Preschool: Crossing the Red Sea

Today we finished up our three-week series on Moses with the story of fleeing Egypt and crossing the sea. After we read the storybook, the kids had a great time pretending to pack their bags and get ready to leave. Next we picked up our bags and pretended to follow Moses outside. A sidewalk chalk sea stood in the way of our escape until we drew a path right through it. We were able to cross without even getting wet. God was the one who made the path. He took care of His people! God can do incredible things!

The paper plate tambourine crafts are to remind the kids of how Moses and God's people had a celebration after they crossed the sea. After the fact, I realized that this craft presents some safety hazards. Please be aware that if/when the tambourine gets ripped open, dry pasta will spill out. Beware of this choking hazard. Also, staples probably weren't the safest choice for connecting the plates. I'll make an effort toward having better foresight. Please forgive me.

Every week, each kid brings something special to the class. This week Anna and Minerva brought lots of stories about their lives to tell the teachers. Nicolas N. brought an eagerness to play with all his buddies. Nicolas S. brought a smile and listening ears. Leto entertained everyone with made up stories about his goldfish crackers. Ethan gave me a big hug when he was feeling sad about missing his dad. Joel and Abram made beautiful creations with sidewalk chalk. I witness all this and leave feeling full of joy week after week. These kids are such a gift!

Preschool: Baby Moses

This week, we talked about how God starts taking care of us when we're tiny babies and continues to care for us as we grow. The main story we used to illustrate this point was the story of Moses in a basket, but we got our wheels turning about babies by reading, "My Baby and Me" by Lynn Reiser. It's a great Greenwood Library find that is illustrated with photos of preschoolers and their infant siblings.

The egg carton basket in the construction paper river with the upright construction paper grass was my favorite craft of the summer, and it was a big hit with the kids since it needed a lot of their favorite craft supply, glue.

We added a new song to our small repertoire. It's an oldie. You might know it. It goes, "Read your Bible, pray every day and you'll grow, grow, grow."

Next week, the marvelous Leah Rivers will be teaching the class while I'm visiting family in Minnesota.

Preschool: Joseph Part 2

Today we reviewed what we learned last week with the help of sock-puppet Joseph. Then we cracked open this week's story book to find out what happened next to Joseph and his 11 brothers.

There was a famine (everyone was hungry because food was having trouble growing), and everyone came to Joseph to ask for the food that he had stored away in his barn. Even Joseph's brothers came to ask for food. It had been so long since they had seen Joseph that they didn't recognize him, but Joseph recognized his brothers. He told them to bring their youngest brother the next time they came for food. They did what he asked; they brought the youngest brother. That's when Joseph invited them to eat a feast and he told them that he was there brother, Joseph.

The kids had a good time pretending to be Joseph's brothers as they filled up pillow cases with food from Joseph's barn/granola bars and potatoes from my pantry.

Traditionally the moral of this story has more to do with reconciliation, but the take home for the preschoolers was that God used Joseph to help provide food for the hungry people. We made a paper plate collage craft is to help remind us to thank God for giving us food.