WiNdY DaY!

Miss Amy's Class has SO MUCH fun!  This week we worked on learning all about wind!  What better way to learn about wind than actually experiencing it!

We brought out a pinwheel to see if the wind could blow it!  You can't tell in the picture if the wind is blowing but if you look at Miss Amy's hair, you can tell it's a windy day!

You can tell the kids are just itching to get their hands on this little toy!  What could be more fun on this sunny windy day?!

It's a good thing that the wind was actually blowing today or it would have been a big disappointment for the kids to get out there and not see that pinwheel spin!  Can you imagine how much fun they would have had if there had been a kite out there blowing in the wind?!

The Last Supper

As Easter approaches there is no greater time to reflect on Jesus than now.  We put so much focus on all of the commercial reasons to celebrate Easter, that we sometimes forget why it is that we all get together and celebrate.

Jesus got together with his disciples before he was crucified and ate one last meal together.  Little did his disciples know what that meal would mean for years and years to come!  This is such an important story that it's retold in the Bible several times!  It's told in Matthew (Matthew 26:17-30 ),  Mark (Mark 14:12-26), and Luke (Luke 22:7-23 )!


I will share with you the story as told in the book of Matthew:

Matthew 26:17-30 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” 18 He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’ “ 19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21 And while they were eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.” 22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely not I, Lord?” 23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” 25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “Yes, it is you.”

26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.” 30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

So after reading this can you guess what we did today?  We feasted on unleavened bread!  But before we feasted, we had to make our bread!

I bet after all these cooking pictures you're just dying to get your hands on our top secret recipe. . . right?  Of course you are!  Well lucky for you I've decided to share it with you!

UNLEAVENED BREAD

1 1/2 cup warm water

1/4 cup honey

3/4 cup brown sugar

2T. oil

4 T. soft butter

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. salt

1 3/4 cup flour

4 cups wheat flour

1 tsp. yeast

Cream butter, oil and brown sugar, and honey. Add

 water flour, salt, baking powder. And wheat flour Mix and kneed. Divide into 4 small loaves.

Bake 17minutes at 350 degrees. Do not over bake

Your child should have brought a loaf home to share with you, and if you'd ever like to make it again and share the story with your family, you now have a great recipe that your kids can help you make!

After that we talked about the cross and what it means to us today.  We talked a little bit about how the crucifixtion took place.  The kids each had a chance to try on a cross and a crown of thorns. 

Palm Sunday!

Last monday was a fun day!  We learned all about what Palm Sunday is.  Before we go any further, you should read the book of Luke, Chapter 19 up here for you to read.  Read it with your child and I'm sure they can fill you in on all the details!  One of the exciting parts of Monday is that Pastor Bertt came and read this story to our class!  It's always a real treat to get to visit with him!

Here is the story of Palm Sunday from Luke Chapter 19

  

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

 ²⁸ After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹ As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ³⁰ “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

 ³² Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. ³³ As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

 ³⁴ They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

 ³⁵ They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. ³⁶ As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

 ³⁷ When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

 ³⁸ “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”^[b]

   “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

 ³⁹ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

   ⁴⁰ “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

 ⁴¹ As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it ⁴² and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. ⁴⁴ They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

What an AWESOME story!  It's so important as we read these words that we don't just see them as a story.  This is real!  It really happened!  Verse 36 is one of my favorites:  People were willing to take the shirt off of their back, to cover the ground that Jesus walked on to shield his feet from the dirt on the ground!  

On Monday the kids were able to act out the story after they read it with Pastor Bertt.

 

They kids all laid their coats on the ground, and waved their palm branches in the air preparing the way and humbling themselves for Jesus.  Each of them made their own palm branch to wave.

They each got a turn to be Jesus and ride into town on the donkey.  The kids get so much more from a story when they get the opportunity to be a part of the story.  It was a fun day and we learned a lot!

 

Noah's Ark and RAINBOWS!!!!

Can you think of a more fitting story for this time of year than that of Noah and the Ark?  I know I can't!  It's a story that everyone should know!  The best part of this story is that fact that it's truth!  We all grow up hearing these stories, but have you ever taken time to reflect upon it as truth?  Can you even imagine what it would have felt like it to have been on that ark?  Witnessing 40 days and 40 nights of flooding? Another neat thing about the flood, is that most people imagine it happening as rain, but the Bible tells us it was not only rain, but that water came up out of the earth.  The Bible says, "In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights" (Genesis 7:11–12).

Noah and his family were actually on the ark for over a year!  It took MONTHS for the waters to go down, and even longer to dry enough to live on the land.  Can you even imagine that?!


If you would like to read the WHOLE story about Noah and the ark, you can find it in the book of Genesis.

Today, a really EXCITING thing happened at school:  The kids got to actually MEET NOAH!!!!  Can yiou believe it?! He showed up to talk to us about God's love for us and the promise he made to us after the flood!

The kids heard all about Noah, and they also got to experience a little bit of what it would be like to be on the ark. 

 

The first thing they had to do was build the ark, then they entered the ark and prepared for the flood.  Did you know that it took many many years to build the ark?  We built ours in just a few minutes.  After we boarded the ark we had to prepare ourselves for the rain.  

 The boat started rocking and shaking, and we could even hear the rain!  It was amazing!  After the flood was over, God made a promise:  "I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth." Genesis 9:13.  Since God used a rainbow to show us his promise to us, we also made rainbows today!!!

We used water color paint and salt to make our rainbows!  They all turned out so beautiful!  We made another kind of very special, very DELICIOUS rainbow today too. . .we made Rainbow Cake!

The first thing we did was mix together our cake batter.  The kids got to help dump in the ingredients and mix up the cake.  Then we divided it into bowls, and colored the batter into rainbow colors.  After that we started our rainbow. . .

We took spoonfuls of batter, and just piled them on top of eachother.  Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple. . .over and over. . .until we had this: 

This is what our cake looks like before we bake it. . .all layered up.  Many many colors.  Then, we baked it, cooled it, frosted it, and cut it.

Each kid got to eat their very own piece of our rainbow!  How neat is that?!  It turned out so pretty and they were so surprised to the rainbow stripes in their cake!

They all LOVED their cake!

Hickory Dickory Dock!

I have to admit. . .I have three kids and have not spent too much time reciting classic nursery rhymes with them.  And if I want to be totally honest, if I did I couldn't do it by heart.  Miss Amy is AWESOME with that kind of thing!  She always has a song, a fun rhyme, or a repetitive poem for her class!  The cool thing about it, is that poems and nursery rhymes are made to be memorized and repeated and you only have to say them a handful of times before the kids can repeat it word for word!

This week Miss Amy's class learned Hickory Dickory Dock!  In case you don't know it. . .Here it is:

Hickory, dickory, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Hickory, dickory, dock.

Now I am sure that you've all heard it before and probably know it by heart, but to some of the kids they had never heard this before!

After reciting this poem, and talking about the mouse running up and down the clock they made a really cool  craft:

The mouse is attached to the clock by a string, and if you pull the string, the mouse runs up the clock!  How cute!  Miss Amy's class also had a parade in their class!  They used the musical instruments and banged on the drums and made lovely music!

The kids had a great time marching to the music they made!  Another thing kids like to do is play!  Let me tell you, there is no shortage of play at school!  Throw some kids in a room full of toys and friends and a great time is bound to be had!  We also encourage them to do lots of coloring, drawing, and painting!

 

Wind and KITE Week!!!!

What a fun week we've had talking about wind and kites!  (And how appropriate for the weather we've been having!) 

On Monday we actually started off our week by making a kite!  They were so cute!  We actually found this idea on the Pinterest website!  ( You should check it out.  LOTS of fun crafts/projects/and activities for families!) 

We let the kids create the outline of their kite with pieces of black paper, and then they filled it in with squares of tissue paper!  It created a stained-glass effect!  SO cool!  Then we poked holes in the kite to hang a string from it. . .because everybody knows you can't fly a kite without a string! 

Miss Kelly helped the kids create their masterpieces!  She tried to work with two kids at a time, but as we began working on projects she ended up gathering quite the crowd!  They were all so excited to make their kites!

Then they got to take their kites over to Miss Barb to get their strings attached to it!  Each Kite turned out just a little bit different from the next and they were all beautiful!  The kids were so proud of their creations!

After they had a chance to finish their kites, we turned on some windy kite music and paraded around the room, dancing with our kites!  

 We also read the book "It Looks Like Spilt Milk."  When you read the book, you realize you can make everything look like something!  

Then we made a "Spilt Milk" project of our own!  

This child's "Spilt Milk" project apparently looks a bit like their Grandma!  We had a great week this week, had a lot of fun, learned some new things, and I have to tell you now to ENJOY YOUR SPRING BREAK!!!  Have a great week next week and we'll see you all on Wednesday March 21st!

Thing 1 . . . and . . . Thing 2

Happy Dr. Seuss Week!!!!!

Are these not the coolest teachers you've ever seen?!  Let me tell you, there is no Dr. Seuss shortage here at Country Kids!  This week was FULL of Seuss!

Stories, projects, and Whoville Fun!

I cannot wait for you to see the insanely adorable art project we made. . .it is the cutest THING ever, but first, you have to take a peek at the Cat In The Hat!

OK. . .without further ado. . . I'm going to reveal my FAVORITE project of the year so far. . .in my opinion, it's tied with the adorable lobster we made last week!

It's Thing 1 and Thing 2!!!!!  Was I right?  Isn't it CUTE?!

No Dr. Seuss day would be complete without some crazy form of fun and silliness, so here you go. . .we danced with scarves!

All in all, Dr. Seuss Week is off to a great start, and would have been even better if we had would have had school on Wednesday. . .but instead. . .we enjoyed a much needed SNOW DAY!!!