Light of the World

In The Garden this week, the students learned how Jesus is the Light of the World, while in Seeds and OAKS, our study in the Book of Matthew showed us that while some came to worship this light, the newborn King, others rejected Him. Read on for more details…

Let there be light

A flashlight under a black cloth creates a world of wonder for the kids

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.

The Links to the Bible Readings connect you to a dramatized reading of the scriptures which are great for car rides. Our Memory verse can be found at the end of this page.

The Bible - the Book of Matthew

Matthew 2:19-4:11

Window on the World

pp. 98-99 (Mexico)

Additional Read-Alouds:

The Usborne Living World Encyclopedia
- pp. 50-51, 54-55

The Garden

After finishing the days of creation, we reviewed day four, when God created the sun, moon and stars–lights to help us see our surroundings.

Just like God made the sun to govern the day, we learned that Jesus is “the light” that illuminates the entire world because He is the light of the world. “Jesús te amo”, said Gillian. The same way the sun gives life to dark places, the Son Jesus gives our spirits light and life. He is the light for our path. When Mrs. Vivi said that Jesus is in Heaven right now, Emiliano said, “He’s got the whole world in His hand”. To better understand the importance of light in the darkness, Mrs. Vivi brought a flashlight and we went under a black piece of cloth. Every child got to turn on the light and say, “Jesus is the light of the world”.

When we went to the big park, the children had the chance to climb a tree for the first time. We played a game with tennis balls and finally had the chance to take the group picture. The kids were so excited to get to play with the white new kitchen because we had new barbecue toys for them. “Yo quiero hot dog con mi hijo”, said Gillian as she played mom and son with Lucas. “Voy a construir algo para que las personas caminen”, said Cesare as he built a bridge from the grass to the stage.

For activity time, the children made balls, serpents, pancakes and snow-men out of clay with Miss Nicole. They had drawing time with Mrs. Vivi and practiced making different-sized circles followed by a time of free drawing. This week, the children collaborated during block time by building together. “Esto es una cárcel para el mono”, said Lucas. Emiliano explained, “Está en la cárcel porque destruyó una casa”.

One of the books for this week was “Does God Sleep?” We encourage you to ask the children this question and build a conversation around this topic with them. They learned that God does not need to sleep or rest because He has all the power, but that God chose to rest as a model for us. Hallelujah!

The Seeds Program

SEEDS Worship

We got started this week in our study of the Book of Matthew. The first chapter tells us about Jesus’ family tree and Emma shared a song (The Ballad of Matthew’s Begats by Andrew Peterson) with us that helps to remember all of the names listed in the genealogy. Jesus’ entrance in the world really is good news, and while the wise men came to worship Him, we also saw in chapter 2 how Herod desired to kill the child Messiah. Above all, we learned that God is in control and that He keeps His promises. The Messiah survived Herod’s attempts to kill Him and continued to grow in wisdom to fulfill God’s plan for His life.

We celebrated two birthdays this week: Alyssa and Yosef. May the Lord continue to show you both His plans for your lives.

We also want to thank the moms and dads who joined us for prayer last week. In the gallery below, you can see a photo of the Dads after two miles of praying.

SEEDS Geography

We continued exploring the United States this week, focusing mostly on the regions that make up the country. The word region usually refers to a place that shares similar physical characteristics. For example, six states form the Rocky Mountain Region. We made our own maps for this activity. We also looked at our first John 3:16 language page for the year. While most of us know by heart this scripture, we will be learning it in different languages as we travel throughout the world this year. Our first will be Spanish, since at the end of the week, we stamped our passports to exit the United States to prepare for our journey south of the border into Mexico.

Outside we had a great time exploring the Geography of the Big park. We had a very fun gymnastics class led by Emma, Carolina and Isabelle. Many of the other girls and boys wanted to learn some basic movements from them.

SEEDS Science

We spent the past week learning about temperate forests which are located between the tropical zone and the polar zones on the earth. Temperate forests generally have a mild temperature average even though the range of temperatures throughout the year is broad. There are primarily two types of forests in the temperate zone. Deciduous forests have predominantly deciduous trees that lose their leaves in the fall while the Coniferous forests are dominated by the evergreen coniferous trees that keep their needle-like leaves throughout the year. In the deciduous forests, the summers are hot and the winters are cold. They generally receive about 30-60 inches of rain per year. Coniferous forests have longer, colder winters and less precipitation per year (12-33 inches).

One way for the students to remember the difference is:

Deciduous drop (their leaves)
Coniferous keep

Next, we will be studying the deserts! 🌵 🐪 🏜️

SEEDS Studio

What language was the book of Matthew originally written in? That was the first question I asked on Wednesday before we made our bookmarks. After looking at all the letters in the Greek alphabet and talking about the similarities and differences with our letters, I showed them the word “Matthew” in Greek. We then copied the word onto our art paper with crayons. After they had written the name, we began to paint using watercolors. It is always fun to see the white or black crayon marks “resist” the watercolors. They will get their bookmarks back this week so they can put them in their Bibles as we read the book of Matthew.

On Friday, we continued to work with our crayons for what I called a “tribute to Crayola crayons.” Since crayons as we know them were invented in Pennsylvania, and as a prelude to the reading of Yosef’s birthday book The Crayon Man, we integrated this activity as part of our stop in the United States. The kids first had to guess what were the eight original crayon colors that were invented. It was fun to look through the box of twenty four to find the original black, brown, blue, green, red, yellow, and violet. Then, the children chose a color and had turns renaming the crayon color into something different or more catchy. “Sunny,” “Fortunata red,” “Dirt,” and “Galactic” were some of the names they made up. Finally, I taught them how to do a simple activity that they can do anywhere when they have simple coloring supplies. We did a scribble with dark makers and then colored in the empty spaces with any colors they chose. The challenge was that the same colors should not touch. This is a relaxing activity to do while listening to a read aloud or in the car on a road trip. It is one of my children’s favorites. I loved their mini crayon masterpieces!

OAKS MIDDLE YEARS

OAKS Worship and Geography

The OAKS students received two special gifts this week: A copy of the Gospel of Matthew and a prayer journal. Both books are designed to write notes in and we explained to the students as we gave them these gifts how special it is to write down the things that the Lord speaks to us as we read His Word. We read through the first two chapters of Matthew this week and took some time to journal our thoughts as well in the park. We also had the opportunity to pray for each other this week: for Elisha and her family’s trip and for the Hager twins, Kendall and Eva. It is such an awesome privilege to be able to pray for these young people every week.

In Geography, we continued our study of maps of the United States and even had a treat of brownies, one dessert that is typical of the U.S.

OAKS Science

This week we worked on distinguishing both kinds of forests in the temperate zones: the coniferous and deciduous forests. After discussing their assigned homework, the students shaded a world map showing where in the world these kids of forest biomes are found. At the end of the week, we integrated several videos that transported us to some beautiful locations and taught us new information about both kinds of forest. Their favorite video, hands down, was about the stunning Coastal Redwood trees and Giant Sequoias in California. Ask your children which of these is the “biggest” tree.

OAKS STUDIO

After finishing up their paper people on Wednesday, the Oaks also made crayon and watercolor bookmarks with the Greek letters for the book of Matthew. These bookmarks, however, will stay at the center and will be a perfect addition to their beautiful gospel of Matthew journal books that they received at the beginning of the week.