The Lord's Table

We had communion at church today. It was a beautiful service. There were no announcements to begin the service!!!! Instead we began with prayer and we sang more songs than usual and one was even familiar to me. Then the pastor forgot to dismiss for Children's Church, but the kids were good as GOLD. You could just sense the Holy Spirit in the midst of us. It was so quiet and orderly. Cutie Pie fell asleep on my shoulder. Sweetness got a little upset as she was so into serving the little girls beside her the communion bread she forgot to take a piece for herself. I halved mine with her, but she still cried for a little bit. Neverthless, we were all so greatly blessed in remembering that Jesus death seals us and keeps us from the day of wrath and gives us strength for today.

We stopped at 7-11 on the way home for treats. Cutie Pie got a Sprite, Sweetnesse a Slushie and Joy a Klondike Bar!

Well, I must get going and find myself something to do. Oh, there's plenty, just need to decide what first. Pehaps post about the International Fair! I promise to do that before the end of the week.

April Showers!

Spring has arrived and it is so very hard to stay focused on the schoolbooks with the sun shining, flowers blooming, toads migrating... It has been cold and rainy the past few days so I thought for sure we would not only get school work done, but also some extra chores and cleaning.

Think again!






HEY, DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME!

Passover and what's next!

We enjoyed learning and celebrating Passover the past few weeks. We did fun things w/ the 10 plagues, like making paper frogs and putting them in daddy's shower, sock drawer, and lunchbox. Last night we had communion together as a family. This was our very first time, but want to make it a habit. The kids were so serious and devoted to the occassion. We all silently prayed for forgiveness of our sins and for extra help in areas where we struggle. Next year I may be more elaborate in our celebration and serve the Seder dinner. I feel our family has grown so much closer to God and have learned more about His Word by celebrating the Biblical holidays.

Next is Kahula Hula! We're preparing for the HS group's International Dinner. We were goin to represent Israel, but that was taken, so Hawaii was next on our list. We got a Hula instruction video for kids at the library! So the kids are both doing the Kahula Hula! I found the soundtrack to match the video, so they're all set to perform. We also have grass skirts, leis, 9' palm tree! Bethanie is working on her display board w/ facts about Hawaii. We will take pineapple chunks and coconut macaroon cookies to serve at our table. Pictures will follow...

Reading and Writing with Little ones

We had an awesome speaker at our HS meeting. Sonia is a dynamic speaker who is passionate about instructing others on early childhood literacy. I gleaned a lot of useful ideas from her that I will attempt to share with you using Sonia‘s handouts and my memory.

Pre-school - Kindergarten: Children’s scribbles, drawings and inventive spellings are the beginnings of written communication. Ways to encourage these activities are through child dictated writing. For example, after reading a book to your child have your child re-tell the story in his/her own words or retell the story and make it better. After visiting the park, friends, or field trip encourage your child to tell you about their experiences. Let them see you write down their words exactly as they dictate them. Another example is to write during dramatic play. Fill out the doctor’s/nurses charts or pretend you’re a waitress and write the customer’s order. This helps if they watch you role play first. Keep a daily journal. Label their drawings as the child describes what they’ve drawn. Display their drawings where they can see and read them. Encourage them to share their drawings and writing with others. Keep a supply of materials for writing: Alphabet chart, variety of paper, writing tools, alphabet stamps, stencils.

K through 3
The main idea I brought home from this discussion was to be a model. If we expect our kids to write, then get a pencil and paper and write some yourself. The writing process she described will help us all!

Prewriting -- brainstorm areas to cover from your main idea.

Compose -- let the ideas flow, don’t worry about spelling and mechanics at this stage.

Revise -- by 2nd grade encourage your child to add to the story. A suggestion here is to copy their work,
cut the paragraph/sentence in half then add to it and paste it together to keep re-writing to a minimum.

Edit -- During this step encourage children to examine their work for mechanical problems, especially spelling errors.

Publish -- Share work with others (with permission). www.studentreasures.com is a website to explore for publishing your child’s work .

Keep writing fun. Give positive praise on the process, not the product.. Provide meaningful opportunities for children to write. If they’re passionate about the topic, they will write with passion.

I truly enjoyed Sonia’s presentation. I hope she will be invited back to speak on spelling!

To See Ourselves As Others See Us