Week 11: October 31 - November 3 - "Oh, the Wonders of the Rainforest"
“Oh, the Wonders of the Rainforest”
Our current study of South America (and the fascinating trip to El Yunque" a few weeks ago), inspired some great presentations about the flora and fauna of the world’s rainforests — for both the Seeds and Oaks programs!
Science that explores Creation
Mrs. Jenny hears from the students about how God designed some animals and plants can work together to help each other.
READINGS FOR THE WEEK - Family Book Package
The readings listed below are optional, but are great ways to reinforce the lessons taught at the center and for the entire family to explore together the topics we cover from week to week.
Our Memory verse can be found at the end of this page.
The Bible - the Book of Matthew
Matthew 7:13-29; Matthew 8:1-4
Children’s Atlas of God’s World
pp. 28-31
Window on the World
pp. 54-55 (Greece)
Additional Read-Alouds:
The Usborne Living World Encyclopedia
pgs. 66-69
Missionary Biography: Nate Saint
THE GARDEN
This week in worship we discussed how God cares for us. To compare how God cares for us, we talked about nests. The purpose of them is for mommy and daddy birds to keep eggs and baby birds safe. We spoke about how God cared for Elijah when it did not rain and God guided him to a brooke and sent ravens with food for him. How awesome it would be to have food delivered by birds. We also read Psalm 91 where it talks about how God protects us and is our refuge, we are protected under His wings. Just as if God was our daddy bird and was always going to protect us, his precious babies.
This week we celebrated Lucas’ birthday. What a blessing to be part of what God is doing in him and his family. He received the third and final book of Amy Gannet’s series that discusses God’ omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence in a simple way for children to comprehend. Does God Go on Vacation? Is the book on God’s omnipresence. After our celebration, we went to the big park and the children cooked some tacos using leaves and flowers while other pretended to be koalas climbing the trees. They also played in the small park with the outdoor toys. They are getting better hand and eye coordination when hitting the ball with the racket.
For activity time this week, we had to include the water tables again because it has been a hit! The kids enjoy it so much.This time we added some glass beads to the table and the kids began to imagine what they could be. Fish? People? We also worked on making nests with clay to continue to strengthen our finger muscles. We added some natural elements to serve as our eggs. The kids were so proud of their work! Finally, Mr. Jean came to help us this Thursday and was playing blocks with Gillian and Emiliano. While they were building blocks together, Emiliano said, “Estoy construyendo algo bien grande.” Hallel and Estela enjoyed the drama area and brought their game of mommies to life even more by adding costumes.
SEEDS
SEEDS
Worship
Mrs. Vivi used the students to demonstrate the lessons Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 7 this week. The students were able to understand that when we ask and seek the things that honor God, He grants those things. He is pleased when our desires are aligned to His will for us. He gives good things to those who ask.
Geography
This week, we dug deeper into the culture of Brazil by learning a few words in Portuguese. Our friends, Derick and Cedrick, natives from Brazil, sent us a video message of John 3:16 in Portuguese. It was great to listen to how similar some of the words were to Spanish. The students also enjoyed learning the names of some colors. We will continue studying South America this week, making sure we can identify all of the regions on the continent.
Science
As I mentioned in the WhatsApp group, your students did a fantastic job researching and presenting on their rainforest animals. Some were nervous but each student stood in front of the class and practiced presenting in front of a group. The students really enjoyed learning from each other through this assignment.
Friday we watched an episode on the Magic School Bus to finish up our lessons on rainforests. The message of the video was to step back and look at the big picture in order to see how everything within an ecosystem is interacting on some level. In the show, Mrs. Frizzle’s cacao tree wasn’t producing cocoa beans. Her students investigated the situation and discovered that someone was keeping the mud wallowing peccaries (wild pigs) away from a section of the forest. As a result, there were no mud holes for the midge flies to lay their eggs and thus they were not present to pollinate cacao flowers in order for them to develop into seed pods. These symbiotic relationships are critically important! Nothing in creation exists in isolation.
Photos from the SEEDS Rainforest Presentations
Studio Time
We used our Studio Time to watch our second Torchlighters movie of the year: The Story of Jim Elliot. The animated movie begins with Jim Elliot as a college student and all the ways God was preparing him for the mission field. His love for God and devotion for Him were evident to all who knew him and God used him mightily in Ecuador with his family and other friends God had sent. And although the last part of the movie is always hard to watch, it was important to let the kids know that the missionaries chose to not defend themselves with the guns they had, but rather gave their lives to reach this tribe. That act of sacrifice paved the way for the Auca Indians to begin to understand God's love and forgiveness. On Friday, we learned more about Jim’s friend, Nate Saint and helped the kids making their yellow airplanes modeled after Nate Saint’s.
OAKS MIDDLE YEARS
OAKS
Learning about the Aucas
There are some great videos online that tell the stories of foreign missionaries.
Oaks Geography and Worship
Our lessons in studying South America brought us to talking in depth about Missions, specifically the story of five men who gave their lives so that the Aucas of Ecuador could hear the Gospel. Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and others were willing to do whatever it took to help those who had never heard the name of Jesus to learn about His love and forgiveness. We watched videos on the lives of these men and even worked on some plane construction projects that mimicked the style of the missionary planes that were used in those times.
Oaks Science
The day of the presentations finally arrived! The students were so excited and nervous! I loved seeing what they did and all the creative ideas they had in order to “sell” their projects. They all worked hard on their product poster and some even made some samples and/or produced their own commercial! I was really blown away by their presentations and their genuine support and encouragement to each other. In the end, they were asked to evaluate themselves and their peers based on the guidelines for the presentation. I will share the feedback with them this week.
OAKS Video Presentations
Here are a few of the video commercials that accompanied the actual presentations on rain forest products.
Cinnamon by Judah
Cloves by Olivia
Ginger by Channeliz
Cashews by Joshua
Oaks Studio
The Oak’s San Pedrito drawings came alive this week during Studio Time. They finished their sketches and put in their last details. They made sure they were blending colors and were trying to get the San Pedrito color “just right.” They turned out lovely!
Memory Verse #9
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”