Be safe tonight, have fun and see you tomorrow for our raking spectacular!

Musical Chairs is always fun!

The all school parade.

Watch TV anyone?

Steve from Minecraft!

Yummy snacks!

Mama Mushroom!

DON'T FORGET: Tomorrow is our Fall Costume Party Day!  Your child is welcome to bring treats and they should bring a costume to wear.

We have been working on sorting, counting and graphing in math.  Today the kids all made their own individual graphs using pattern blocks.  What fun and what great learning.

Today your child will be bringing home a permission slip for our school's annual raking project.

They have two math papers to finish and there will be no memory work for this Thursday.

This week we are spending some time working on words with double final consonants and also we are talking about the bossy R.

This morning we started our day with a special presentation at 8:10 about the Gbarnga School Project, which is where our Chapel offerings are going this year.   We learned how far our coins can go to help build a Lutheran school there.

This coming Thursday is our Fall Festival Party.  Costumes should be school appropriate as stated in the handbook and should be brought to school, not worn to school.  Students may bring snacks for the party.  I'm asking that snacks also be school appropriate.  I know that may sound like a funny request, but we are emphasizing this as a Fall Festival, not a Halloween party.  It would be best to keep the ghosts and witches away!  The all-school parade will be at 2:00 in the gym.

Friday will be our annual raking project.  This activity will begin at 12:45.  Parents are welcome to join us for this activity.  PIP hours may be logged at this event.  Students will be raking with their Chapel families.  Students should bring along a rake to school Friday.  If you have leaf claws, they may also bring those.  They should wear some type of gloves and clothes suitable for raking.  

What an amazing day!  We have had so much fun carving our pumpkins and learning about how God forgives our sins and gives us the gift of eternal life.  I am so blessed to teach in a Lutheran school where I can freely proclaim our Risen Lord!

I just love the Fall.  It is one of my favorite times of the year.  I especially like using this time of  year to teach the kids about how a pumpkin can be a reminder of the gifts of forgiveness and eternal salvation through Jesus.  Over the next few days we will be having some fun pumpkin experiences and learning all about the pumpkin gospel.

Here is the Pumpkin Gospel activity that you can do in your own home.

What to Do:

• Say, "A pumpkin is round and shiny on the outside. Its skin is tough and hard to puncture. It looks perfect and wonderful. Sometimes, we pretend that we are all perfect and wonderful.
• But we know that's not true. We have all made mistakes. We have all done bad things, but we keep them hidden inside thinking no one can see past our tough exteriors.
• But God knows each one of us from the inside out."
• Psalms 139:1 says "For you have searched me and you know me."
• Take top off the pumpkin & begin scooping out the pumpkin. Collect in the bowl and begin passing the pumpkin guts…
• Say, "God loves each one of us, but our SIN 'the bad things we have done' make God sad."
• Romans 3:23 says "For everyone has sinned, we all fall short of God's glorious standard."
• Say, "The slimy inside of the pumpkin reminds me of the bad things we'd done that we keep hidden away inside. As you touch the slimy insides of the pumpkins, think of the wrong things you have done. These things make us feel yucky, don't they?"
• Show the pumpkin guts on your own hands and demonstrate how difficult it is to get off your hands.
• Say, "No matter how hard we try, we can't seem to get rid of those guilty feelings by ourselves. Alone, our SIN keeps a death grip on our lives. I know that when we do bad things, we deserve to be punished, to suffer and pay for our sin."
• Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, (that's bad news!" BUT there is more..." the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."
• Say, "That is Good News! As we scrape all the slimy stringy stuff way, the pumpkin becomes clean inside.
• In the same way, as we tell God we are sorry about, lying, cheating, unkind words we said that hurt others feelings -- he forgives us for the wrong things we have done. He can make us clean on the inside.
• How is that possible?
• God sent his very own son, Jesus, down to earth to tell us how much God loves us and wants to wipe us clean of our sin. That was really good news."
• CUT INTO THE PUMPKIN WITH THE KNIFE... carve a simple smiling face.
• Say, "Then Jesus took the punishment for all our sins. He did that by dying on a cross. He suffered when we should have suffered. He paid the price…when we should have paid ourselves. After Jesus died, he was buried in a tomb.
• That sounds like bad news, doesn't it?
• BUT I have MORE Good News. Three days later, Jesus came out of the tomb -- alive! He conquered death so that we could have life.
• Believe that Jesus is God's son and that he died on that cross to pay the price for your sin, then came back to life three days later. Tell him you are sorry for the wrong things you have done and he will forgive you."
• LIGHT THE PUMPKIN and dim the lights, too!
• Say, "When he takes away all that sin, you are not only clean inside -- you're a new creation! Jesus, through God's word, the Bible, will teach you how to live a new life God's way.
• When we have Jesus in our lives, we SHINE! It's like having a candle inside us. We want to share the Good news to all those around us."
• Turn the pumpkin around to show the carved smiling face.
• say John 3:16.
• "God so loved the world... that he gave his only son... so that whoever believes in him should not die, but have eternal life."

Wow, time is just flying by in the first grade class.  These kids are doing an awesome job in first grade.  Our newest reading strategy is Tryin' Lion.  He reminds us that it is okay to try a word that you think fits the story, but it needs to make sense.

This weekend for homework they have memory on pg. 10, "You shall love the lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Matthew 22:37

They also have two math worksheets to finish from lesson 34.

Finally, they have to read, "City Zoo" 3x in their reading book.

Your student is also bringing home a permission slip to go to the high school and watch the play next Wednesday.

Last, but NEVER least, don't forget to worship the Lord at church this weekend.