Parker Prep: May 2014

V is for Violin

I can't think of anything witty to start this one out...so...

Day 1

After the typical number, letter, and verse review, we learned letter V and its verse,

"I am the vine and you are the branches." - John 15:5

I gave him a bowl of fruits and vegetables and he sorted them.

And made a V out of them.

He matched up the different shades of violet.

and we finished by reading

Day 2

After counting to 60, he ordered numbers 1-10.

and then we listened to

I read the synopsis for each movement and we danced along =)

Then we read

I showed Parker my violin and played him a few songs from my violin-playing days.

Day 3

Volcano day! First, we read poems out of

and then Ryan helped him paint a volcano.

We watched a video on the iPad about volcanos.

Then went outside to make our own volcano in an bottle.

Vinegar

Food coloring

Soda

Kaboom! (We videotaped it. Trust me, it wasn't that cool. I ran out of vinegar).

I really need to take it up a notch don't I? These last few weeks are getting a little lame!

I just absolutely love Easter, and it is so much fun to teach the kids. I mean, what could be more fascinating than the Lord and Savior of the earth CHOOSING to die just so we could be free from our sins and have eternal life with Him?

On Good Friday, we cut a heart out of a coffee filter and used a pencil to write the word 'sin' on it. We recited our letter A verse, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23. We talked about what sin is, and how Jesus is perfect. Unfortunately, God cannot tolerate sin, so he wanted to make a way for us to have a relationship with Him. The only way to do that was for Jesus to die. Parker squeezed the red food coloring onto the filter until it was all covered. We talked more about how Jesus's blood washed away our sins. The 'sin' actually disappeared on the filter :) Then we read the story of Good Friday in the Jesus Storybook Bible.

The next morning, we made resurrection rolls. You take a marshmallow, which represents Jesus' body. Then you anoint it with oils (butter) and cover it in spices (cinnamon and sugar). Then you place it in the tomb (crescent roll). You bake it for 10 minutes and when you bite in to it, the marshmallow isn't there anymore. Jesus is Risen! While they were baking, we read the rest of the Easter Story. We did this last year too. I just love it.

Later that day, we colored eggs. We tried a new way and it worked really well. We used crayons to color the eggs shortly after they were done boiling. The crayon wax melted on to the egg quite nicely. Crayolas worked the best. Very little mess and some pretty nice looking eggs in the end!

U is for Ukelele

We are nearing the end of the alphabet! I took the easy way out with letter U. We did two days of U lessons and one day of Easter activities.

Day 1

We started with our usual review - counting to 60, counting to 10 in Spanish, recognizing numbers 1-15, letters A-T, Bible verses - and then we learned letter U and its verse,

"How great is our God, beyond understanding" - Job 36:26

First, he sorted utensils.

Then, he used them to make a letter U.

Then he colored what was going to be the front of his ukelele.

Time to glue. He thought it was pretty fun to use the real glue instead of the glue stick.

I had to help him spread it out ;)

He had a fun time playing it.

Then we got out the real ukelele we borrowed from Uncle Adam.

I learned hot to play "You Are My Sunshine," and we sang and played together...

over

and over and over.

We finished by reading these books.

Day 2

After reviewing the letter and verse, we went outside and read

Then, I told the story while Parker acted it out.

The boy went on a walk into the rainforest to see a bunch of animals.

He set down the umbrella and climbed a tree.

While he was up there, the animals jumped in the umbrella from biggest to smallest.

The umbrella and the animals were floating down the river when the hummingbird landed on the handle. The umbrella started to sink and they all fell out.