Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Little Hands to Heaven Unit 7: Moses

School this week was so much fun!  We learned all about Young Moses, the number 7, and the letter "F".  I am so very pleased with Little Hands to Heaven and how easily it teaches our children biblical lessons.

Key Idea: The people of Israel worked hard as slaves in Egypt. 
The girls had to build blocks to make different towers (some tall, some wide, some a certain color, etc.).



Letter Activity: Cover a large "F" on the floor with blocks, making the letter sound as each block is placed. 
Signing the letter "F"

Art Activity:  Moses in the basket
Tear up pieces of green construction paper for the grass.  Glue onto blue construction paper (the water).  Draw a baby on a small oval piece of brown construction paper (the basket) and hide it among the grass.

Younger children may rip the green construction paper to make the grass.

Letter Activity: Practice writing the letter "F" using sidewalk chalk


Active Exploration:
We altered this a little bit from the book and took the activity outside.  The key idea was that God turned the Nile River to blood because the king wouldn't let the Israelites go.  We filled up some buckets outside with water, used aluminum foil as the river, and gathered lots of items to "explore" the water with.  After about a half hour of exploration and play, I added red food coloring to turn the water to "blood".  Real tears were shed when I did this because now they did not have any water to play with. We talked about how sometimes our sinful actions affect more than just ourselves. 





EXTRAS THIS WEEK:
The fingerplays and circle time continue to be a highlight of school time.  This week we added a song called "Itty Bitty Moses" that I found on Kids Sunday School Place.



Puzzles:

Basket Weaving: 



Montessori Inspired Activity: Peeling and Sharpening Crayons



Printables: Continue to add worksheets from Answers for Preschoolers, Kumon My First Book of Tracing, and Getting Your Preschooler Ready for Math

Monday, May 7, 2012

Homemaking Monday: Radish Relish

Praise God for his blessings!  We harvested many more radishes this week (most of them White Radish Hailstones).  I used the radish greens in a salad, and shredded the radishes up to make some lacto-fermented radish relish.  Below is my recipe.  You can adjust the amounts based on the size of your jar and harvest or experiment with other veggies added.

RADISH RELISH:
Ingredients:
~35 radishes, shredded
~3-5 carrots, shredded
~2 cloves garlic, shredded
~2 TBSP sea salt
Directions:
1. Mix and pound all ingredients together for about 20 minutes to release the natural juices.
2.  Pack tightly into a mason jar (or your favorite fermenting container), leaving at least 1 inch of space at the top.  Add some water if necessary to make sure the relish is covered with liquid.
3.  Cover and let stand at room temperature for about 3 days.
4.  Move to the fridge and enjoy on salads!