Week 2: Rehearsals for the stage and life
WEEK 2: Rehearsals for the stage and life
Rainy days made for reviewing routines, some fun indoor park times and play rehearsals this week! And our first two birthday celebrations of the year!
Scroll down to see the supplemental readings for the week and galleries of our latest photos.
Practice builds habits
While you may have heard of “practice makes perfect,” our emphasis on routines is not intended to result in perfection. That’s impossible. But it does create healthy habits that can remain with our kids for life.
GARDEN - Pre-K and K
This week at The Garden we had the privilege of celebrating Hallel’s birthday. Her family was able to join us as we worshiped, reviewing the days of creation and then had the time to honor Hallel.
The children were able to go to the big park and the highlight for them was finding big mushrooms in the park. They also enjoyed playing with blocks and the kitchen. In the kitchen they took turns being chef, customer and the person on the cash register or as they call it: calculator. The kids also had a chance to draw their families, and those drawings were awesome!
During our afternoon routines, we also practiced the months of the year and days of the week (english and spanish) with our special songs. Ask the children to teach them to you! August is almost over and we have been counting the numbers in our calendar, they will soon count to 20 with no help!
We give thanks to our loving Father for another week together. As we sing in the Garden, God has been so good to us, Dios ha sido tan bueno conmigo. What are you grateful for?
SEEDS - Grades 1-6
In worship time we continued to talk about why and how we worship. We incorporated the use of instruments to emphasize worshiping the Lord with gladness, joy, and with all of our hearts. On Wednesday, we had the blessing of celebrating our first SEEDS birthday of the year: Nick Bynum, and honoring him with his birthday book. On Friday, the children got an opportunity to proclaim the first memory verse in front of the group. Many kids were brave enough to share the verse in front of the whole group, even some of our younger students. This week, we will start memorizing the second verse from John 13. We will send you the melody so that you can practice at home.
In Science we continued discussing the properties of matter. We reviewed volume, mass, and density and then introduced buoyancy, luster, color, shape and hardness (in relation to malleability and plasticity). On Wednesday, the students particularly enjoyed making foil boats and dropping a variety of items into a tub of water to see which items would float. On Friday, each student got to describe a different item according to its properties in order to deepen their understanding of the terms and how scientists use them to identify matter.
We’ve been focusing our time in History on the geography of the United States, learning about the northern, southern, and Eastern borders of the country. Maybe you have heard a song or two at home? If not and you’d like learn the songs too, check out the link below in the readings section, courtesy of our new science teacher, Mrs. Jenny Bynum.
We’ve spent a lot of time on this because before we get too far into the historical events beginning in 1850, it is important for the kids to get acquainted with the land that we will be discussing so much this year. Keep reviewing the songs at home. The better they know about these states, the stronger their foundation will be.
In Studio Time, we drew family portraits and shared them with each other. We also worked together to come up with names for their groups. Some groups had a harder time with this than others but by Friday we finally had all the names. Oceans of Life (1st grade), The Mighty Lions (2nd-3rd grade) and The Faithful Vines (4th-6th grade). After choosing their name, they got to work designing and drawing their group poster which they will finish this week. This project allowed them to work together and challenged them to listen to each other, negotiate, and let go of some of their own ideas in order to accept the final vote. These are such important skills for them to develop!
OAKS - 7+
The Oaks students have been enjoying the book that we are using in our worship time as we have seen how the author, Patricia St. John uses stories to convey the deep truths about the character of God. We’ve already seen how God loves us like a Father, has redeemed us and has removed the wall of separation from Him that our sin created. Now we will be going more deeply into the role that Jesus Christ has played in the work of salvation of the world.
BIBLE readings:
John 1:1-13
A Young Person’s Guide to Knowing God
Read p. 23 - “The Closed Window”
Read p. 31 - “Why Sheikh Ali Ran”
Read p. 35 - “The Unrecognized Guest”
In Science, we learned about buoyancy and density. On Friday, the kids had two work on two challenges. The was with a piece of modeling clay. The modeling clay in the shape of a ball would sink in their water. Their challenge was to change the shape of the modeling clay in order to decrease its density and increase its buoyancy. Later, they had to test out their creations in the water table. If it didn’t work, they had to redesign until they made it work. This showed how shipbuilders take pieces of metal and change their shape in order to make them float. For the second challenge, they had to work in groups of three to use foil paper to design a boat that will be able to carry “treasure”. This week, they will use their boats to compete against each other and see which boat can carry more treasure.The treasure will be pennies and we will add one at a time until their boats sink. The group with the boat that carries the most pennies, wins!
In Studio Time, there was much excitement about the group play based on the Greek thinker Archimedes. What was meant to be a short script has now evolved into a mini production with costumes and props. They are finalizing the script and rehearsing the piece and will most likely perform it for the Garden students sometime next week. Don’t miss some of their rehearsal pictures with their costumes so far!
READINGS FOR THE WEEK
OAKS Program
See above
SEEDS
Learn new Memory Verse: John 13:15
Review the border states song by linking the map link!
Help for your Homeschool
We heard that some of you were using the Memory Verse in creative ways this week! Whether using it as copy work for your English class or singing the rap as part of your music program, we are proud of your initiative. If you haven’t done so yet, look for ways to use something from the program as a starting point for some of your own routines at home. Good job!
Also, remember about our recommendation of incorporating World Watch News into your routines. We highly recommend this excellent current events resource. For more information, check out: WorldWatch.News/friends/jared-ramos. Use the referral code jaredramos.
Memory Verse #2
“ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”