Week 9: Fun Indoors and Outdoors
It’s so great to see these big smiles, hear joyful squeals and smell delicious scents that make the mouth water. This sums up this week at the Center. The kids, as always, had a great time in the park, but the rain also caused us to have some indoor fun as well. Plus the Garden kids cooked up some yummy apple pies in the kitchen!
SUGGESTED AT-HOME READINGS VARY PER PROGRAM. PLEASE GO TO THE SECTION OF YOUR PROGRAM TO SEE THE SELECTED PAGES.
The Garden
Galatians 5:22-23 says, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
This week we continued discussing and learning more about the fruits of the Spirit, as we added more fruits to the branches. Here are the questions we asked the students: What does it mean to be gentle? How can we show gentleness to others? What does it mean to have self-control? How can we show self-control?
Activities this week: We discovered that when you cut an apple horizontally across the middle (through the core) there’s a beautiful surprise star inside from God. Then we used the apple halves as stamps to paint. It was so much fun!
Our song for this week was, “Do you know the Apple Man?” This was a perfect melody for the highlight of Thursday which was baking mini apple pies. There was so much excitement over this activity. We first had a scavenger hunt in the classroom to find the ingredients needed for the recipe to bake the pie, then we were able to use the kitchen and each student got to individually prepare by cutting apples into small pieces then adding all the yummy spices. Afterwards, they rolled the dough and put it all together before finally placing them into the oven. What joy we all experienced when we got to taste the final product. Great job Garden group.
Story: How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World.
The Seeds Program
October has been a month of many celebrations, with the birthdays of so many of our students. This week was no different as both Kylen and Isabel were honored and given birthday books for our school library. Both were so much fun to read, and it was great to have their families with us. In our study of the gospels, we learned that after Jesus grew up, he obeyed God His Father by being baptized in the Jordan River and then being tested in the wilderness. We learned so much about the character of Jesus: even though he was fully God, he still obeyed his Father and trusted in the power of Scripture when he was tempted. This shows us how we too, with God’s help, can live upright lives in this world, honoring and obeying our heavenly Father.
BIBLE Readings
DK Illustrated Bible
pp. 228-231
pp. 234-235
Bible
Luke 3:1-38
Luke 4:1-44
SCIENCE
We continued learning about our skin and the sense of touch this week. We reviewed the different layers of the skin and the students made a detailed diagram in their journals. They drew and labeled the different skin layers, blood vessels, hair follicles, sweat glands, and some nerves in the dermis layer. Finally, we learned that we have different nerve endings or sensors for the different sensations such as heat, pressure, pain, roughness, and softness. This week we will talk briefly about our hair and nails before moving on to the sense of sight.
SCIENCE Readings
Encyclopedia of the Human Body
pp. 14-19
History
We learned more about the first emperors of Rome this week. The Bible tells us that Caesar Augustus was the emperor when Jesus was born, but we also learn that by the time Jesus was an adult, the emperor of Rome was called Tiberius. This is told to us in the Gospel of Luke referring to when the ministry of John the Baptist was occurring. Tiberius and the other emperors after him imported a lot of exotic animals to Rome to be used as pets and even as entertainment in the Colosseum. We talked about how sometimes, these animals were not treated well and that was a sad thing. Isn’t it wonderful to remember that these animals are part of God’s creation and must be cared for in the best way we can. The students learned about the wolves, lions, bears, ostriches, zebras, elephants and snakes of Rome and then drew their favorites.
Also, we reminded the kids that we have more labels to add to our at home timelines. See the video below to see the latest additions.
HISTORY Readings
Encyclopedia of the Ancient World
pp. 92-93 - Roman Army
The Roman Empire
Pp. 54-59
Studio Time
On Wednesday, the children were so excited to enjoy their second day of “open studio” where they could choose which activities to use in our multipurpose room. On Friday, we made catapults using craft sticks, rubber bands, spoons, and pompoms. The students were divided into teams and we had a super fun time engaging in a pompom battle! They were thrilled to take their catapults home. You can expand this lesson at home by providing these materials and trying different models with them. There are many ideas online.
The Oaks Program
Science
In Pre-Physics, the students did an excellent job on Test # 2! They should be so proud of their hard work and preparation! We also started learning about free fall due to gravity and terminal velocity. We watched a video showing how a feather and bowling ball falls at the same rate in NASA's largest vacuum chamber. Next week the students will get to explore more about free fall and air resistance!
In Chemistry, the students learned about the 4 types of chemical bonds: covalent, ionic, hydrogen, and metallic bonds. To further explore this topic, the students had the chance to perform chemical reactions using a Tiny Volcanoes kit! Using vinegar, baking soda, food dye, dish soap, and citric acid, they got to create different types of volcanic eruptions--including a Unicorn-rainbow-cano! Others opted for the tiny fizzy volcano and pop-top volcano. And in honor of Mole Day on 10/23, Olivia made each student a labeled hat to spell out Avogadro's number (the mole) 6.02 x 10²³.
History
The first five emperors of Rome were part of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, and we learned how each of the rulers after Caesar Augustus seemed to drive the empire further and further into violence and corruption. While Tiberius was the emperor at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, by the time Nero was in control, persecution of Christians had grown terribly. Both the apostles Peter and Paul were killed during his reign. This internal corruption was also happening while Germanic tribes on the borders of the empire continued to grow and would in time be a part of the fall of Rome.
HISTORY Readings
Streams of Civilization
p. 178 - Julio-Claudian Dynasty
pp. 190-192 - Jesus’ Teachings, Death of Jesus
pp. 196-197 - The Roman Influence
Memory Verse
“Therefore I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. for this is your spiritual act of worship.”