Week 28: April 8-12 - "Loving Your Neighbor"
“Loving Your Neighbor”
This week, in our study of the Book of Matthew, Jesus taught about the first and greatest commandment: to love the LORD with everything we have. The second, He said, is like it; to love YOUR NEIGHBOR as yourself. We saw several examples of practical ways to do this, from hospital visits, to students teaching others the skills they know, to going on missions trips. We are thankful to see our students putting into practice the things they are learning from their relationship with Christ.
RegistER for Fall 2024 By Following the link below.
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 23: 1-39
Matthew 24: 1-28
Window on the World
pp. 112-113 North Korea
Additional Read-Aloud for this week:
Living World Encyclopedia
pp. 32-33 - Estuaries
Christian Heroes: Then and Now - GlaDys AYlward
THE GARDEN
Jesus is Risen! His two friends on the road to Emmaus were so excited and happy when God opened their eyes and were able to recognize that the man breaking bread with them was Jesus. We wondered what it would be like and how it must have felt to see Jesus alive again.
On Tuesday the children used playdough to practice making a pinch pot that they will make with clay this week. Then, they were able to sculpt freely. “Look at my elephant. Oh wait, I need to make his ears,” said Estella. In blocks, Emiliano wanted to build a castle and Cesare offered to help. As they worked, their plan evolved and they decided to build a pool and have all the sea animals jump off a trampoline into it.
On Thursday, the students completed their pictures of the story about Jesus and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They continued working on their drawing skills during activity time. They each drew a catand added the colors and stripes or patches they wanted to. We drew the outline with black marker and added color with crayons. Carolina and Emma drew along with them and they were so excited! When finished some played a drawing game in the easel with Mrs. Vivi and others enjoyed dramatic play in the kitchen with Carolina and Emma. In the park, we worked on coordination with a bat and a ball. They loved making “home runs.” They also helped to rake some leaves and prepare the space to work on the garden in the next few weeks.
SEEDS
Worship
It's hard to understand why so many people tried to trap Jesus in His words. We saw this week that many people: Pharisees, Sadduccees and even a lawyer attempted to expose fault in Jesus by asking him questions they thought would show the world that this man was NOT the Son of God. They were not going to Jesus with questions (recognizing Him as One who has authority and answers); rather they were questioning Jesus. There is a big difference. When we come to God with questions, we show Him that we know He is in control; when we question God, we show that in our hearts, we think we know more than Him. It is an important difference to remember. Jesus skillfully dismantled all of their questions and brought them to the point: the greatest thing we can do is LOVE the Lord our God, with all our heart, soul and mind, AND love others as ourselves. Let’s keep striving to do this at ALL times.
Seeing this put into practice, we got a chance to hear how Bayoan and Carib shared the love of Christ on their mission trip to the Dominican Republic. They shared just how much God had miraculously provided for them on the trip. There were over 100 kids in attendance at the Bible School they organized with their parents.
We missed Javvah who was in the hospital this week. Olivia and Mrs. Vivi had the chance to visit her and bring her a special friend. Praise God that she is back home again!
PARK
As a tribute to one of the best modern baseball players in the world, Shohei Ohtani from Japan, we played wiffle ball this week in the park. This was a great way to integrate our study of Japan into our outdoor play time. The kids also enjoyed some jump rope with Mrs. Vivi and plain old free time of playing “Monster catch,” exploring the trees and restaurant, one of the favorite role play games they enjoy.
Speaking of games, we wanted to acknowledge our very own Jeremias Perez Ocasio this week for helping his Puerto Rican team win second place in their soccer competition held in Madrid. Congratulations Jeremias!
Geography
We took out our passports again this week as we headed into Japan. Japan is a fascinating country, full of high volcanic mountains, beautiful artwork, and good food. We learned a few Japanese words as we read through our class books and even learned a bit about the shakuhachi, a type of flute made of bamboo. The students helped me make one out of bamboo we found at the park. Although it didn’t quite work as a musical instrument, it was fun to try to create one and make it sound like the one we saw in the sample videos.
SCIENCE
After talking about the visit to the Manatee Conservation Center, we read a few parts of the book we purchased at the center written by its director, Dr. Antonio Mignucci. Then we shifted our attention from mammals to fish. We discussed two awesome features God gave fish: the lateral line and the swim bladder. We learned that the swim bladder is like a balloon that inflates and deflates to help fish to float and sink in the water as they swim. We also marveled at the function of the lateral lines. Lateral lines are sensory organs that are on each side of the fish and run from the head to their tails. It helps them to sense movement in the water and sense where there is any predator. This is what fish use to swim in “school” or shoals. We also learned about shorelines and some of the animals that live there. We discussed how tides change twice a day thanks to the gravitational pull of the moon. We used a plastic cup with water and tilted it from side to side to illustrate how it works. The older group looked at pictures of different shore birds of Puerto Rico and completed a quick sketch of the Pelicano Pardo.
Art
In music on Wednesday, Mr. Jean helped the students sing through the entire song of “Not my Own.” We also added the movements for the fourth and final verse. We will do a movement video soon to help your children practice the movements at home.
On Friday, we wrapped up the week by folding beautifully colored, square paper! The ancient art of folding paper, or origami, is one of Japan’s famous contributions. Olivia and Joshua led the students in making several designs. The younger students made swans and jumping frogs, while the older students made water bombs, cranes, and jumping frogs. They enjoyed adding faces and details to their papers with a flair pen as well.
THE OAKS PROGRAM
WORSHIP
Our worship time in Oaks was concentrated also on the same section of Scripture we covered in Seeds, although we were able to get a little deeper into our conversations. The Pharisees, Sadduccees and even a lawyer in Matthew 22, attempted to expose fault in Jesus by asking him questions they thought would show the world that this man was NOT the Son of God. They were not going to Jesus with questions (recognizing Him as One who has authority and answers); rather they were questioning Jesus. There is a big difference. When we come to God with questions, we show Him that we know He is in control; when we question God, we show that in our hearts, we think we know more than Him. It is an important difference to remember. We discussed some of the differences between the groups of religious leaders, specifically how some of them did not even believe in the resurrection. This would be a huge stumbling block in their ability to come to believe in Jesus as the promised Messiah from God.
PARK
As a tribute to one of the best modern baseball players in the world, Shohei Ohtani from Japan, we played wiffle ball this week in the park. This was a great way to integrate our study of Japan into our outdoor play time. Both the boys and girls in Oaks got in on this fun. We also had the treat of having a mini Judo lesson from Elisha. Already a level 6 competitor, Elisha has participated in several events and was an excellent teacher to us all. Olivia was her special assistant and wore Elisha’s “Judogi” or uniform. She also learned how to wear the “Obi,” Elisha’s orange belt with green stripes. Elisha demonstrated one of the first moves people learn in Judo, the “Osoto gari.” Olivia was a great sport and we all learned a lot and had a lot of fun.
GEOGRAPHY
Most of our Japanese exploration came in the form of Elisha’s Judo lesson, since we spent the majority of the time in Geography working on the research papers. Joshua and Esteban chose to do Japan, so these extra lessons are very helpful to them especially to get them excited about their country. The focus right now for all the students is to gather their research, properly citing it, and ensure the information is accurate by cross referencing. This coming week, we will be getting into the structure, flow and form of the writing.
SCIENCE
The lateral line and the swim bladder are two remarkable features God designed fish with. We learned that the swim bladder is like a balloon that inflates and deflates to help fish to float and sink in the water as they swim. We also marveled at the function of the lateral lines. Lateral lines are sensory organs that are on each side of the fish and run from the head to their tails. It helps them to sense movement in the water and sense where there is any predator. This is what fish use to swim in “schools” or shoals. We were blown away by the video of a scuba diver who was chasing schools of fish and finally found one and caught it on camera. She was able to swim among the fish and the footage showed how outstanding the coordination of the fish is. We also learned about shorelines and some of the animals that live there. We discussed how tides change twice a day thanks to the gravitational pull of the moon and how animals that live on the shore need to be able to deal effectively with the tides.
ART
In the studio, our students took a break from their research paper writing in order to enjoy the Japanese art of folding paper, or origami. Olivia and Joshua led this class and their classmates were able to make water bombs, swans, and jumping frogs!
Memory Verse #26
“And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.””
Drama and Art Club photos from the week.
