Quiet, Tiny Hopes

 

Today, Theodore Bear joined us for Table Time. 

We reviewed making a joyful noise and then we learned about our friends in the Hearing Impaired Community (we also learned the word “deaf” differs from “death”) 

We visited a quieter world by trying ear plugs. 

We said our names without sound and learned about lip reading and facial expressions. 

 

We sang the alphabet and introduced finger spelling and learned signs for singing “Jesus Loves Me” 

We learned that people have been waiting for an ASL translation of the Bible for 39 years and now, thanks to Wycliffe translators, they have God’s word available in their heart language.

Letters for our Pen Pal Project went home and we named Koko’s brother (Moe) and sister (Poe) who will go with friends who have moved away in order to (hopefully) keep in touch as the years unfold. Zoe has already made her way to Azalea’s house. 

Next week, we will continue this focus and practice our names and singing with sign. 

We are grateful to Wycliffe for the resources used in today’s lesson. PDF’s are linked below: 

ASL ALPHABET & BIBLE TRANSLATION

JESUS LOVES ME W/ ASL

Mooovin

Today our class dealt with one of the all-too-familiar challenges of being a church in a military community- we had to say “goodbye”  before we were ready- and didn’t even really get to say a proper farewell to Azalea, as they were whisked away earlier than planned and didn’t end up getting their final Sunday morning with us. The stuffed cow meant for her “keep in touch” kit sat in for her and will help us deliver our pen pal mail to her new address.

We also experienced one of the sweet by-products of life where people are always getting whisked away- a letter from Theo, one of our little classmates who was recently relocated. 

We readied letter and pictures to send to Theo and Azalea along with one of the friendship bracelets we made in class. 

Rowyn brought in birthday doughnuts to mark the occasion of turning 4 tomorrow. Posing with Koko was a special birthday treat (before he was wrapped in a napkin and sent off to play with the baby dolls) 

Though we didn’t have time to tie everything we did this morning to a super-spiritual take away, we did not forsake the opportunity to assemble and fellowship together- one of the first, best lessons to learn .

Orchestrated Hope

”O” we formed O’s with our hands “is for Orchestra”

We then learned about different instruments that make up an orchestra (video link in comments) and talked about what it means to play ‘in symphony’

I went around the table telling the children that Jesus loves them then stealing one of their goldfish crackers or gently poking their shoulder as an object lesson about what we say and do being “the same song”

They all wanted a turn being play-bullied by the teacher

We talked about how, like the instruments, we are all different but can work together to make beautiful music

We played the musical instruments with wild abandon and then by trying to follow a rhythm… we talked about the need for lots of practice, too

Koko came back from Hawaii with some ‘Toot-Sweets’ (nod to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang- also linked below) so it’s totally his fault and not mine about the joyful noises on the car rides home.

Full Album w/ Videos

Make A Joyful Noise

 Today we learned that there are times to “Be Still and know” that God is near and other times to “Make a joyful noise” for Him to hear.

We talked about those quiet times being when we may be sad and need to remember God loves us and how loud times are a celebration of God’s goodness.

We learned about different instruments that are used in different lands and took turns trying them.

We played a:

Coffee Can Drum

Xylophone

Ukelele

Castanets

Maracas

&

Tambourine

We had a full classroom today - I was so impressed by their teamwork during playtime, taking turns with toys and instrumes and thorough job cleaning up.

Thank you @ Tori & crew for bringing toys- everyone had fun helping put the track together using the alphabet

I have apologized for the whistles, but I must confess… we’re not finished learning about music and our joyful noises may persist- we’re thinking of starting a band!

FULL ALBUM w/VIDEOS

New Classroom

 

Two little ladies helped try out the updated classroom today. We used the “movie screen” to watch our Topsy Turvy lesson about Joseph forgiving his brothers then made our own coats of many colors.

Thank you Natalie for donating toys!

FULL ALBUM

Bubbles & Volcanoes

 

Today, we got a postcard from KoKo our traveling Koala and our “brothers and sisters in Jesus” @ New Hope Waimea Christian Fellowship. We learned that Hawaii has volcanoes and then we learned how we are like volcanoes: what is deep inside our heart is what comes out in our words and actions.

We let red represent the “LAVA” of anger & unkind words and blue equal “LOVE” and kindness. When we added water to our volcano, we talked about “sometimes it rains, other times it pours” alternating between dropper and cup to get reactions.

We talked about life being made up of

+ = moments and God being with us in the mix - then blended the lava dust accordingly for a grande finale

We went outside and celebrated all the space to run around with bubbles until our grown ups came to get us

* more volcano eruptions occurred than could be filmed or fit in this post *

FULL ALBUM w/VIDEO

Poprocks & Paperchains

 

Fantastic 4’s celebrate the 4th

What a full day we had today!

We celebrated America’s “birthday” by donning silly hats and making firework prints on paper night skies (all still drying in my car’s backseat)

We learned that July 4 is about Freedom and that “FOUR” also starts a verse about the kind of freedom Jesus gives.

We made a construction paper chain and talked about when chains are helpful and when it might be better to break free from chains.

We made up hand motions to go with the verse we stuck to our artwork:

:: FOR Freedom (hold up “July 4th fingers”)

Jesus (point up)

Set us free (break free motion)

STAND FIRM (stand firm with feet)

DO NOT (wag finger) be chained by sin ::

We learned two very important life lessons while opening our straws for print making:

1.) Straw wrappers can be rockets (but never aim at faces!)

2.) Straw wrappers can be wriggling worms (but if our grown ups say no, we hafta listen)

Of course the day we used washable paint was also the day a giant bug emerged from the drain and briefly held us all hostage. After an appropriate amount of screeching and running from the tiny bathroom, the Lord intervened and led the lil’ (big!) fella to greener pastures and we were all able to wash up.

We’ve added new little people to the Lego table and wonder how long they will keep their extremities (we share the room with “The Monday Kids” ~ a daycare class we’ve tried to be penpals with )

We had donut munchkins and tasted sizzling “firework candy” (PopRocks- big hit)

FULL ALBUM w/VIDEO