Fishers of Men

The first real week of school in 2013 was incredible. These kids are becoming so patient and eager to learn. Its rewarding and humbling.

We learned about Jesus' 12 disciples this week, along with the letter N and the number 9. The curriculum was pretty robust this week so I didn't feel the need to supplement as much. This was hugely helpful, as it wasn't just the first real week of school for the kids, but for the teacher also :)

Day 1, after calendar time, we read the story of Jesus and his 12 helpers. We then sang and acted out "Fishers of Men." This version from YouTube was great for kids.

CJ helping with the calendar

Fishers of Men

These girls know how to move

Our snack of Goldfish crackers kept the kids busy while we read our "N" book.

So concentrated for snack time

This week was the first week the kids were supposed to write or trace a letter. We have definitely fudged this rule, but we took it seriously this week and had the kids write the first letter of their name. For almost all the kids, this was pretty simple, but they had a good time using pencils for the first time.

The kids wrote the first letter of their names following the yellow lines, starting at the green dot, ending at the red dot

We also did a coloring project, drawing in clothes and faces for Jesus' 12 helpers

We finished day 1 with a few games: fishing and follow the leader

Follow the leader was HILARIOUS. Three year olds relish the leader role, but have NO IDEA WHAT TO DO. It's amazing to watch.

Following Jack...

There was a lot of marching, hopping and FREEZING!

On Day 2 we introduced Show and Tell. This was a great exercise for the kids: standing in front of a group and telling a story PLUS staying quiet while others are sharing. 

The highlight was CJ's harmonica. 

Following the curriculum we read "Hop on Pop" during our snack, which in keeping with the fishing theme involved fishing for Goldfish crackers with celery sticks dipped in peanut butter.

Day 2 was a bit more challenging than Day 1. We're finding that the more separate we keep the kids from the babies and toddlers the better. Even when the babies and toddlers are well behaved, they are a distraction for the easily distracted preschoolers. For the second half of the year I've got to find a better way to keep the two separated in my open layout house :) Not a small task.