Author Archives: Deanna

Elijah vs. the Prophets of Baal

Posted on by

This week we talked about one of my absolute favorite stories in the Bible!  I love imagining the scene on Mt. Carmel with Elijah and the prophets of Baal.  In fact, Elijah’s faith as demonstrated in this story was the main reason we chose to name our second son after him.  It’s one of those stories that’s so incredible, but if we’ve heard it over and over it can start to lost its “punch.”  So I had a lot of fun bringing it to life at our house this week!

To introduce the story as dramatically as possible, I told it on my own with our flannel board set.  Then throughout the week I reinforced it by reading 1 Kings 18:20-39 from my ESV Bible as well as from The Beginner’s Bible (by Karyn Henley), The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes, Classic Bible Stories: A Family Treasury, and a new story book this week, The Rhyme Bible Storybook, which provided some review of our previous stories about Elijah.

We sang our memory verse (1 Kings 18:39) to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell,” and it was a HUGE hit!  (You never know what’s going to tickle their fancy!)  We sang it in the car, as we played, every time we read the story or randomly thought of it… and every time it turned into a wild celebratory chant.  Arms would flail, legs would dance, and both boys would be singing/shouting at the top of their lungs:

The LORD, he is God / The Lord, he is God / First Kings eighteen thirty-nine / The Lord, he is God

  

I wanted Ian to understand how powerful God’s fire was.  So in spite of 100 degree temperatures this week, we lit a (tiny) fire in the fireplace to show how wet wood doesn’t burn like dry wood, and how stones don’t burn up in an ordinary fire.

For Ian’s Bible notebook I was inspired by several ideas at christianpreschoolprintables.com, but I ended up going with their “God Brings Fire” craft because it was so different than anything we’ve done so far.  The idea was that the marble painting would create the “fire” on a paper printed with logs.  Ours didn’t look quite like the sample (Ian didn’t do much besides tipping the tray back and forth, so we didn’t get many curvy lines), but both boys LOVED marble painting. Ian also liked mixing the red and yellow to make orange (which we’ve practiced with bathtub paints, so he felt really proud knowing what the outcome would be).  I didn’t have a box the right size, so I used an old cookie sheet.  After first trying little bowls with the paint, I switched to little “puddles” on the sides of the trays that the balls could roll to and recover themselves.

100_5967  

This week’s iPod playlist was quite entertaining:

 

Posted in Bible lessons, Preschool

Elijah and the Widow’s Son

Posted on by

Elijah and the Widow's SonThis week as we talked about Elijah bringing the widow’s son back to life, I wanted to focus on how God can use us to minister to others.  So in addition to reading that story in 1 Kings 17:8-24 (including the story of Elijah meeting the widow and her son and how God provided for them all), we also read John 14:12-14.  In this passage Jesus, who by this time has performed many miracles, including raising people from the dead (Jairus’ daughter, the widow’s son, and Lazarus) tells his disciples, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.  Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”  I’m always awed by that verse.  And convicted.  I don’t walk daily in that kind of faith.  But I want to, and I want my children to grow up knowing that truth deep within their beings.  That’s why I chose to work with Ian on memorizing John 14:14, which we sang to the tune of “Jesus Loves Me”:

“If you ask me anything / in my name I will do it. / If you ask me anything / in my name I will do it.” / John 14:14, John 14:14, John 14:14 / “If you ask… I will do it.”

When Elijah asked the widow for bread, she told him she was down to her last bit of flour and oil.  He told her to first make him “a little cake” and then prepare some for her and her son.  God continued to multiply her flour and oil so they had food to get them through.  We enjoyed some pancakes for breakfast this week to remind us of the story.

Our iPod playlist was pretty similar to last week’s (but even simpler):

And now for a confession.  We didn’t spend nearly enough time on our memory verse for Ian to become familiar with it.  Nor did I have any ideas for our Bible notebook page.  Given those two factors, we skipped it.  I didn’t want to drag the lesson out any longer (and I’m looking forward to my favorite Elijah story next week), so I just decided to move on.  I didn’t even take pictures of our flannel board set this week because Ian started acting crazy when I got out the camera.  Kind of a dud of a week, huh?  All the more reason to put it behind us.  I know Ian learned the story (actually I had my doubts until I heard him re-telling it to Daddy at one point) and that’s what’s most important to me.  The “products” of the journey are secondary to getting God’s Word into his heart as we go.

Posted in Bible lessons, Preschool

Elijah and the Ravens

Posted on by

Over the next few weeks we’re going to be learning about one of my favorite people in the the Bible: Elijah.  This week I introduced Elijah and the evil King Ahab with the story of Elijah proclaiming there would be no rain until he said and then following God’s leading to a place with a brook that provided water and ravens who brought him food every morning and evening.

The story is found in 1 Kings 16:29-17:7, and I read the passage from my Bible as I used our flannel board set.  Then we got out our Bible story books and read from The Beginner’s Bible by Karyn Henley (very simple but clear retelling) and The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes.

I was feeling pretty wiped out this week so we didn’t do many “extras,” which was too bad.  I had found lots of good ideas (songs, worksheets, crafts, etc.) in this free sample lesson on “Elijah and the Birds” at daniellesplace.com.  (So far I’ve only used her free material, but I’m considering becoming a member to have full access to all her wonderful content!)  We did watch the video “Elijah” from the Nest’s Animated Stories from the Bible series.

  

For Ian’s Bible notebook we made a “collage” of Elijah and the ravens using these color pictures.  (They’re also available in black and white.) Ian painted the scenery with his watercolors (and generously invited our own Elijah to help).

For memory work, we reviewed the verse from the ABC Jesus Loves Me week 8 lesson (on the parting of the Red Sea): “My God will supply all your needs.” Philippians 4:19, sung to the tune of “London Bridge.”

“My God will supply all your needs, supply all your needs, supply all your needs. My God will supply all your needs.  Philippians 4:19.”

Our iPod playlist this week was pretty simple:

  • “Sticks and Stones” song from the ESV Audio Drama Children’s Bible from Faith Comes By Hearing
  • “1 Kings 17  Elijah – Fed by Ravens” from the ESV Audio Drama Children’s Bible from Faith Comes By Hearing
  • “Elijah” from The Singing Bible
  • Karen & Kids podcast: “Elijah Part 1” (I’ve downloaded all the available episodes to use as they apply to our lessons.)

Looking forward to more wonderful stories about Elijah in the weeks to come!

Posted in Bible lessons, Preschool

“Now I Know My ABCs…”

Posted on by

It struck me this morning as Ian was putting together his alphabet train puzzle that someone looking at this blog might think Bible stories and literature are the only parts of our “school” experience.  I haven’t really used a formal structured curriculum for teaching basics like the alphabet, numbers, shapes, colors, etc. (although they’re all included in the ABC Jesus Loves Me lesson plans).  We just have lots of activities and books around the house that provide exposure to those concepts, so Ian has learned a lot that way (and Elijah is quickly catching on as well).

Here are a few of the things you’ll find around our house (not everything listed made it into the pictures):

Alphabet:

  • Alphabet train floor puzzle by Melissa & Doug
  • Upper and lowercase wooden puzzle by Melissa & Doug
  • Alphabet caterpillar puzzle (inherited from Grandma when she retired from teaching Kindergarten)
  • tactile letter cards (I inherited upper and lowercase sets, but I know people have made their own or bought them on Amazon.)
  • My First Steps to Reading series (recommended in the ABC Jesus Loves Me curriculum)
  • wooden alphabet blocks
  • playdough with ABC cookie cutters
  • phonics matching game from CurrClick.com
  • Big Thoughts for Little People by Kenneth Nathaniel Taylor
  • refrigerator magnets
  • foam letters for the bathtub
  • LeapFrog Fridge phonics set
  • Melissa & Doug See and Spell
  • LeapFrog Letter Factory DVD
  • Starfall.com (my older son loves to play, my younger son loves to watch him–and they both learn!  We love it so much we subscribed to
    “More Starfall” for the year!)
  • “Alphabetti” books from progressivephonics.com  (Ian learned his letters long before he expressed any interest in learning to read.  I wasn’t going to introduce any reading or writing activities for a few years, but he has been asking to learn to read, so we’ve just started using this program.  I’m sure I’ll blog out it more later if it looks like something we’ll be using for a while.)

Numbers/numerals (Note: I try to focus more on “number sense” rather than recognizing numerals, especially in the early years, so we do lots of counting activities):

Shapes:

Colors are everywhere! It’s pretty easy to incorporate them in conversations throughout the day or in activities like the color bears matching game that we’ve been using with our literature unit this month.

So many of these toys teach more than one concept (like the wooden clock puzzle, which could be used to teach shapes, colors, numbers, and how to tell time).  It’s hard not to learn when you keep things like this around!  And many of them can be used in different ways as children grow.  For example, when Ian first got his alphabet train puzzle, I always kept the pieces in order so all he had to do was take them out of the box one by one.  He was learning to recognize the letters, developing visual perception as he looked at how the pieces fit together, and practicing small motor skills as he put them together.  Now that he knows all his letters by sight, he can start with the pieces mixed up.  By singing the ABC song he figures out what piece he needs next and looks for the correct letter.  Later on we can work on reading the name of each animal on each piece.

It looks like we spend a fortune on educational toys, but really I usually just buy them for Christmas and birthday gifts (and pass the ideas on to relatives).  I also save my Swagbucks (which I earn just by using their search engine/toolbar) for Amazon gift cards to buy little extras (see sidebar under “Get Free Books!”).  And I’m fortunate enough to come from a family of teachers.  I have things left from my own teaching days, plus Grandma’s retirement last spring came at the perfect time for my kids. I’ve collected a lot with Ian, knowing that we’ll be using them all over the next few years as the other children grow into them.  I don’t have to plan out lessons for teaching these concepts–they just happen on their own when someone grabs an activity.  This morning Ian saw his puzzle and decided to put it together on his own.  Elijah enjoyed looking at all the letters as he did so, and ended up singing the ABC song all day after hearing Ian.  I love that learning is just a part of life!

Posted in Preschool

Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?

Posted on by

This week we “rowed” Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom.  We enjoyed listening to the story in the car thanks to an audiobook leftover from Grandma’s years of teaching Kindergarten.  This is also where we got several other Jesse Bear books, though I know our library has several as well since we checked out a few last time we did this story.  I think the original is his favorite, but Ian also really liked Guess Who’s Coming, Jesse Bear; How Do You Say it Today, Jesse Bear?; and It’s About Time, Jesse Bear and Other Rhymes this time around.

We’re still enjoying playing the color bears matching game I introduced a few weeks ago when we started our month of bear books (see post on Corduroy).  Ian loves it, and he’s gotten really good.  He beats me every time (usually without me backing off at all)!  I also printed and laminated the “Rhyming Pairs” cards from HomeschoolShare.

  

No matter how many times I say the words out loud and give him examples of rhyming words he’s still not catching on.  So I want to keep doing activities like this with him to expose him to the concept, and I’ve no doubt that someday he’ll figure it out.

I thought about printing/coloring the cute bear paper dolls from Danielle’s Place (click on the link and scroll down to “Weather Bear Paper Doll Craft”), but then I realized I had some money in my homeschool budget.  So I splurged on this Wooden Bear Family Dress Up Puzzle from Melissa & Doug that I’ve been wanting to get ever since the last time we rowed Jesse Bear.  I’ll put it away except when we’re working on Jesse Bear or Goldilocks (coming up next!) so it stays special.  I never caught a picture of the boys playing with them, so this is just the shot from Amazon.  Ian especially liked them and actually played with them a lot.  It was also a good sorting exercise for him, putting all the pieces into the appropriate compartment for each bear (as well as finding the matching outfirst, which he cared about more than I would have thought).

We talked through several of the activities in the Before Five in a Row manual, and I had hoped to do the shapes painting described there, but it never happened.  Still, in spite of a busy social calendar this week I think we managed to do quite a lot at home (including our Bible lesson for the week on King David Bringing the Ark to Jerusalem).  And there’s always next time (of course I said that last time)!

Posted in B4FIAR, Literature Units, Preschool

King David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem

Posted on by

This week we talked about David finally becoming the King of Israel years after God chose him, and I also included the story of how he had the ark brought to Jerusalem.  We had a busy week so we didn’t spend as much time as usual on “school,” but I didn’t want to skip the week altogether so we just did what we could.  I really want Bible study to be the most important part of our days, even at this young age, and I think we’re already starting to see the fruit from that priority.  Last night Ian pulled his “real” Bible (not a story book) off the shelf and pretended to read it, first to me, then to Daddy.  He retold several stories and asked us to help him learn how to read the letters.  I love that his desire to learn to read has first manifested in a hunger for the Word of God.

With our flannel board set I adapted the story to fit our needs.  I wasn’t thrilled with the way it was told in Betty Lukens: Through the Bible in Felt.  I also didn’t like using the same “king” figure that we just used for King Saul, so I chose a man that looked similar to the figure we’d been using for David as a boy, then added a crown from another story.  As always Ian enjoyed acting out the story over and over, especially the part where Uzzah reached out to steady the ark and died.

I loved the pictures in our Bible storybooks showing the scene as the ark was bring carried to Jerusalem, especially in The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes (the original version) and Classic Bible Stories: A Family Treasury.  They just captured the spirit of celebration as people danced and played on their instruments along with the procession while at the same time showing their reverence for the holiness of the moment.  We also read about David becoming king in The Beginner’s Bible (by Karyn Henley).

For our Bible Notebook this week, we used glitter paint on this picture of the ark of the covenant (as well as a fun “do not touch” reminder I found on Google images).  There’s no memory verse on it because we’re finishing up with Psalm 23, which Ian’s done really well with!

  

I didn’t make an iPod playlist this week, but we listened to lots of children’s worship CD’s and celebrated with our musical instruments to get into the mood of the story.  Some of our favorites are from the Great Big God series from Vineyard Records UK, especially the volume 1 and volume 3.  They’re aimed at older kids, though there’s also a CD for preschoolers (we just don’t have it).

  

Posted in Bible lessons, Preschool

David & Goliath

Posted on by

This week we headed back to the ABC Jesus Loves Me 3-Year Old Curriculum for the Week 16 lesson plan on David and Goliath.  We had so much fun with this Bible lesson!

Ian already knew the story from church, so when he saw the flannel board set all ready, he was eager to dive in as soon as he woke up Monday morning.  I was cooking breakfast and told him I do it with him after we ate, but he just couldn’t wait.  I loved hearing him tell the story (as he remembered it) as I worked in the kitchen.  And then as soon as he’d eaten, he ran back to the board and asked me to tell it over and over.  I told it twice and then just left him to act it out on his own while listening to our iPod playlist (see below).  He especially liked making David’s stone knock Goliath down!

  

We made a lifesize Goliath picture on some mural paper.  Both boys were SO excited about coloring him.  At first I tried crayons and markers, but then I decided it would be much easier to break out the dot markers.

  

Proportions are hard when drawing something that big on the floor!  I thought his arms were too long until we got him posted on the wall.  Ian is exactly 3 feet tall, so he was only a 3rd of Goliath’s height!  Measuring him out even surprised me.  9 feet was taller than I had imagined.  He barely fit on our wall, even with our high ceilings!  On Friday I let the boys throw sock balls at him as I helped him fall down.  (Of course, then Ian wanted me to put it back up, but I was not up to dragging the ladder out again!)  For our Bible notebook, I just printed out a page with these pictures.

We enjoyed two videos this week: Veggie Tales: Dave and the Giant Pickle (available streaming on Netflix) and David and Goliath from the Nest Animated Stories from the Old Testament series (so thankful for my parents’ DVR).  We also read from our Bible story books.  Ian really liked it in The Rhyme Bible for Toddlers.  (The stories in that book are short and don’t have a lot of detail, but the rhymes are a lot of fun and it’s one of Ian’s favorites.)

For some reason, Ian really wanted to sing a song about David and Goliath, so I was glad to find one in the ABCJLM lesson plan.  I wasn’t familiar with it and it wasn’t on any of the CD’s I have, but it was in our Wee Sing Bible Songs  book, so I was able to play it on the piano, and Ian had a great time singing with all his heart even though he’d never heard it before.

Along with that song, here’s our iPod playlist from the week:

As you can see, we’re still working on Psalm 23 for our memory work.  Ian can now recite the entire psalm along with me, though he can’t do it on his own yet.  We still have one more lesson on David, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he gets there.  Even if he doesn’t he is definitely on his way, and I know it will be hidden in his heart for many years to come.

“Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.”  Psalm 119:11 (NASB)

P.S.  For more ideas, check out Jen’s post over at I Can Teach My Child.  I love the way she brought the story to life for her daughter!

Posted in ABCJesusLovesMe, Bible lessons, Preschool

Ask Mr. Bear

Posted on by

Although it’s an old classic, I had never heard of Ask Mr. Bear until I discovered Before Five in a Row.  It’s a very appealing little story, with a pattern that’s easy for kids to follow and a sweet surprise at the end.  Both my boys wanted to read it over and over this week.

The Before Five in a Row manual has so many wonderful ideas for this book.  We spent lots of time discussing birthdays, and just making cornbread muffins (which Ian assumed were cupcakes!) was a celebration.  Both boys really loved it when I read the story using different voices for the animals and we practiced making their sounds.  The illustrations are great for introducing the idea of pastels (especially in contrast with the bright colors in Goodnight Moon).

I also chose two activities from Homeschoolshare.com.  The first one is actually based on an activity from the manual.  We used the HSS animal classification cards (which cover several B4FIAR books).  I had Ian help me divide the cards into two piles: birds and mammals.  The birds were easy, but he had a hard time grasping the concept of mammals.  “Here’s the cow.  What do you think it is, a bird or a mammal?”  “It’s a cow.”  Elijah spent lots of time studying the cards as well. (Somehow Ian managed to stay out of all these pictures!)

  

The other thing I did from HSS was the “product cards” from the lapbook, which we did after we read through the book a few times.  Ian got a few of them right on his own, and for the others we went back and reread the appropriate page from the book so he could get them all.  Elijah really liked looking at the cards and trying to name everything.

  

I’m so thankful to Before Five in a Row for introducing us to this fun story!

Posted in B4FIAR, Literature Units, Preschool

Corduroy

Posted on by

This week for Before Five in a Row we kicked off a month of bear stories with Corduroy.  In preparing for the month I went a little crazy with my laminator, but it’s so nice having things ready in advance, and I think Ian (and maybe Elijah) will really enjoy some of the activities I have planned for the next few weeks.  Corduroy was one of Ian’s favorites last time through the B4FIAR books, and he was really excited when I pulled it out Monday morning.

The first thing we did was break out the button jar, just for exploring.  Both boys had fun with this and requested it several times throughout the week.

 

As usual, I checked out HomeschoolShare.com for ideas.  I skipped over most of the lapbook items, but I did like the button pattern strips.  (After our last experience with the patterns not going on long enough I printed out an extra copy and cut it up to have plenty of pieces to continue the pattern.)  Ian’s still not really catching on to patterns, but he enjoyed doing it with me so this was good practice for him.

The other thing I printed and laminated was this color bears matching game, which was one of the best activities we’ve done.  First I just introduced the cards to both boys.  I had Ian find the matches, and as we talked about the colors Elijah tried to copy us.  I’m not sure he really gets the concept yet, but he’s been enjoying learning the names of the colors, even if he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.  He just likes being a part of what we do.

 

After Ian was familiar with the cards, I took 5 pairs and turned them upside down so we could play “concentration.”  He caught on quickly and wanted to play again, so I added one more pair.  He was still having fun so we played one more time with all 9 pairs.  Not only was it great for his concentration skills (which he really surprised me with!), but after the game was over we each counted our matches and figured out who had “more” or “less” pairs, a concept I’ve been wanting to touch on but hadn’t gotten around to yet.  I’m glad both boys enjoyed the cards so much, because we’ll probably keep them out all month as we go through our bear books.

Just for fun, on Wednesday I took the boys to Sears for the sole purpose of riding the escalators.  They both got a big kick out if it, and Ian said, “It’s like a mountain!”  I knew he was thinking of Corduroy’s comment.

Ian really enjoyed watching the old live-action video of the story(check your library).

So our Bear Month seems to be off to a great start.  Ian even found an old teddy bear that he’s overlooked since getting it and decided he needed it in his bed.  I think we’re going to have a lot of fun over the next few weeks!

Posted in B4FIAR, Literature Units, Preschool

David’s Calling

Posted on by

David's CallingIn our second week discussing David, our focus was on Samuel anointing him to become king.  As I was planning which stories to use outside the ABC Jesus Loves Me 3-Year Old Curriculum, I looked through the list in the book that came with our flannel board set: (Betty Lukens: Through the Bible in Felt). This one seemed simple enough to use with a young child yet with a clear message he could remember.  I chose to emphasize two parts of the story: first that God chose David and had Samuel anoint him years before he actually was crowned king, and second that God based his decision on David’s heart, rather than his outward appearance.  I told Ian that just like with David, God has something planned for his life, even though we don’t yet know what it is and it will probably be years before he sees it come to happen.

As always, he really enjoyed using the flannel board set to learn the story, tell it with me, and act it out on his own.  I focused on the scene where Samuel looks over each of Jesse’s sons and then anoints David with oil.

We read the story straight from 1 Samuel 16 and in the original version of The Beginner’s Bible (by Karyn Henley).  We also watched the video “David and Goliath” from the series Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible.  (As with the Nest Animated Bible Stories, I record these on the DVR and save them for the appropriate lesson.  We’ll probably watch the Nest video on David next week.)

For Ian’s Bible notebook I wanted to find some sort of art project to do with oil, since the anointing was the part of the story he seemed to enjoy acting out most of all.  So I was glad when I found this suggestion online.

It’s not one of my favorite pages we’ve done, but I’m okay with that.  Part of the problem was I wanted to include more of Psalm 23, especially up to “You anoint my head with oil,” so it ended up being very wordy.  Plus Ian doesn’t go for coloring much, so it’s more Mommy’s work than his.  I drew the picture of the heart with the crown, just so we could talk about the story a little more, and then I let Ian rub the back with oil on a cotton ball.

On our iPod playlist we repeated a number of things from last week (since we’re still working on the same memory passage):

All in all we had a pretty simple week with our Bible story, but I know Ian understood it because he acted it out with the flannel board a lot on his own.  And since my goal is to help him hide the Word in his heart, I’d say we had a successful week!

Posted in Bible lessons, Preschool
« Older Entries Recent Entries »