Week 4: Loving the Light - September 3-7
Week 4: Loving the Light
The Garden students enjoyed playing in the light in the park as they chased each other's shadows and loved looking at the way light moves through the classroom prism. The students in both Seeds and Oaks learned about the “dawning” of the Egyptian civilization along the Nile River, while in worship we reviewed the importance of the Sabbath.
Scroll down to see More photos, suggested readings and the memory work
The Garden
We had our first birthday at The Garden this week! After introducing the theme of the week through the story in John 8 where Jesus tells the people around him that he is the light of the world, we prayed for Emiliano and sang to him. In the big park, played a version of tag called ¨shadow tag” after discussing how our bodies block the light from the sun and make shadows on the ground. In circle time, we thought about words that had the /s/ sound like ¨sun.¨ We will do this with every letter we introduce in order to encourage the phonological awareness that is necessary to develop in this stage as early learners. Later, we worked on our cutting skills by introducing scissors and the art of ¨collage¨ in order to make a big sun for our classroom together. We also enjoyed playing a new version of the ¨Floor is Lava¨ game. We imagined how the sun was even hotter than lava!
On Thursday, we told the story of how Jesus healed a blind man. Jesus helps us to see with the eyes of our heart as well. The kids helped Mr. Jean with the second soccer goal and Gillian was excited to help this time as well. During activity time, the kitchen was open and the children also worked on the first observational drawing of the year: self-portraits! This is a tradition with our students and we love seeing how they improve every year. Our last park time was quite memorable, as the children decided they wanted to bury a bird we had found that had gotten electrocuted on a cable near the building. Mr. Jean carried the bird into the hole they dug and they covered it with dirt in their shovels.
Seeds
This week in history class we begin studying the civilization that the Egyptians developed along the Nile River. We learned that King Menes was the king of upper Egypt and his war against lower Egypt united the two into one superpower. Farming along the Nile was important as flooding from the upper portion of the Nile River brought minerals to the Nile Delta, which allowed food to grow. The students had a great time going out into our playgrounds and planting some lettuce and cucumber seeds in our trench. We pretended that this trench was the "shaduf" that we learned about in class, an old way of bringing water to areas that needed irrigation.
Studying another Egyptian structure, this week we paused our study in creation science and focused instead on pyramids. We wondered why the Egyptians would choose to use the design of a pyramid. To answer that question, we had several activities planned. The first activity showed us how the pyramid design was stronger than a rectangle or square design. Each team had straws and play doh and set out to make a square-based pyramid and a cube. After building it with straws and play-doh we made a strength test and realized that the pyramid was much stronger. The older group was also able to work on another experiment on Thursday. The second experiment proved that with the same amount of material the Egyptians could make a more impressive and taller structure. The students began with a piece of play-doh. They first made a cube with the play-doh and measured how tall it was. Then, they used that same play-doh to form into a pyramid and measured again. All of their pyramids were taller than their cubes. We were able to see through both of these hand-on activities that pyramids were stronger structures and used materials more efficiently than other designs. The younger students will be able to do the second experiment this week as well.
PLEASE NOTE A REVISION TO OUR SCOPE AND SEQUENCE. Download your copy here.
ReadingS for THE Week
BIBLE: Genesis 2:1-3
Review 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Usborne World History from Ancient to Modern times pages 20-21
If using the older version of the Usborne "Ancient World," then those readings are found on pages 10-11 "Farmers of the Nile Valley”
OAKS - Middle and High School
In worship time we focused on the Sabbath this week. We learned that this, along with many other special times, were appointed by God and are blessings for us to enjoy. Both the rest we enjoy on the Sabbath and the work that we do during the other days of the week our instructions given to us by God. The Oaks students, along with the Seeds helped to tell this story.
The Oaks continue serving as they helped a great deal in the Science class this week. The high school students had their first vocabulary quiz based on the “Epic of Gilgamesh.” This takes place in Mesopotamia, which like the Nile, was a fertile place where civilizations thrived.
PLEASE NOTE A REVISION TO OUR SCOPE AND SEQUENCE. Download your copy here.
ReadingS for This Week
BIBLE: Genesis 2:1-3
Usborne World History from Ancient to Modern times pages 20-21
If using the older version of the Usborne "Ancient World," then those readings are found on pages 10-11 "Farmers of the Nile Valley”
Streams of Civilization pages 51-53
Online Science Lessons (continue to login to platform)
Full-day high-schoolers: continue with weekly lesson plan.
Memory Verse #1 (extended)
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Books of the Old Testament (song) review
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
Joshua, Judge, Ruth, 1st and 2nd Samuel,
1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles
