“The Heart of Art”

Sometimes a child says something that perfectly reminds us why we do what we do…Estrella, after singing our song “Not Alone” said, “My favorite part is when we say ‘and the pain we feel HE feels…” Wow. She clung to such a powerful lyric and it just touched out hearts. It is true. He does know what we go through. And the art we experience, in song, in painting, in writing, helps our hearts understand the heart of God a little bit more.

Scroll below to see this week’s home readings

Family Book Package Readings

The readings listed below are optional, but are great ways to reinforce the lessons taught during this week. The entire family, from the youngest to the oldest, can explore new topics and enjoy great stories together.

Our Family Memory Verse for this week can be found at the end of this page.

The Bible - the Book of Matthew

Matthew 17:14-27
Matthew 18:1-14

Window on the World

p. 86-87 Kurds

THE GARDEN

This week for worship we studied the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus showed himself to be the Messiah and that changed her life forever. She was so happy to have met Jesus that she shared the news of who He was with many Samaritans. For park time Estela, Lucas and Emiliano recreated the story on their own at our well.

This week was full of fun and new activities. On Tuesday we had indoor park because of the weather and we had the chance to dance with our colored scarves for the first time. Mrs. Vivi led the children in some stretching to start off and afterwards they danced to the rhythm of the songs Miss Nicole played for them. We also played “Move and Groove” which the kids love.

This week we did some experiments with the children. They had the chance to build boats made out of aluminum foil and had to make sure they could float. Some achieved it on their first try and others kept trying to build the boats better until they could float. We also did an experiment where we made a “rain” of colors by filling a cup with shaving cream and pouring food dyes on top. “Parece caer en cámara lenta”, said Hallel. “Se ve como el planeta tierra”, said Emiliano. “Se ve bien bonito”, said Cesare. .

SEEDS

Worship

We have seen that Jesus has referred to both good things and bad using the example of leaven. Faith can grow like leaven, but in Matthew 16, Jesus warned his disciples about the “leaven” of the Pharisees and the Sadduccees. To illustrate this idea, we saw hoe baking soda (a leavening agent) reacts when added to a small bowl of yogurt and vinegar. The yogurt began to inflate and fill the space. Jesus warned his disciples that the “man-made” ideas of these teachers could influence them to think only about earthly things and not about heavenly things. Just like the baking soda, this “leaven” could spread among them and be almost impossible to remove. The students were very intrigued by this illustration and thought about how they too could better follow the teachings of Jesus, and grow deeper in their faith.

Geography

Our journey throughout the world has taken us deeper into the Middle East as we traveled southwest from Israel to Saudi Arabia. We read our books and found out about the Arabic language, the foods eaten and the general topography of the land. Did you know that Saudi Arabia is a kingdom made up of 13 regions? The kids especially like practicing the calligraphy letters of the Arabic language.

In Park time, the kids enjoyed learning a new guessing game taught by Olivia and Joshua.

Science

Our last unit before the break is on ecology and conservation. We talked about how God gave man dominion over creation and commanded man to be fruitful and multiply. Because of this, we should be responsible with the natural resources God has given us and take care of the plants and animals He created. We learned about endangered and extinct species. We discussed the major reasons why a species can become endangered: habitat reduction, pollution, introduction of non-native species, exploitation, and over-hunting. Thankfully, there are many conservation efforts around the world to protect endangered species. We highlighted the success of the conservation efforts with the California condor and the Puerto Rican Parrot.

Studio Time

In Music, the students worked on the second verse of “Not Alone.” Now that Mrs. Emily has taught the whole song, we have incorporated it into our regular worship time with Mr. Jean. Mrs. Emily also taught them the names of the notes and how to write them on the pentagram in their notebooks. On Friday, we learned about the traditional art of rug making in Saudi Arabia known as Al Sadu Weaving. We saw pictures of the intricate designs filled with geometric shapes like diamonds, squares, and triangles. Then, each student used crayons and/or colored pencils to design their own carpet on a piece of prepared graph paper. They filled the different squares to create their designs. Some followed the pictures provided as inspiration while others chose to make up their own one in a similar style.

THE OAKS PROGRAM

Worship

The book of Matthew is beginning to build up to the crucifixion of Jesus. In this chapter, we have seen Jesus begin to instruct his disciple more deeply about faith especially since he reveals to them that he must suffer and die in Jerusalem. The students were able to take their time in reading the passages and taking notes and sketching in their individual journals. There were some really great pieces created.

Geography and Park

For the OAKS students, our study of Saudi Arabia has had us look at a lot of different regions throughout Asia. The students are comparing rivers and mountains found all over Asia and learning to interpret data into bar graphs in their books.

Despite the rain this week, we got to go to the park and enjoy simply walking around the track, taking the exercise that we could.

Science

This week our studio and science times as we worked together on our endangered species projects. The students worked on their introductions on Tuesday and left with an idea of how to continue on to their next paragraphs. I also explained to them how to document their electronic sourcesOn Thursday, they came with most of their paragraphs finished and we discussed how to write a conclusion for their papers. This week, we will edit their final drafts so that they may make clean copies of their writing and work on their posters over the break.

Memory Verse #20

“Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.””

— Matthew 6:9-13