Countries and Cultures

One of the most fun things about studying different cultures of the world is trying out some of the foods from those places. This week, Mexican Hot Chocolate was on the menu and was a yummy treat for our students.

Welcome to Mexico!

Our journey in Geography class has brought us to the fascinating country south of the U.S. border. Here the OAKS strike poses on the grass to spell out Mexico.

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 4:12-5:10

Window on the World

pp. 60-61 (Haiti)

Additional Read-Alouds:

The Usborne Living World Encyclopedia
- pp. 52-53 - Coping with Dryness
- pp. 56-57 - Rain in the Desert

The Garden

The sun was shining bright this week, providing lots of heat and light, but also reminding us of the theme for this week: when Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world.” Jesus is the light of the world and we are to be his reflection, just like the moon is the reflection of the sun. We learned about the story of the boy with the two fish and five loaves of bread. Jesus prayed over the food and a miracle happened: thousands of people were fed thanks to the little boy. He shone his light to others by sharing what he had and not keeping it to himself. In this same way, we must shine our light for others, so that they can see Jesus’ love in us. Let’s keep reminding the children that we are to be lights for Jesus.

While at the park, the kids took turns to water the plants in the Garden. The boys had fun building a throne with crates. They also never miss a chance to sit on the swing and have Miss Nicole push them. “Más alto”, they always shout. It's amazing watching them play together little by little, collaborating in building, “pretend” play, cooking bbq, and pushing each other in the little red wagon.

For activity time, we explored at the exploration table and they loved what we brought in. Something so simple goes a long way for them. We had a table filled with rice and beans. Mrs. Vivi bought some new wooden kitchen utensils and they got to explore the rice and beans with them. Mrs. Vivi asked them how the rice and beans felt in their hands. “Es como arena”, said Gillian. “Me gusta, es suavecito”, said Cesare. “Se siente como arroz y habichuelas”, said Estela. They also got to play with clay and fun puzzles.

To finish off the week, we had the privilege of celebrating our first birthday this year: Happy Birthday Cesare! The children were so happy to celebrate with him upon his arrival. We ate some yummy cupcakes and had delicious cookies and chips. We honored him with a book and sang our special birthday song that always makes Miss Nicole tear up. May God’s light keep shining in and through you Cesare so that you may continue shining for Jesus to others for all your years!

The Seeds Program

SEEDS Worship

We continued to practice our hymn, “Take my Life and Let it Be.” This hymn reminds us that our lives are not our own and we can trust God to use them as He sees fit. In our study of the book of Matthew, we learned about John the Baptist, his ministry and the way Jesus modeled obedience to God the Father from the very beginning of his own ministry. This obedience and trust in the Father’s will and His Word helped guard Him against the attacks of the enemy as described in chapter 4 of Matthew. We learned that temptation can be conquered by yielding God’s Word like a sword to defend ourselves in times of trouble.

Finally, we said goodbye to one of our students whose family will be moving to the U.S. Saul has been a Seeds since January of 2022 and he will be greatly missed. His friends wrote notes to him to tell them how much he has meant to them and we all got the chance to pray for him and his trip. May God bless you Saul!

SEEDS Geography

Mexico was our first destination in our Geography journey this year, and the kids had fun getting a new stamp in their passports. This week, we learned a bit about the shape and topography of the country as well as identifying some indigenous animals. The book Window on the World, has a great passage about Mexico, so if you haven’t had the chance to read it yet, please do so this week, in addition to reading about Haiti, so that you know how best to pray for this country.

SEEDS Science

Deserts are always hot, dry, and sandy, right? All deserts receive less than 10 inches of rain per year, however, not all deserts are consistently HOT. Throughout the past week we got to explore two different types of deserts and the adaptations that God has created for animals and plants to be able to thrive in a desert climate.

Cold deserts like the Atacama (Chile), Great Basin (U.S.), Gobi (China and Mongolia), Antarctic (South Pole), and Arctic (North Pole) have daytime temperatures that go below freezing for at least part of the year. Hot deserts do not have freezing temperatures but are often much cooler at night. Hot deserts include the Arabian (Middle East), Sahara (Africa), Mojave (U.S.), and Great Victoria (Australia). Deserts lose more moisture through evaporation than they receive through precipitation.

God is so creative in the way that He has created plants and animals to be adapted to their environment, especially when the conditions are harsh. Deserts can go for months or years without precipitation. Many of the plants and animals are ephemerals, meaning that they quickly grow and have a short lifespan when it does rain. Desert animals are often nocturnal, active at night, and are very good at conserving water. Some of them will even estivate, which means they go into a deep sleep during the hottest and driest time of the year. Desert plants are great at conserving and storing water, as well. They often have pleated stems, allowing them to swell with water when it finally rains. Also, most have needles or small leaves with very few stomata, tiny holes that release water during transpiration.
Speaking of desert life, how many humps does a camel have? Dromedary camels have one hump and typically live in hot deserts. Bactrian camels have two humps and live in the colder Gobi Desert. If you get a chance, ask your student if he or she can tell you whether camels store water or fat in their humps and how to remember which camels have two humps. 🐪 🐫

SEEDS Studio

Pepper in hot chocolate?!! This was the reaction from most of the students when Olivia and I shared the ingredients in the recipe we were going to make together. Olivia explained that pepper makes all the other flavors pop, and it is true of this Mexican Hot Chocolate. We used authentic Mexican chocolate from Oaxaca, Mexico that was gifted to us by Esteban Colón’s father. The children helped to add the milk, heavy cream, cinnamon sticks, cayenne pepper, orange zest, honey and vainilla. While it boiled, the helped to cut the blocks of chocolate and taste tiny pieces. Yum! When the milk has hot enough, we carefull dropped the chocolate pieces in the milk and took turns stirring. Would it taste like orange or pepper? They couldn’t wait to try it. After it thickened, we served it in cute disposable mugs and took a pause to watch a video about the history of chocolate, namely its origin in Mesoamerica. After the video was done, it was time to taste the chocolate. They were surprised to see that all the flavors mixed together you could not taste the different elements of this new flavor. Most kids decided to have seconds and some even decided to sprinkle more cayenne pepper!

OAKS MIDDLE YEARS

OAKS Worship and Geography

In OAKS, we have been listening to the song “The Commission” by Cain as a way to remember the Great Commission that Jesus left his disciples with. The lyrics of the song, took on a more touching meaning this week as we said goodbye to Eva and Kendall Hager, who will be moving back to the U.S. this week. The line, “I’ve gotta go now for a little while…” (“Tengo que irme pero volveré”) brought a tear to more than one eye. But we were overall thankful for the opportunity to get to know them for the past year and know that God will lead their family. We had a wonderful goodbye party for them and they were very grateful for the love.

As we have been studying Mexico this week, we actually listened to the Cain song above in Spanish. Check it out by clicking the video link. The Oaks students took many notes in class regarding some facts about Mexico and what are the features that make it so distinct. In fact, one of the abilities this year that we are spending time on is note-taking ,so these readings and discussions about the countries we cover are very useful in developing those important study skills.

OAKS Science

At the beginning of this week, I sat down with the Oaks students to propose a new format for our classes. We decided that our time together on Tuesdays would be devoted to Science and then on Thursdays we would do our Art activities. This way, we can have a longer and more concentrated time for each. This will require that they continue to do their assigned Science reading in order to come ready to discuss the lesson and we can build upon that for our class activities. On Tuesday, we learned about deserts. The student brought their homework with a sheet that they used to “hunt” fo important information. After answering questions, we were able to see several videas that helped us “travel” to different deserts. We visited the cold Gobi deseert in Mongolia and saw snowboarders being pulled by a bactrian camel. We loved seeing the accelerated life cycles of desert plants with David Attenborough and got a “kick” out of the ninja-like Kangaroo rat defending itself against a vicious rattlesnake.

OAKS STUDIO

After a wonderful goodbye party, the Oaks finished their day by making the Mexican Hot Chocolate as well. Many in this group chose to add more cayenne pepper as the original version (See Seeds Studio section) went light on the spice. Esteban was happy that the chocolate from Oaxaca, Mexico that his father had gifted us was used for this activity.