Week 30: April 22-26 - "A Garden causes Seeds to Grow"
“A Garden causes Seeds to Grow”
The title this week comes from verse 11 of Isaiah 61 and is appropriate given all the gardening done this week and also the praises we are preparing to give God during this Passover season. The Passover is a time to meet with God and to praise Him. To remember not only the deliverance of His people from Egypt, but the greater deliverance from sin and death through Jesus the Messiah. Enjoy your time of remembrance and praise. Since we are off classes for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, the readings listed below will cover both this week and next week (April 29-May 3). Classes resume on Thursday.
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 25:31-46; Matthew 26:1-16
Window on the World
pp. 30-31 Buryats
THE GARDEN
We have power! We learned this week that the same Spirit that enabled the disciples and friends of Jesus to speak in tongues and share the gospel, can live in us. The Holy Spirit is our Helper. He will give us power to live how God wants. We need only to ask Him for help everyday. We also began to learn a new song called “My God is so Great.”
This week the children were excited to garden. Mrs. Vivi brought pretty flowers and rosemary to plant. The children really enjoyed the experience. We can’t wait for the rosemary to take over with its aroma. Estela also brought some seeds and the children helped each other to sort them out. We will plant these in a future gardening time.
We will also be starting to learn about insects and asked the kids which insects they wanted to learn about. After naming a few, the cockroach was in first place. Miss Nicole was very surprised. “Quiero aprender también de la cuca voladora”, said Emiliano. We learned this week that insects have three body parts: head, thorax and abdomen. They have six legs and they come out of their thorax. After the lesson, they all got to draw insects and they turned out fantastic. We are really seeing how their fine motor and observational skills have been improving.
One of our highlights this week was the big Guacamayo feather Hallel found in the big park. They started pretending they were writing with it and when we went to the classroom, Mrs. Vivi made it happen. She cut the feather’s tip and shaped it. Then, she gave ink to the kids and they all had a chance to experience how they would write when there were no pens. It was the cutest thing to watch them so concentrated drawing their art piece.
SEEDS and OAKS
Worship
As Jesus continued teaching his disciples in chapter 25 of Matthew they began to be afraid of some of the things He shared with them, specifically about the things that would happen in the last days. Jesus comforted them by saying, “Do not be alarmed.” These words give us comfort as well, because we too can see many things happening in our world that can cause us concern. However, Jesus reminds us through this passage, just as He did to His disciples so many years ago, that He is coming back and that God the Father is in control of all things.
So when Jesus told them that the great stones and walls of the temple would ultimately be destroyed and not one rock left upon another, He was pointing to the fact that there was going to be a better Temple yet to come. One that would never be destroyed, but that would live on for eternity. God was going to fashion a new Temple out of his people. His presence would no longer live in walls built by men, but in the hearts of those who carried His Holy Spirit.
Therefore Jesus reminded his disciples (and us) to be prepared like the five virgins who brought enough oil with them so that when the bridegroom of the wedding came, they would be ready to enter into the great feast with him. We reminded each other that we too must be ready not with oil for a lamp, but with the oil of the Holy Spirit, giving us fuel to continue living our lives for God, as we wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Geography
We once again took out our passports as we crossed the sea from Japan into Russia. Russia is in the news a lot these days, due to its ongoing conflict with Ukraine. However Russia has a long, deep and rich history. We learned this week that Russia has been a center for art and culture for a long time. As we filled out our student sheets learning about the capital, population, and immense size of Russia, we listened to the music of Tchaikovsky, specifically his Nutcracker suite.
We also watched the video of Saint Basil's Cathedral in the Red Square. This amazing cathedral was commissioned to be built in the 1500s by Ivan the terrible. Over the years, it has gone through many changes, but amazingly still stands today. The students looked at its shape and colors and used those as inspirations to design their own cathedrals.
In addition to all of this, the Oaks students continued working on their research papers. This week each team met with me for individual conversations as they received suggestions, and were asked to work on their edits on their own. We plan to complete this paper by the beginning of May.
SCIENCE
As we moved north into Russia, we began to learn about the tundra biome. We did an experiment to demonstrate what the surface is like in the tundra with the layer of permafrost. Permafrost is the land that is permanently frozen, even in the summertime. I brought in some frozen jell-o and we poured dirt over it. Then, we put some ice cubes to show what happens when it rains or snows in the tundra. Boy, did it look gross! The ground gets very muddy and it is hard to build structures in the tundra regions of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia, and Russia. Animals and plants also have to deal with the extreme wind and cold temperatures as well as long periods where the sun never rises or sets. The Oaks students are working on the tundra readings independently in preparation for their class this week and the Seeds students will learn more about the animals that live in the tundra and how they have adapted to living there.
Art
Who doesn’t love matryoshkas? Don’t be thrown off by the Russian word. You have probably seen the marvelous nesting dolls that were first created in Russia. We learned that the biggest doll is usually a female peasant but that inside it could have male or female characters. Many times the smallest figure is a baby. Moreover many people have adapted them and made them with a particular theme like animals of the forest or superheroes. (I actually brought in a new set for the center with the theme of polar animals). We enjoyed watching a video of a set that included twelve nesting dolls and the kids were squealing in delight at the last doll that was almost the size of a grain of rice! After looking at several examples, I invited them to draw their own set and what they would like to make them with. Some of the designs were: Calvin and Hobbes, Hello Kitty, and even their classmates! The Oaks students were able to create their own koinobori, or carp kites, this week as well.
Memory Verse #28
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me...”
Come join us! Drama and Art Club Showcase - this Thursday, April 25th at 5:30!
