Week 20: Planted
WEEK 20: Planted
Scripture tells us that as we sow the Word of God into the hearts of young people, they will be like trees PLANTED by streams of living water, whose leaves do not wither. The OAKS kids have really been applying that truth as they continue to develop ideas for their upcoming “Family Day and More” event on February 25, all for the glory of God and to help their friend. And in both The Garden and at SEEDS, we were also able to literally plant more in the playground this week.
Scroll down to see the supplemental readings for the week, galleries of our latest photos, and our current memory verse.
We began our time of worship outside in the gazebo this week.
Memory Verse #10
“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
SEEDS and OAKS Programs Suggested Readings for the Week
The readings are meant to reinforce the topics covered in class last week and to have parents and other siblings be a part of what we’re learning. These readings are not required for the class, but can be a good supplement. You can try to read all or just a few of the selections. Use your discretion as to what to cover based upon the ages of your children.
HISTORY
The Last 500 Years / World History from Ancient to Modern Times
p. 68-69 / 264-265
There are some great Internet Quicklinks to access that go along with the topics from these pages.
The Story of the World
The Russian Revolution - P. 265
The End of World War I - p. 271
The Easter Uprising - p. 279
Indian Nationalism - p. 284
GARDEN - Pre-K and K
Placing new flowers around The Well wit hour guest assistant from Seeds, Carolina.
Our worship story this week was about Jesus being tempted by Satan in the wilderness led to some great conversations with the girls this week. When Elena heard the part of the story when Satan offered Jesus all of the nations of the world if only he would bow down and worship him, she couldn’t help but exclaim: “But Jesus already had everything! And Jesus gives us everything we need too! “ She went on to mention the many ways God provides for His children daily which led us to praise and thank God for His goodness. On Thursday, the girls were eager to draw the story. They had meditated on the story and had a plan of what part of the story they would enjoy drawing on their clipboards. I love to ask them about their drawings when they finish because it gives them the opportunity to narrate back to us part or all of the story of the week.
During activity time, I kept my word to the girls and let them have an “extra long time” building with blocks. They enjoyed adding the rocks and glass beads as well as the wooden animals to their play area. On Thursday, we did some more planting in the garden with Carolina who came to help and went back inside to do some flower paintings. We practiced painting round shapes for the centers of the flowers that reminded us of the way we write the letter of the week, “Oo.” The girls did a great job selecting their colors and carefully painting details. I’m sure they will ask to paint again this week. And why should we not? :)
SEEDS - Grades 1-6
Worship
Pointillism in front of our new Library section.
We were blessed again this week to be able to celebrate Noah’s birthday this week at Seeds. Noah is one of the students that has been with the program since we started in 2019 and it has been so great to honor him again with a new birthday book. We were also able to review our Memory Verse from Romans 12:1-2 during our Proclaim Day. Many students demonstrated how well they have done in memorizing the verses. Great job guys!
Science
Did you know that our air is actually cleaner than it was in the 1970’s? In preparing for the science classes this past week, I was encouraged to discover that manufacturing plants have found cleaner ways to burn fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas.
However, it is still important for scientists to spend energy trying to find renewable energy sources that do not run out and clean energy sources that do not produce chemical waste or pollution. In class, we compared the following renewable sources:
Hydropower—power from water that is efficient but can also cause some pollution to the water that is used.
Wind Energy—energy from huge wind turbines that is not as efficient and can cause problems for the wildlife in the area. It takes at least three to four of the wind turbines to power one house.
Solar Energy—efficient and less harmful to the surrounding wildlife. The equipment can be expensive (as many of us know here in PR) but is a one time investment.
The students seemed to really enjoy a chance to be creative as they colored a page depicting different renewable and non-renewable sources of energy.
History
It seems as if the last few centuries of History have been filled with nothing but revolutions! Russia was the latest we studied this week, as there many internal problems caused them to withdraw from the war and overthrow their monarchy for a Communist government. We also learned about some of the reasons why the U.S. got involved in WWI. One major reason, the sinking of the Lusitania by a German submarine, was one that the kids were very much intrigued by. For this reason, we played some games of “Battleship Shots” to help remember this event. After a few rounds, we talked about the end of World War I in November of 1918. As an extension activity, we talked about Gandhi, who lived during WWI and became a great figure for Indian Independence. As we talked about his life, the kids drew his portrait during a special art lesson.
Studio
Our fingers got quite the workout as we studied Pointillism, a style of painting and drawing that branched out of Impressionism in which small dots of color form an image. We talked about, Georges Seurat, one of the pioneers of this art movement and examined some of his works of art. I told this students that we would be using markers for this activity and I introduced some new markers to work with as we explored how to show light and darkness by making dots in a small part of the paper. I then showed them a few examples of simple drawings made in the Pointillism style so that they could choose an image to work with for Friday. They could work on an apple, a pear, a flower, or a butterfly. After choosing their image, I asked them to do a light sketch on their paper so they could get to work as soon as they arrived on Friday. And work it was! You could hear everyone tapping gently with the markers as if they were a musical band. The Oceans of Life got a fit of the giggles because they were saying that the work was making them sweat therefore they decided that there was such a thing as “el sudor de los puntitos.”
OAKS - 7+
Worship/Studio
Eva and Olivia present for the day.
The power of prayer was the theme of our stories from “A Young Person’s Guide to Knowing God” this week. We are hoping to record new episodes of our podcast soon based on these amazing stories.
The event planning for our “Family Day and More” activity continued as well. This week we focused on the layout of the stations in the space as well as the different team leads and prices for the items for sale. We are so proud of the OAKS students who are working to create an event that will be memorable, but also honor Esteban and raise money for his treatment. Please keep this activity in prayer. Remember: February 25 from 1-6pm.
And remember to continue sharing Esteban’s “Go Fund Me” page!
https://gofund.me/6c787548
History/Physical Education
It seems as if the last few centuries of History have been filled with nothing but revolutions! Russia was the latest we studied this week, as there many internal problems caused them to withdraw from the war and overthrow their monarchy for a Communist government. We also learned about some of the reasons why the U.S. got involved in WWI until its conclusion in November of 1918.
The Oaks students dug deeper into history by learning about more problems for the British during WWI. Both the Irish Uprising for Independence and the pursuit of Indian Independence, mostly led by Gandhi, changed a lot for the British Empire.
We’ve been doing a lot more activity outside this semester. First, we played kickball for a few weeks and this week, we played some touch American Football. Everyone had a great time!
Science
On Tuesday, I divided the groups in teams and assigned them a different renewable energy source. The teams had to read about the energy source they got assigned and decide what were the pros and cons of that particular energy source. Then they had to choose which member of the team was going to present the negative and positive side. On Thursday, Mateo, Josh, and Ani shared about Wind Energy, Olivia and Eva prepared a skit regarding Hydro Power, and Kendall and Elisha shared about Solar Energy. This was a way to have the students observe each other and ask each other questions regarding these renewable energy sources. It also helped us sharpen our presentation skills by critiquing each other and giving suggestions for the next time they present. Afterwards, we briefly discussed some other forms of renewable energy such as biofuels, hydrogen, and geothermal energy.
Arts Academy
This week was very exciting as we began our new ART CLUB on Tuesday, followed by auditions for Charlotte’s Web on Thursday. Drama Club Jr. also met on Wednesday and as usual, had a LOT of fun!
