with our Grandparents' Day project!) We also finished up some last minute screening, so it was a very different sort of day. After our longer table time to get those things done, we started our day with our morning routines, singing Happy Birthday to Jaliyah and getting partners for gym. In the gym we did a moving warm up song and then had 8 stations to do. We had the beam, the balancing "stones", the hula hoops, the scooters, partner positions, balls to throw, jumping and hopping and galloping, and balls to bounce. We helped clean up at the end and then took a drink break. When we got back to the room we had 5 minutes of sharing time and then reviewed our project. We had our snack time and choice time and then it was time for our day to be done already!

April 5, 2016
Yay! Everyone got over their "bugs" and no new ones afflicted us over the break, so we were all in school! We will be celebrating a lot of birthdays this month and we started today with Brooklyn. After our morning table time, we had some time to welcome back friends who had been sick and to sing to Brooklyn and the share news with each other. Finnian counted with the rocket wand, so after counting the numbers, we counted again backwards so we could 'blast off". We learned a new verse for our //Shout Hosanna// song and then we had an object lesson to demonstrate our need for a Savior and how Jesus was that perfect Savior that took away all our sin. We enjoyed some very welcome outdoor time, even though we still needed jackets and hats (and even some mittens). When we came in we had a story about a flower garden, but it was different than a backyard garden because the family lived in an apartment in the city. We looked at some pretend flowers in preparation for using watercolors to paint our own flowers. During snack we had a book that showed more garden flowers. We had our choice time and then worked together for clean up time.

March 22, 2016
Two friends out again today. Hopefully everyone will be healthy during spring break! Today we practiced cutting a line during table time and then had time to do activities with friends before we started the day. Chase counted our numbers for us using the soccer ball wand. We sang //Jesus Loves Me// and //Say to the Lord// and then had the rest of the story of how Jesus died and rose again. We enjoyed a short time our outdoor time (some of us still need help with zippers...) and we did not need to put on those boots. When we came in we did our ABC song. We read another color story; this time there was a rabbit who was playing with paint and mixing colors. We talked about another way to group the colors: warm colors and cool colors. For our project we painted in either warm colors or cool colors. We enjoyed Kellin's special snack of butterflies made with clothespins that he had painted and baggies or goldfish and jellybeans. We had a story about a little school bus and we listened for rhyming words.

March 17, 2016
Today we did our hello song a new way: the boys sang the "hello" part and the girls sang the "I'm fine" part. We were missing Isabella and Samuel today. We started our day in the gym. We warmed up and then we each got to show one of the stations. Then we did all the stations, working on some gymnastic skills like rolling, balancing, and hanging. We had to copy body positions and we did some exercises, too. After gym and a much-needed drink break, we sang two songs and then had the Bible story of the last supper that Jesus had with his friends before dying on the cross for us. We talked about how sometimes we have bread and juice in church to help us remember what Jesus did for us. Next the boys had their show and tell time and we all listened to them talk about their special things. For snack Ella brought us rainbows made of fruit and cheese. During choice time, the rest of the friends painted.

March 15, 2016
Our friend, Isabella, was sick, so Mrs. Otten did her calendar job and we even sang the days of the week song again. We had the Bible story of Jesus coming into Jerusalem on a donkey. We learned two songs that had the word "hosanna", which was what the people said as they waved the palm branches. After our Bible story, the girls did their show and tell. We enjoyed seeing their special things. Then we had our snack break. During snack, we had a story like the three little pigs and the big bad wolf, only it was three little fish and a big bad shark. We got our boots on and went outside to play on the playground for a few minutes. It was nice to be outside again! When we came in we had a story about some mice and mixing colors. We looked at the color wheel and heard the terms 'primary" colors and "secondary" colors and then had an explanation of our project. Half of us did the painting project today.

March 10, 2016
We had a little bit of a different schedule for a Thursday, since we could not get in the gym until later. So after table time, we did our Bible time.We sang two songs and then had another of the "God Provides" stories. This time it was a husband provided for Ruth. During our Bible time, we had a visitor (a friend of Henry). and she stayed with us for a short time while her mom talked to Mrs. Kiel. After our Bible story we had a suitcase surprise. It was easy to guess because they were shapes: circles and squares. After a drink break we did the song //Listen and Do// which had many opposites for us to do. Gym was next. After our warm up we did opposites with the parachute. We even did something new today-we crawled under to parachute. We came back to our room and had snack and a book about opposites and we talked about our project. Then it was project and choice time.

March 8, 2016
We had everyone in school again! We had a longer table time today so Mrs. Otten could meet with us and we could dedicate our opposites books. When our day began, we sang our hello song //really fast.// Then Finnian got to count the numbers on the calendar and he chose the train wand. We sang the wise man/foolish man song without taped music. Then we had the Bible story of how God provided a wife for Isaac. Abraham's servant wisely asked God to show him the right girl and God answered his prayers! We reviewed our Bible words and then had a drink break. We did a wiggle song and then we read our opposites books together. Our suitcase surprise was not really a surprise...it was our red bell. Zachary remembered that we use the red bell when we have a fire drill. Since Finnian had never done a fire drill with us, we reviewed how to do a fire drill and what fire drill means. We must have been listening because we did a super job! After our fire drill we had a story of a greedy zebra ( a pretend story of how he got his stripes). Our snack had stripes! Chase's mom had turned cheese sticks into the cat in the hat! We enjoyed our snack and finding out about our project. After a short project and choice time, our day was over. Thank you. Mrs. Kiel, for taking these great pictures of us reading our books:

March 3, 2016
We were glad to see everyone in school today! Hope our healthy trend will continue! We are getting good at tracing our names when we come in each day. We enjoyed our table time: putting together cubes, using finger puppets, playing with dinosaurs, and writing letters. When our day began, we did our hello song with the opposites of sing and silent. We got our jobs and Brooklyn counted the calendar numbers for us. After calendar we went to the gym and warmed up with an animal movement song. We moved across the gym many times in different ways. Each time we moved, a friend got to choose a stick that told us how to move. After doing that, we moved the //opposite// way as well. Did you that is pretty hard to jump **backwards**, gallop **slowly**, and march **quietly**? We snuck back to our room the "secret way" through the first grade room and then we had a new song, which some of us knew from Sunday school. It was about the wise man and the foolish man and Mrs. Otten demonstrated a strong place to build a house and a bad place to build a house and compared Jesus to the strong place. We had the Bible story of the woman at the well. At the end of the story, the book asked the question, "how do you know God loves you?" That stumped us until we remembered a song: Jesus loves me, this I know **for the Bible tells me so!** While we were using the bathroom for snack a visitor came. It was Audrey, who might be in 3K //next year// when we are in 4K. We had a book of dragon opposites during snack. We reviewed our project and then had project and choice time.

March 1, 2016
Today we welcomed a new friend into 3K! Welcome to Finnian! We helped him learn our routines, but, as Kellin observed, he already knew "pretzel legs"! This morning we practiced our name writing, and we had to trace some really small letters as part of our book project. When our day began, we sang our hello song fast and slow. Then we had a suitcase surprise: a fierce animal and a gentle animal. We talked about the saying about our new month (March starts like a lion and ends like a lamb) Well, the start of March proved that to be true! There was some fierce snow this morning. We sang two songs with opposites (//All Night, All Day// and //Father Abraham)// and then we had the Bible story of Jonah. After a drink break, we did the wiggle walk song. Then we looked at some opposite things. The boys faced one way and the girls faced the other. We each got one thing and then we found our partner who had the opposite thing. Finally we read a book with opposites and we helped read the book because it had a word pattern. For snack we had to spread peanut butter on a graham cracker and we got to add m&ms on top! We read an opposites book. After snack, Natalya led us in the ABC song and then we tried to sing it //**opposite**// starting and Z and going backwards to A! We saw the opposites book that would be our project. Half of us got to do the project today and the rest will do it on Thursday.

February 25, 2016
Today we celebrated Natalya's half birthday. We were happy that we were all in school because we had a fun field trip to the Sheboygan Y.M.C.A. Gymnastic Center. Today we learned lots of fun ways to move our bodies. After our field trip, we enjoyed a birthday cupcake snack and two stories that we did not have time for on Jammie Day (one was a really noisy one!) Here's a brief snapshot of our trip:

February 23, 2016
Back to a regular day today! We were missing Jaliyah :( We practiced tracing our names this morning before trying some new table time activities. When our day started, we counted the calendar numbers with Sadie and we sang //All Night, All Day// and //Father Abraham.// We had a Bible story of Jesus healing a man who had been waiting by the special pool for healing. After our Bible time, we headed to the gym to play A-tisket, A-tasket, A Valentine in a basket (which we did not have time for a couple weeks ago). When we returned to our room, Zachary led us in the ABC song. Then we identified some pictures and put rhyming pictures together. During snack we had a visitor (Finnian), who stayed the rest of the morning with us. He may be joining us in 3K for the rest of the year! We heard a story during snack and got directions for our project. We decorated frames for our "trace one letter, make one letter" names. After choice, project, and clean up time, we talked about our field trip next time! We got a new class picture today because it just isn't our class without Mrs. Kiel in it!

February 18, 2016 PAJAMA DAY!
We had a fun pajama party in 3K today! We got to wear pajamas and bring a special sleeping cuddle or blanket. We got to enjoy bedtime stories, acting out bedtime songs, and making our own pancakes for breakfast!



February 16, 2016
Henry was back and so we were all in school today! After our table time (with some of us having fun using the play dough extruders) we began our day, welcoming back Henry and doing our morning routines. We sang a song that reminds us to trust God when we are afraid. Our Bible story was about a woman who trusted God and did what Elisha told her: collect as many jars as you can. Then God did a miracle and made her little bit of oil fill all the jars! After a drink break, Jaliyah led us in singing the ABC song and we each chose a letter from a bag to make some rhyming words. During snack, we read a book about a mitten that had some rhyming words in it.We also saw how we would make matching mittens for our project. After project and choice time, we got to go out and play in the snow!

February 11, 2016
We started the day with name writing. Some of us also did our names on paper. We had to have a quick hello and calendar count and then we went to the gym. We got in our warm up song and one running game before it was the middle schoolers' time for the gym. We will finish our Tisket Tasket game next time. After gym, the boys got to show what they love. We saw two special blankets, a spiderman, a singing and talking bird, some Paw Patrol characters, and a Curious George. We were missing Henry today so he missed show and tell. We sang //Say to the Lord I Love You// with many of us trying to use the sign language for "I love you". Then we had another story of Elisha. This time the man and woman from Shunem showed kindness to Elisha and he asked God to bless them with a child. God answered Elisha's prayer, but when he grew to be a boy he got very sick and died. Elisha prayed for him again and God raised him up. After our Bible story, we had our first choice time (we had TWO choice times today!) During this choice time, we had our hands painted so we could make a special valentine for our families. Did you like it? We took a break for a snack and then we had choice time again. This time we took turns distributing our valentines. We had a quick clean up time and then finished our day.

February 9, 2016
We were sad that Isabella was out sick today. We were happy to see Henry back! After writing our names and table time, we started our day with our morning routines and some conversation time. We sang two songs that got us moving and praising the Lord. Then we had the Bible story of Captain Namaan and how God healed him. Namaan learned to trust the true God and do what he says. After a drink break, the girls took their turn showing something they love. We saw special dolls and soft animals and a special bird in a shiny heart shaped box. Our suitcase surprise was a bag of valentines. We used them to sing and move and then we each took a turn picking a heart and giving it to a friend. We got directions for the "valentine" fish we would make for our project today. Then we had a snack from Samuel while Mrs. Otten read the book //Sweet Hearts.// We had choice and project time and then did our end of the day routines. We got to take home our wonderful arts center projects today.

February 4, 2016
After table time (and name writing) and morning routines, we got a partner and a sticker and headed to the gym. We warmed up with //The Freeze// and then saw our different stations and listened to the directions for each station. We got to walk on the "high" balance beam; the floor balance beam (backwards!); play with scarves; go bowling!; run and dump sponges; jump far and high; throw over the wall; bounce and catch; and hop and balance on the stones. We helped clean up our stations and then went to our room for Bible time. We sang //Father Abraham//, moving our right side and left side. Then we tried to move on the floor //without// using our legs. We could not go very far. We had a Bible story of a man who could not walk. His friends brought him to Jesus. Jesus healed his legs, but Jesus also "healed" his heart by forgiving his sins. We enjoyed letter cookies from Ella for our snack, while listening to a story about a day that it rained hearts. Our suitcase surprise was the bags we would decorate for our valentine bags. which we did during choice time. At the end of the day we talked about show and tell next week (girls on Tuesday and boys on Thursday.)

February 2, 2016
A new month! Lots of things to talk about on our February calendar. After doing that, we sang (and did "air band") the song //Jesus, I Love You.// We had the story of Jesus raising Jairus' daughter after she died. Our new Bible words come from this story, so we practiced them as well. After a drink break, we got to us the rhythm instruments to play slow and fast. Then we had fun having a parade with the instruments (judging from one comment "that was awesome!") We learned about what makes shadows and we got to guess the shadows of things put on the overhead projector. We also made shadows with our hands. During snack we talked about the groundhog and his shadow and we saw the project that we would make with a groundhog puppet. After choice and project time, we had another short circle time and sang a song about the shape that means love. We decorated bags for the meals on wheels clients and even made a heart shape with our hands.

January 28, 2016
Field trip day! We were glad to have all our friends in school for our trip. We also were grateful for the help of Samuel's dad and Jaliyah's dad! We had just a short time in our room today. We did our table time, our morning routines, and our Bible story. Since our story was about Jesus healing the deaf man, we spent some time using our ears to listen carefully to sounds to see if they were the same or different. We also had snack and we got to sing "Happy Birthday" to Samuel's dad! At the end of the day we also got a half-birthday treat bag from Mrs. Otten. We enjoyed our bus ride and the wonderful time we had at the arts center. We saw some interesting art made with photographs, glitter, and some pretty crazy looking houses. We made a project that was like a shadow photograph.



January 26, 2016
A great day because everyone was in school today! We still had a few "beach day" things out so that those who did not get to play in sand or look at shells or go "fishing" would be able to do those things. We welcomed back 5 friends at circle time and sang Happy Birthday to Ella who got to be 4 one day early. Kellin found 26 and counted the calendar numbers for us. We tried our //Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise Ye the Lord// song with parts again and then learned a new song: //Friends Love One Another.// We talked about being blind and then pretended that we were blind and tried to guess what was in a sock by just feeling with our hands. We had a Bible story of Jesus healing a man who was born blind. Chase pointed to our alphabet letters for our ABC song During snack we had the story //Dream Snow// and our new classroom book about snow. (Ella got to be the first one to take it home). After snack we each took a book and found a snowman in the book. We talked about the different ways the snow man was decorated. Then for our project, we decorated our shave cream snowmen. We had just enough time to get bundled up and get outside for a few minutes of snow play.

January 21, 2016

 * APOLOGIES** for a late update (had some grandbabies to attend to right after school on Thursday). We were sorry that 5 of our friends had to miss BEACH DAY fun. Here's a peak into our day!

January 19, 2016
Sadie gone on a family vacation (Chase reminded us to pray for her) and Athena was back! We had some new games and activities out for table time and enjoyed them very much. We came to our circle time quietly and sat in a good listening position to start our day! My, how we are growing up! We sang one of the songs that the "big kids" do in B1 chapel: //Hallelu, Hallelujah; Praise Ye the Lord// and we even divided in parts-boys and girls-and stood only when it is our turn to sing. We had the Bible story of Jesus calling his helpers. We did our Alphabet song and then made the first letter of our names with our big fingers. We were happy to be taking them home at last. We had a story about building a snow man. Then we had our moving time in the gym, doing our snow song with the pretend snow balls and also running all around the gym. Our suitcase surprise was another pretend snow: shaving cream! We used it for our project for making a snow man. We talked about beach day at the end of the day...we think it will be fun!

January 14, 2016
Today we had two girls back in school and many of us are dealing with stuffy or runny noses. Tis the season for viruses I guess. During table time we got a "happy face hand" for our gym activities. We started our day with prayer and our routines. We did not have a caboose again today, but our helper hands were in a girl-boy pattern. Brooklyn found 14 and counted with the heart wand. Our suitcase surprise was white paper that we scrunched into "snowballs". In the gym our warm up song was a snow song and we used these snowballs. Then we reviewed how to throw over and we threw the soft white "snowballs" over the wall. After practicing, we got in two teams-one on each side of the wall- and we had a snowball fight, trying to get all the snowballs over the wall to the other team's side. It was so much fun! We then took down the wall and threw orange plastic balls as far as we could and watched them. Back in our room we sang one song and then had the story of Jesus being baptized by John. Then it was time for show and tell! We got some wonderful new things for Christmas and enjoyed showing them and talking about them. We had snack and talked about our project. Then we painted with marbles!

January 12, 2016
We celebrated Jordy's half birthday and enjoyed the apple cinnamon swirl cupcakes that he brought for snack. We had our first show and tell time, but THREE of our girls were absent! Hopefully they will be back next time and be able to show something new. Today we saw a new Olaf cookie mold, a new stuffed dog, and a new stuffed horse and a cat carrier. We also played with pretend snow since it was too cold to go out and play in the real snow. We read two books about snow. For our project, we are working on a new classroom book about things that get covered in snow. We had a Bible story about when Jesus was 12 years old. We sang our alphabet song with Natalya pointing at the letters and we did //Where Do You Start Your Letters// with our giant pointer fingers.

January 7, 2016
Our friend, Isabella, was still out today. Today we got a temporary tattoo on our hands when we came to school. It would help us for our gym activity later. After table time, we started our day and looked at the schedule and job chart. We had a pattern again! Boy-girl-boy-girl... Samuel counted the calendar numbers for us. We did our snow man rhymes and then guessed the suitcase surprise: tape. The tape was green and Mrs. Kiel put a piece on the toe of the foot opposite our tattoo hand (something else to help us in gym). After warming up with lots of skipping/galloping, we had to use our imaginations and do some pretending. Then we did some pretend throwing after practicing our X-rock-muscle-point-upandover. We threw "snow", "mud", and "sticky rice krispie treats". then we go to use some special soft balls that looked like snow balls and throw them OVER a wall (of mats). We had fun getting our balls over the walls! After gym, a drink, and a song, we had our Bible story of God's WARNING! WARNING! Warning the wisemen and Joseph about the king's evil plan and how Jesus was kept safe. After snack, we did our ABC song, with Athena pointing at the letters. We listened to some letter sounds and read an alphabet book, too. After choice and project time, we got to all wear our AT THE TOP fingers and sing the song //Where do you start your letters?//

January 5, 2016
We started our new year with some good; some not so good. Good: we got to celebrate Henry's birthday! We got to play in the snow! Not so good: Isabella was sick. During table time we did some new activities and games, as well as old favorites like coloring at the easel and using clothespins to pinch and pick up. We looked at our new calendar and the special days this month. We sang to Henry and learned that he got a ball that you can sit and bounce on. We sang //Say to the Lord// and had the story of Anna and Simeon waiting for Jesus. We reviewed our Bible words, adding a new part to the part we already learned in November. Since outdoor time was going to be at the end of the day, we took a drink and moving break and did some snowman rhymes as well. We sang our ABC song and Zachary got to point to the letters. We learned about starting our letters at the top and sang a song for that, too. After bathroom and snack, half of us worked on our own giant pointer fingers for singing our //where Do You Start Your Letters// song (the rest of us will do the project on Thursday). Then it was time for all that snow gear! We did a good job getting most of it on independently with some help with zippers and mittens. It was worth all the effort because of the wonderful fun it is to play in the snow!

December 22, 2015
Lots of excited children today, especially since we were doing some different activities. After wrapping our gifts for our parents, we started our day with counting our calendar numbers AND then counting how many days until Christmas! Only 3! We did our party games in the gym. We did a relay, looking for Christmas bows; played with the parachute; found "sheep"; threw "presents" in the hay; guessed what was in the Christmas stocking; and guessed who took the bow off the present. After singing our bell songs and a new bell song, we talked about how the candy cane can teach us things about Jesus. We had a special snack from Jaliyah (we got to choose one special treat from our bag and we took the rest home). Then we chose gifts from under the tree and opened the presents we were giving to the moms. We took them down to Mrs. Kaat in the office and had our photograph taken with all the wonderful presents.

December 17, 2015
A busy day! Missing Natalya today because of a cough. Today we did some more work with patterns and partners. We did relay games in the gym (find your marker relay and mail the letter relay with "mail trucks"). We did a great job cheering for our friends! It was fun to have a chance to be loud, I think! We sang our bell songs, and our candy cane rhyme and then learned a new rhyme about a peppermint stick. Brooklyn brought us "snowmen" string cheese, popcorn, and apple juice for snack. We got to keep our special holiday cups! Most of us also had popcorn to take home. We had choice time and made wrapping paper with paint and sponges. At the end of the day we had two friends read books that they wrote. Samuel and Henry were the authors today. We cut one more link off our chain!

December 15, 2015
We were happy to see everyone in school today! Today we got to hang another ornament on our tree before table time. There was new green play dough out today, and many of us chose that for our table time activity. We did our morning routines before singing songs with the bells and moving. Then we heard the story of Jesus' birth and sang //Away in a Manger.// We practiced our Bible words for December //(A Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord).//We enjoyed outdoor time (minus the tire swing because of a big puddle there). When we came in we talked about making patterns and made a pattern with rings and a partner. We read a book about patterns at snack, as well. During choice time we also had a project to do.

December 10, 2015 MAKE AND TAKE DAY!
Here is just a little sample of the fun we had! Will post more over the weekend!

December 8, 2015
On this Tuesday, we welcomed Isabella back. We did our morning routines and then practiced the songs we will sing on Thursday. We talked about how the room will be different on Thursday. We had the Bible story of the angel visit to Joseph in a dream and the long trip that Mary and Joseph took to Bethlehem. We went outside to run and run and run and play. Some of us are doing our zippers independently and most of us can zip with some assistance. When we came in, we left the lights off in the room so we could enjoy the colorful Christmas lights. Then we had a rhyming story about inside Christmas and outside Christmas. We got to hang ornaments on the Christmas tree in our room. After snack, we had choice time and then made Christmas "lights" with melted crayon.

December 3, 2015
Today it was Isabella out sick :( After our table time and some cutting practice, we started our day with our prayer and a fast hello song. We looked at our schedule and then got job assignments. Kellin counted our numbers with the police car wand and changed the weather. It was our gym day. After our warm up, we did a circuit of balance challenges, including hopscotch, curvy floor beam, walking backwards, balancing on the "stones" and walking on the BIG balance beam! We tried to walk with our arms out, heads up, and back foot moving to the front. We all tried our best and most of us stayed on the beam the whole way! After our Bible story of the visit to Mary by the angel Gabriel, we had a suitcase surprise. It was something for us to use while we sing Christmas songs. We practiced our songs and then had a photograph taken before snack. During snack we heard the story of the little tree who had a wish to be a Christmas tree. Our project involved gluing paper strips from biggest to smallest, cutting a strip, and decorating the tree that they made. We cut our number 3 off of our paper chain. Today we //finally// took home our artwork from the hallway since our trees will go up now.

December 1, 2015
We noticed the new calendar today! We were missing Samuel, who was out sick today. After doing our morning routines, we sang our Baby Jesus song and then had the story of another special baby: the baby called John. We practiced our new Bible words. Since it was wet outside, we did our moving time in the gym. We ran across the gym every time the "man from Mars" said something that was true for us. Then we did some running and walking and sliding in the "track" around the gym before going back to our room. We had a story about different kids of Christmas trees. Our suitcase surprise was special brown bags that we were going to color for people receiving Meals on Wheels. We colored them for our project today. Rowan brought our snack today and passed it out. At the end of the day we got to take home our paper chains that will help us to count down the days until Christmas.

November 24, 2015
What happened today...we go out late again! So sorry! The "simple" project I planned was simple, but was also one that needed to be done one-on-one with a teacher. Thankfully, we have Mrs. Kiel in the room so we could both help with the project, but it still took longer than I planned. The rest of our day went by smoothly! We had some different things out for table time, and one of the favorites was making turkeys out of play dough, adding eyes, beaks and feathers. But after 15 minutes of table time or so, children start asking to "start our day" which shows that they know the routine and enjoy both their free time and our planned group times. We enjoyed singing our //Just Say Thanks// song. Then Mrs. Otten read the each one of our thankfulness placemats. Many of us are thankful for the special people in our families. We read a book about giving thanks which was based on Psalm 92:1. We looked at the new skills board that we got with our fun fest proceeds. It will help us to practice buttons, snaps, and zippers. We got some zipper practice next when we got ready for outdoor time. We enjoyed the wonderful cool weather (but it may be time to send __mittens__ with since the metal chains of the swings are cold). When we came in we had a suitcase surprise. From the clues, Brooklyn guess it: a calendar. We talked about having a new calendar month next time and that the month is the month of Christmas. Our project will help us count the days until Christmas and we read a book about things people do to get ready for Christmas. We enjoyed our snack from Ella because the cookies were alphabet letters and numbers and most of us had the first letter of our name in our snack. We got directions for our project during snack and then had project and choice time.

November 19, 2015
There was a lot happening in 3K today! We did number puzzles and table time to start our day. Then we had our beginning of the day prayer and our hello song (with one hand and then two hands). We sang //Just Say Thanks!// and then had the good rest of the story of Joseph. It was a long Bible story, but we listened attentively because there was so much that happened. First Joseph was in jail and then he told the king the meaning of his dream. Then he became a very important helper for the king and collected the corn. Then he sold bags of corn, and who should come to get corn but his own brothers! They did not recognize him! And there was more excitement-first money put back in the sacks and then the silver cup was found in Benjamin's sack! But it was all part of God's plan to turn the bad into something good! //The Lord is faithful to all his promises!// For gym, we again used the parachute. This time we got to run under it, make "popcorn" and the do the giant pop. After our drink break we had book time and we found many interesting things in the books we looked at. We had a double snack today! Mrs. Otten made a mistake, so there were two names on the calendar. It was all good, though! We had a salty snack from Athena and a sweet snack from Natalya and we even had juice boxes. During snack, we looked at pictures of a Pilgrim with a turkey and tried to find out what was missing. After snack we did a turkey rhyme and then read about the first Thanksgiving. We had choice time and project time. At the end of the day, our suitcase surprise was a new classroom book about our field trip to the Mead Public Library. Kellin was the first friend to take it home.

November 17, 2015
After some table time, we were eager to start our day. We were glad to have Rowan back in school. Brooklyn found number 17 on the calendar and pointed at the numbers for us to count them. We sang two new songs about giving thanks. We had the first part of our story of Joseph (the part with the bad things that happened). Next time we will learn how God makes good happen from the bad. We practiced our Bible words. We had outdoor time on the parking lot playground because the wood chips were wet. We ran and we used hula hoops. After our drink, we had our suitcase surprise...it was the pointer finger wand, which Mrs. Otten used as we read a big book. The pointer finger is our "linger finger" when we read so we "go slow" and notice as we read. We were looking for creatures in the story about a pumpkin that a boy grew from a seed. We had some book time so we could use our linger fingers and look for interesting things in the book we chose. Next we had our bathroom break and snack. Sadie brought snack bags and juice bags for us. During snack we heard a story about Thomas Turkey, looked at a real turkey feather, and heard the directions for our project. Half of us did the project today during choice time and the rest of us will do it next time. We cleaned up, had our review of the day and prayer, and then picked sticks for friends to take home books. Kellin shook the 5 for our good bye...guess what that means?

[[image:013.JPG width="640" height="480" caption="The walls come tumbling down! "]]
Today we celebrated Chase's birthday! He is 4 now! He wore a green crown and chose a book called //Whose Feet Are These?// After our morning table time, prayer, and circle activities, we headed to the gym. First we warmed up "around the circle" but the circle today was a PARACHUTE! Then we got to pretend the parachute were the big waves and we took turns in the waves. We made big and small waves and we lifted the parachute really high and looked at our friends on the other side. After a drink, we //stayed in the gym for our Bible story!// God did two amazing things! He made the water in the river become water walls when the helpers carried the special box across the river. Then he made the walls of the city fall down. But first God's people had to obey him and march around the city one time for six days and blow 7 trumpets. We acted out the story. On the 7th day they had to march 7 times and make a loud, loud shout (we did that part really well!) We also notice the red rope and saved Rahab from the falling walls. When we got back to our room, we sang a new song (and we "played instruments" during the music part). We read another book about giving thanks. We enjoyed Chase's birthday snack of cupcakes. Before we each got a cupcake, we saw how they were arranged to look like a construction site with construction vehicles on top! It was a messy snack, but we are so grown up that it was not problem for us to eat it and clean up our messes. We had choice time and the rest of us got to paint. At the end of the day, Samuel read a book on the author chair because it was a book he wrote and drew the pictures for.

November 10, 2015
We had a great day with everyone in school again! We enjoyed some new things out at table time. We did our hello song with high voices and low voices. For our jobs, we showed fingers equal to the number of dots we were shown. We sang one song and then had the Bible story of the spies going into the city (Jericho) and the woman who helped them (Rahab). We enjoyed our outdoor time in the sunshine. During our next circle time, we learned the names of the letter pieces, did the Hokey Pokey letter pieces song, and made some letters with the letter pieces. During snack we learned about the "rules" for the water buckets that will be out as part of choice time. We learned about using the water colors for our project and half of us painted at choice time.

November 5, 2015
We had a full, busy day and enjoyed having everyone in school. After taking time during table time to show what we know about drawing a face, we started our day with prayer and a noisy/quiet hello song. After reviewing our schedule, we got our job and Natalya pointed at the calendar numbers for us. We had gym first. We did our warm up song and then we went to 8 different stations with a partner. We used the hula hoops, scarves and scooters; did jumping, hopping, running, galloping and tip toe walking; balanced on the river stones and tossed bean bags and did animal walks. After a drink break, we sang a familiar song and a new song. We heard how God kept his promise to Abraham and Sarah, even though they were very old and we practiced our Bible words. Then we had a FIRE DRILL! We did a wonderful job staying in line and responding when our names were called. We had delicious blueberry muffins that Zachary's dad made and listened to a book about shapes during snack. After snack, we reviewed our story book about the snake who wanted to eat the mice. Then we read a book that told us some information about real snakes. Our suitcase surprise was a pretend snake and a real snack skin. We had choice and project time and then collected things from our cubbies. Our good bye was a wave today.

November 3, 2015
A new month! Sadie out sick with a cold today (germs are very easily shared in preschool, despite our little discussions!) Today we enjoyed singing //Stand Up and Clap Your Hands.// We had our Bible story of God keeping a promise to Abraham and leading him to a new land. We tried the tricky sign language for our new Bible words, too. We enjoyed the blessing of a beautiful autumn day outdoors. When we came in we looked at some features of books and read a big book about a hungry snake and some mice who were little, warm, and tasty. We enjoyed using the finger pointer wand to point out things in the story that interested us. Brooklyn brought us a wonderful snack and during snack we talked about shapes. Our project today was to use shapes to make a snake. Only half of us did the project today, the rest of us will do the project next time.

October 29, 2015
We were all in school today! Since this is the season for coughs, runny noses, and colds, we talked about how we can keep our germs to ourselves (like coughing at our arm instead of in our hands and using tissues). We had to count all the way to 29 with Isabella today. She used the dinosaur wand. We sang //If You're Happy and You Know It// with the movement suggestions from Rowan, Kellin, and Samuel! In gym our warm up song had us listen to sounds and move a certain way. Then we had to remember to sounds so we knew how to move. Then we got to explore what we could do with beach balls!

[[image:3kbeachballs 013.JPG width="640" height="480" caption="Getting ready for free play with the ball"]]
After gym and our drink break, we had our Bible story of Jesus providing food for 5,000 people with just one boy's small lunch of 5 little loaves and 2 little fish. We sang a song about the story, too. Mrs. Otten brought 5 little loaves that we shared at snack time. We also enjoyed Ella's snack while Mrs. Otten read a book about sharing cookies called //The Doorbell Rang.// We had choice time and finished our //Counting Through the Seasons// books. We added snow to the winter trees and dedicated our books. At the end of the day, we read our books!

October 27, 2015 Our First Field Trip!
Today we had the special privilege of a field trip to the Mead Public Library, complete with a ride on a big yellow school bus! We were sorry that Jaliyah was sick and had to miss our field trip. During table time today some of us had our school pictures taken. Then we had a short circle time. Mrs. Otten counted the calendar numbers today with the hammer wand. We sang //If You're Happy and You Know It// with three different arm motions. Then we read a book abut a field trip to the library. We had our snack and then put on our name tags and coats and went to the bus. After our bumpy, noisy, exciting bus ride, we enjoyed time in the library. We had to walk up lots and lots of stairs to get to the children's room. Our librarian showed us some of the things in the room and then took us into the story garden. We listened to books, did a counting rhyme, sang and shook eggs, watched a movie of a book, and then got to read books. (Mrs. Kiel took a lot of photographs of our trip and we will make a book about our trip soon!) When we got back to school, we enjoyed a brief time on the playground before finishing our day.

October 20, 2015
We were all in school on this lovely warm autumn day! We enjoyed activities with friends at table time and did some numbers with Mrs. Otten. We began our day with our prayer song and looking at our schedule and finding out who had a job. Henry had the calendar job and he had to find 20. He used the whale wand to count the numbers. We sang //My God Is So Big// and reviewed some of the great things God did in the stories we have had so far. Today's story told of God providing a special food for his people. They did not know what it was so they called it Manna ("What is it?") We learned how they had to trust and obey God and only take enough food for one day. After reviewing our Bible words, we had outdoor time. After outdoor time, we had a suitcase surprise: treasure! We learned about another kind of treasure-the kind we find by taking our time and looking, looking, looking at books. We had a BIG book about an apple tree. Then we all had time to find treasure in our own book about apples. We got directions for our project (we are adding apples to our tree, too!) and then had snack. During snack we got to taste three kinds of apples. Can you guess what color apple was the sour apple? During choice time we worked on the autumn tree for our counting book.

October 15, 2015
Another birthday! Today we celebrated Kellin's birthday. It was a pretend birthday for him because his real birthday is on Sunday. During table time we had some stamps and stamp pads out, puzzles, games, and building things. After table time, we began our day. We were missing Henry as he was having some special Grandma time. Gym was our first activity. Before gym we got a color marked on our hands so we would know what group we would be in. We did a warm up with dancing and with freezing. Then we got a bean bag the same color as on our hand. We did a bean bag song with tossing and catching. Then we went with our group and did four bean bag stations: tossing in a bucket; walking on a balance beam; kicking into a net; and jumping with the bean bag in between our knees. After doing each station, we cleaned up our equipment and had a drink break. We sang one song we already learned and one new song. Then we had the story of Moses leading the people out of Egypt by following the cloud and the fire that God sent. We learned about how God made water walls. We reviewed our verse. Kellin brought a birthday snack that looked like a ninja turtle! It was fun to eat! After snack, we had choice time and worked on **two** pages in our counting book.

October 13, 2015
Our friend, Sadie, was sick today. We prayed for her at the end of the day. During table time today, we had another opportunity to do some counting with Mrs. Otten. When our day started, we did our morning routines. Zachary did the calendar counting for us today. We sang a slow song and then a new fast song. Our Bible story was about the 10 things that God did to show the king of Egypt his power so the king would let God's people go. After Bible, we played outdoors (after getting some jacket practice!) When we came in we talked about the seasons and guessed the things in the suitcase for each season. Then we got a picture card and put it with its season. We read a book about the seasons. During snack Mrs. Otten read her copy of the seasons counting book we will be making over the next couple weeks. Today we did the winter page.

October 8, 2015
We were all in school today. After our table time, we started our day welcoming back Jaliyah and then singing our morning prayer. We looked at our schedule and what we were going to learn today and then got our job assignments. We needed to say whether the card Mrs. Otten showed us had one dot or two dots. We sang //If You're Happy and You Know It// moving our hands different ways and then our feet different ways and then shouting "hooray!". We sang our new song //God Is Watching Over You.// Our suitcase surprise was all about fire: the things to make a fire (matches and sticks) and what is left after the fire (ashes). Then we had a Bible story where God talked to Moses from a bush that was on fire, but did not burn to ashes. God showed his power to Moses so Moses would be brave and go and talk to the bad king. After Bible we were able to enjoy outdoor time because it was still partly sunny and not rainy. After outdoor time, we had a story about a very busy squirrel. We listened to the story and then we helped to read the story the second time. Then Mrs. Otten read us the new classroom book we get to check out. There are photographs of each of us in the book! During snack we had a rhyme about 5 squirrels. During choice time, we also did a project making a squirrel with a bushy tail.

October 6, 2015
During table time today we practiced putting things in a line and touching them while we said the numbers to count them. We also played with play dough, made a Noah's Ark, connected people and made families, colored, sorted, and matched animals with their homes. When our day began, we welcomed back Henry and prayed for a sick friend (Jaliyah). After Chase counted with the rocket wand, we sang //He's God the Whole World.// Our suitcase surprise was things for a baby. Our Bible story was about a baby who had to be hidden and was found by a princess. We know that God was watching over the baby and we learned a new song about God watching over us. Today we had gym because some grown ups will be in the gym on Thursday. After our warm up song, we used hula hoops! We held them different ways and learned to spin them and roll them. Then we had time to explore on our own. After gym and a much-needed drink of water, we heard the story //We're Going on a Leaf Hunt.// After listening to the book, Mrs. Otten read it again and we acted out the story. We matched the leaf shapes from the story with real leaves. We heard about other kinds of leaves when we ate snack. We reviewed our project and saw the bodies that friends had made last time. Then it was choice and project time. At the end of the day Mrs. Otten told us about checking out our classroom book. Brooklyn was the first friend to take the book home. When she brings it back, a new friend will get to take it home. We will have another book to check out next time, as well.

October 1, 2015
A new month begins! This morning we first used glue sticks to add our colorful leaves to our trees. These will replace the finger paintings that were hanging in the hall. When our day began we noted that Henry was home with special friends. We looked at our new calendar and the special days this month. We sang our Hello song like we were blowing in the wind. We sang the ABC song and got our jobs. For gym today, we stood by a bean bag and then did our warm up song with different ways to move and then we had to FREEZE when we heard the whistle. Then we did some fun things with the bean bags. We used each of our hands to do //The Bean Bag Rock.// Then we balanced them, tossed them, and kicked them. Our Bible story was about the looong time that Noah and the animals were on the ark and the promises God made to them when they finally got out of the ark. We tried our new Bible words. Chase brought our snack today and during snack we heard a story about falling leaves. After snack we did the Mat Man song and we each got to add one of the parts to Mat Man. We got directions for our project (making me with paper shapes and markers). Alas, the project had many steps so only half of us got to do the project. The rest will make the project on Tuesday.

September 29, 2015
We celebrated our first birthday in 3K today! Samuel got to wear a blue crown and choose a birthday book. We sang to him. Since it was his real birthday, he already had a gift to show us: a microphone. He also brought a delicious snack for us to enjoy: carrot cake cupcakes with Disney decorations! YUM! Today is the last day we will be together for September and when we come back to school it will be the month of October! The rainy day was fitting for our Bible story: we started the story of God keeping Noah safe by having him build a really big boat. We will finish the story next time and start learning our new Bible words. Since it was very wet outside, we did our running inside the gym, playing "Lady from Mars". We could only run when Mrs. Otten said something that was true for us. After our gym time, we had a story about fall leaves and then we did some rhymes with some colorful pretend leaves. We practiced picking out two leaves that the were same color and two leaves that were different colors. During snack we heard a story about two little monkeys. Our project was making a beautiful autumn tree using watercolor and coffee filters. After we cleaned up from choice and project time, we got a special treat: a seashell from Brooklyn from her trip to Florida. We also got to take home our glittery star picture.

September 24, 2015
Today we welcomed Brooklyn back to our class! She showed us some photographs from her trip. We were sorry that Natalya was sick and we prayed for her. Today we needed to count all the way to 24 for our calendar and Brooklyn helped us count by using the walking stick wand and pointing to each number slowly so we could say the number. We had gym time first today. First we warmed up with the //Movin' Every Day// song. Then we each got a rainbow colored scarf. We used each of our hands to move the scarves in opposite ways: up and down, fast and slow, and more. We laid the scarf on different parts of our body and pretended what they were. We tossed them in the air and caught them. We put them on the ground and galloped with them. Then we had time to play with them any way we wanted. A lot of us ran with them and they looked like kites. After a drink break, we sang //I Am Growing// and //He's God the Whole World (in His Hands).// We sang with a cd today and we sang some new verses. Then we had a very sad story about how Adam and Eve believed the lie that Satan told them and disobeyed God by eating from the tree that he had told them not to eat from. :( Rowan brought applesauce for our snack and we listened to a book about the new season: fall! We got to tell what our favorite season is. After snack, we read another story of fall and falling leaves. We saw a demonstration of our project and then had project and choice time. At the end of the day, Samuel was able to sit in the author's chair and read the book he made at the writing center.

September 22, 2015
A terrific Tuesday in 3K! We had one of our favorite things out for table time today: play dough! We made tacos, and worms, and pancakes, and hot dogs. After our morning routines, we learned a new song //Stand Up and Clap Your Hands.// We reviewed the things God created and then learned that he rested on day 7. We got to touch some examples of the things God made: a beautiful rock, a soft leaf, colorful flowers, a piece of wood, a feather, shells, a dragonfly, and a raccoon tail. We learned that God told Adam and Eve to take care of His world. We want to take good care of God's world, too. So we collected trash from the backyard of the Sonshine House before we went out for our play time on the playground. After outdoor time, we read a book about animal sounds and we made the animal sounds. Then we used our listening ears to identify farm animal sounds. During snack we listened to more sounds. During choice time we had a fire drill! We had to leave our toys and walk quietly outside and listen for our name. After the fire drill we returned to choice time. Also during choice time we were able to tell Mrs. Otten about some of our favorite things.

September 17, 2015
It was another packed-full day! By the end of the day we were all hot and tired! Hopefully the children recovered with some lunch and rest this afternoon and will be ready to visit the classroom for open house tonight. So today we had a friend gone on a family trip (Brooklyn) and a friend recovering from a fever (Samuel). We prayed for them at the end of the day. At table time the friends that needed to finish their zoo project did that and Henry got a chance to practice glue dots and glitter. After table time and our morning prayer song, we did our Hello song with opposites: fast and slow. Since Samuel's name was up for calendar helper, Mrs. Otten did the calendar pointing while we counted the numbers. We are in the teen numbers now, which most are still learning. We did some arm movements for //If You're Happy and You Know It// and then listened to Mrs. Otten tell about our gym procedures today. We made that great line all the way to gym and warmed up with a body moving song. Then we saw how we were going to follow one another and do a circuit of bear walks, balancing, jumping up and down, tip toe, running, bunny hops, and floor balance beam walking. We got to do the circuit several times. Then we all helped to pack away our gym equipment. After a much-needed drink break, we reviewed all the things God created and how he created them (he just said it). Today we learned that when he made people, He did it a very different way. Mrs. Otten showed us with "pretend dirt" (play dough) After God made a man, then He made a woman, too. //And God saw all that he made, and it was very good!// By this time in our day, we were ready for snack. During snack we listened to a story about how we have been growing up. After snack we did a body part song and then made mat man with all the body parts. During choice time we also had a chance to draw ourselves. At the end of the day we talked about coming to school at night and how we would have activities to do with our grown up but would not have choice time.

September 15, 2015
Today we welcomed Henry to our classroom! Our day started with hanging up our name tags. Most of us can find our names now and have figured out how to hang them on the little hooks. After table time, we began with our prayer song and welcoming Henry. Then we also talked about a trip our friend, Brooklyn, would be taking. We went over our schedule and assigned jobs. Sadie chose the wrench wand for counting. Many friends were looking at the numbers and saying the numbers as we counted to 15. We sang //Jesus Loves Me// and our creation song. Then we learned what God created on day 5. We each got a card with an animal on it. Only one person had a water animal (fish) and one person had a flying animal (eagle) and the rest of us had animals who are mostly on the land. We enjoyed some outdoor time, even though we had to wipe the swings and slides of the remaining moisture from the sprinkles this morning. After a drink, we read a story called //From Head To Toe.// The people in the story moved like animals. After we read the story, we acted out the actions, too. (Henry did such a big donkey kick, that he kicked himself over...but bumped his head, which made him sad). We each got to choose and color an animal. During our project and choice time, we made a zoo cage for our animal (well, MOST of us did; we ran out of time and a few friends will finish their zoo cages next time). For snack Kellin treated us to grape "caterpillars", cheese cubes, and juice boxes. Most of us needed help unwrapping the straw, but we did good poking our juice boxes. Jordy shook a number 2 today, so we did a hug goodbye.

September 10, 2015
Well, what DIDN'T happen today! We packed this day full of activity. I think there might be some tired kiddos tonight! We had our usual table time and we were all calmly engaged in activities at the tables. When we heard the bell we remembered to STOP! LOOK! and LISTEN! We cleaned up from table time and began with our prayer song. A few of us are catching a few of the words already. We looked at our schedule and assigned jobs. We counted to 10 for our calendar today while Athena pointed to the numbers. We reviewed gym procedures and then walked to the gym. AMAZING! We got a high five from Mrs. Otten when we got there because she only heard footsteps behind her! In the gym we did our warm up moving song around the circle. We had spots on the line so we could practice running straight again. But this time we had to wait to see if it was our turn to run. We tried a relay line by taking turns marking a star with a yellow line. After a drink, we sang //The More We Get Together// with sign language and also our creation song. We learned what God made on day 4 and added that verse to our song. After getting out our wiggles with //If You're Happy and You Know It,// we had our suitcase surprise. It was the RED bell that Mrs. Otten will use for the fire drill. We got to practice our fire drill and everyone said their "here I am!". We came in the "big kid" door and walked all the way down the hall and through the first grade room to get back to our room. We got our hugs and stickers for a good fire drill. (do you see what I mean about a busy day... and it was only half over!) We had our bathroom break and snack brought by Natalya. During snack we heard the book //Flashing Fire Engines.// Finally we gathered to talk about our project and we settled into choice and project time. We all helped clean up when choice time was done (with a little direction and prompting, of course!)

September 8, 2015
Our first rainy day (with a small bit of thunder!) We have settled into the routine of having table time when we first get to school. There were some different activities today. After table time, we cleaned up and started our day with our prayer song and our hello song. We looked at our schedule and the only difference was that our moving time was going to be in the gym instead of on the playground. We got jobs and then Isabella counted the calendar numbers for us. We sang a couple songs and then learned about what God created on day three. We did sign language with our Bible words and will practice this verse each day. When we talked about the plants God made we thought of pumpkins, flowers, trees, grass, and leaves. Then we each took a card and we moved into a fruit group and a vegetable group and put our cards in a chart, noticing that there were more vegetable cards. We made our line and walked to the gym. We did a moving song, but had to listen for the word "freeze" and then we stopped moving. Then we played a guessing/running game. We guessed which of Mrs. Otten's hands was hiding a rock and then we ran to that side of the room. After our drink break we had our suitcase surprise. Here's the clue (can you guess what it was?) It was small, made of wood, can only be used by grown ups, and makes fire. We talked about fire and "fire drill" which means we are practicing what to do if the fire bell rings. We could not do a fire drill today because of the rain, but we practiced saying, Here I am!" and we will do a fire drill next time, We had our bathroom break and snack and talked about our project (painting) and paint shirts and cleaning up. Then it was choice and project time.

September 3, 2015
Another great day in 3K! We had a few short-lived tears, but we already have learned to stay with table time activities when we first come to school. Unfortunately, we had one friend sick today. We prayed for you, Jordy! After our morning prayer and looking at our schedule, some of us were assigned jobs. Jaliyah was our calendar counter and she chose the pink heart wand. She found number 3 and put it next to number 2. Then she pointed at the numbers and we said the numbers and clapped. She also moved the weather arrows to cloudy. We learned two songs (//I Am Growing; and The More We Get Together)// Then we talked about going to gym. Our line leader was Brooklyn and our caboose was Ella. Kellin got to turn the stop sign for us when we got to the end of our hallway. Once in the gym, we found a spot to stand on. We warmed up with a song and moving. Then we practiced moving all in the same direction around the circle of spots while we tried many different kinds of movements. After our long walk back (it is hard to stay in a line, but we are learning!), we had a drink. We sang the first two verses of //He's Got the Whole World// and then learned that on day 2 God made the sky. Again, He said, "That's Good!" We added that verse to our song. We had our bathroom break and then enjoyed the snack Ella brought while Mrs. Otten read the book //Preschool Day Hooray.// After snack we stood around the project table to learn the steps of our project. We then had to talk about "bee-ing" sweet to the toys in our room and then we had choice time. During choice time three of us at a time worked on our project. Did you see any sparkles on me when I came home?? At the end of our day Samuel shook the number 5 so we did high five for our goodbye. Rowan took all the name tag stars down for his job.

September 1, 2015
Our first day! Whew, it was busy and, by the end of the day, quite warm!! No tearful goodbyes today, so that made for a calm start to the day. It was hard to stay at table time, but we each found something to do until we heard the bell. We learned that when the bell rings, we must STOP! (moving) LOOK! (at Mrs. Otten) and LISTEN! (finger on lips and finger points to an ear). We practiced a couple times and then cleaned up from our table time. Then it was time to go to the blue carpet and we each found a colored circle to stand on. We learned "pretzel legs" and then practiced with some music, moving and moving until the music stopped and then we sat down with pretzel legs. We began our day with prayer and looking at our schedule for the day. After counting just one we sang //If You're Happy and You Know It.// We had a story about a girl who went to preschool and she did some of the same things we will do in 3K. Then it was time to learn about walking in a line. After practicing that, we walked in the hall to the stop sign and then proceeded outdoors for some moving time. When we came back in our room was dark! We learned that everything was dark until God created the light. When he saw the light he created he said, "That's good!" (we learned how to do that in sign language.). Next it was time to talk about using the bathroom and washing our hands. After accomplishing that, we had Sadie pass out the snack she brought. We had another prayer and then ate our snack, listening to a story about a mouse who snuck in a backpack and went to school. After cleaning up from snack and looking at books for a few minutes, we had our suitcase surprise. BEES! (not real bees, of course.) We finally got to play in the room and and lots of fun. Mrs. Otten also took our photograph and weighed and measured us. Bell! STOP, LOOK, LISTEN! It was clean up time, prayer, goodbye song and goodbye wave. We got our things from our cubbies and our first day was done! Too busy to take any photographs of our fun day...watch for those in the coming weeks!