Treasure Hunters 10/27/15

Focus:  Greek Mythology

Discovery:  Worked together in pairs to put together several puzzles depicting stories that were known to be believed by the Greek civilization.  

Literature:  Usborne Greek Myths

Music:  Practiced the Fruit of the Spirit song and used instruments while reading music from the Blue-Jello cards.

Art:  Egg Shell Mosaic of the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet (Alpha and Omega)
Mosaic is the art of creating images with the assemblage of small pieces of glass, stone, or other materials.  In ancient Greece, mosaics were most likely to be seen in pathways and on floors.

Question to Ask:  Do we worship/believe in different Gods for different things like the Greeks did?

Explorers and Trailblazers Art Summaries and request

Week 6: We began a "Joseph's Coat" batik project. We talked about how in the scriptures we see that Joseph's coat was beautifully adorned. I could not find any information on exactly what that meant. But, I did discover that the Art of Batik seems to have originated in the Middle East. So we tried our hands at glue batiking. This gave us an opportunity to explore shapes and design. I asked them to remember that we have been talking about shapes and line in art and asked them to make a design on their fabric. Each of them came up with some beautiful designs! We also looked at a piece of  artwork that depicted Joseph with his coat. It was very cheerful and full of shapes and line. So the children made their own copy of this piece.

Week 7: We reviewed Joseph's Coat; looking at two very different pieces of artwork depicting the same story. The children made great observations, comparing the two. Then the children painted over their shirts, using several colors of Acrylic paint.

Please try to have them bring their own sharpened pencils and maybe an old shirt to cover clothing when we do messy stuff. I still have cover-up shirts. But, not as many. Some kids just keep a pencil and smock or t-shirt in their bag. That seems like a good plan, unless it gets wet. Then we would air dry. Which brings me to another request: We have had some big challenges drying artwork. We had to take over a whole room for drying these past two weeks. Does anyone have any great ideas for a drying rack for artwork?

Art: Pathfinders & Navigators
Tuesday, October 27

Project
We began our class by starting our project right away so we had time to finish it! We once again took the more simpler route to gain a brief understanding of metal art. Using simple supplies of leaves, aluminum foil, cardboard, paint, and steel wool, students created beautiful metal art that looks like we spent hours of time engraving it! (Parents, these pieces will look amazing in your home if you frame them)

Overview
Different types of metal art and metal work is apparent throughout the Bible. Today we focused in on a metal artisan who we know by name: Huram. Huram was skilled in bronze work, and was hired by Solomon for the building of the extravagant Temple. The detail of his work, as told in 1 Kings 7, gave us an appreciation of all the time and work he put into his skill.

Homework
-Read Psalms 139
-Find and bring in one verse anywhere from Psalms that references Art, Creating, Handiwork, Beauty
-Begin a list (whether literal or mental) about YOU! Here are some thoughts to get you thinking:
      -Name (and Nicknames), Birthdate, Birthplace
      -What is your Favorite..... food, color, books, music, animal, hobbies, etc
      -What makes you... angry? happy? scared? bored?
      -I am.... clean or messy? shy or outgoing? serious or goofy?
      -My goals and dreams are.....

First Kings of Israel - History 1&2, Explorers & Trailblazers

After escaping from Egypt, the Hebrews settled in Canaan, the land promised to Abraham, around 1250 BCE.  The Phoenicians, ship-builders and traders, also settled in the land of Canaan along with the Philistines and many other peoples.  These many different groups both traded and fought continually.   

The Israelites begged for a king, and they were given Saul.  David followed, and defeated the Philistines. His son Solomon was  king after him. 

The nation of Israel divided into Israel in the north and Judah in the south in 931 BCE after Solomon was punished for building temples for his pagan wives.

In class activities:

• Made medusa hats and discussed the difference between Greek gods and the God of the Hebrews
• Played olympic games
• Learned about the consequences Israel faced for disobedience
• Learned about the first 3 kings of Israel
• Threw "stones" at Goliath

Optional lesson extension activities:

• Play in the ancient olympics in this online game
• Explore the daily life of Canaanites through archaeology
• Learn about the Phoenician alphabet

Assignment:

• Read history cards NT 9-11

• Practice your timeline

FAITH History Timeline @ 10/27/2015

Remember to keep practicing your timeline!

Gift card orders due Tues. 11/17 for Scrip Fundraising Program

Tues. 11/17 is the deadline for our first round of 2015/2016 FAITH scrip orders! The gift cards you purchase and use for groceries, gas, food, home improvement, and more directly benefit the FAITH Fine Arts Program - thank you! (Remember - there's no additional or hidden cost for you - if you order a $100 gift card to Old Navy, you'll pay $100 for the $100 gift card - but Old Navy gives 14% of your purchase price, or $14, to FAITH. Percentage donations vary by company + are subject to change.)

Holiday gift giving is coming; order your gift cards today! Feel free to share ordering information with your friends + family!

(2) options for placing your order:

1. Complete and print this form (click for link) + give to Kim Murdoch by Tues. 11/17 with a check for your total order amount, made payable to “FAITH Fine Arts Program.”

2. Order online at shopwithscrip.com by 11:59 PM on Tues. 11/17
- Click "Register"
- Join your group's program
- Enrollment code: 3C9129F74L695

Questions? Contact Kim Murdoch at 603.369.7889 (call or text), murdoch.kim@gmail.com, or in person at FAITH (usually stationed in the kitchen, but will be in drama for last 2 periods of 11/3 + 11/10).

Here's just a small sampling of gift card options - thank you in advance for blessing FAITH with your regular shopping + gift giving! 

Groceries/Restaurants
99 Restaurant
Dunkin' Donuts
Panera
Pizza Hut
Shaw's
Starbucks
Whole Foods

Gas/Auto
Chevron
Exxon
Gulf Oil
Jiffy Lube
Mobil
Shell
Sunoco
Texaco

Household 
CVS
Walgreens
Walmart

Home Improvement/Decor
Ace Hardware
Lowe's
Pottery Barn
Target
The Home Depot
West Elm

Technology
Amazon.com
Best Buy
iTunes
Staples

Recreation
Cabela's
Dick's Sporting Goods
L.L. Bean
REI

Clothing
Gap
Gymboree
J. Crew
Lands' End
Old Navy

General/Gifts
American Girl
Barnes & Noble
Build-a-Bear
Disney
Hallmark
Jo-Ann Fabric
Kmart
Kohl's
Michaels
Oriental Trading
Williams Sonoma

Travel
Avis Car Rental
Budget Car Rental
Choice Hotels
Clarion Hotels
Hyatt Hotels

Treasure Hunters 10/20/2015

Focus: The Phoenicians and the Alphabet

Discovery:  Used stamps and inkpads to stamp our names. Used beet juice and dyed string and fabric that we used later for our sail on our Phoenician war ship.

Literature: The Usborne Book of World History - Phoenicians

Art:  Created Phoenician War Ships.  Used a overlay technique with tissue paper to create depth and interest to the water.

Music:  Practiced Fruit of the Spirit song and divided the class into two groups to practice echo.  Also added to the blue-jello Cards and reading music.

Question to ask: Where did our alphabet originate from?
                            A. The Phoenician alphabet
                            Did the Phoenicians use money to buy items they needed?
                            A. No, they traded items such as oil, gold, ivory, stones, and such.

Art - Pathfinders & Navigators
October 20

Overview
Spinning and Weaving is a delicate process of patience and skill- which we quickly learned to appreciate in class! Tagging behind last week's lesson on the Tabernacle, we started by reading the verses from Exodus 35 that spoke of the women of Israel who had a willing heart to spin and weave the special royal cloth needed for the Tabernacle and the priests garments. Later as we worked on our weaving project, students shared other verses in the Bible that refer to spinning and weaving.

Project
Bending a twig into a hoop, students used this to create a simple loom using yarn. We then took thick yarn to weave a foliage design at the top, wrapping the lower yarn into a trunk to create a fun, seasonal fall tree in the hoops. As students worked on their weaving, we talked about some of the technique and tools used in spinning and weaving.

Assignments
-Read 1 Kings 7:13-14
-Bring in a selection of 4 to 6 leaves

Art Class: Explorers and Trailblazers: weeks 1-4

Week 1: Cave Paintings: We looked at cave paintings from the Lascoux caves in France and how they were found. We talked about how art can tell us stories.We talked about earth colors and types of line. We made "cave paintings" on brown paper with earth colors using our drawing skills(shapes and lines).

Week 2: Cartouche carving: We looked at pictures of Cartouches and talked about Egyptian Hyroglyphs. We began a three week project of making a Cartouche from sheetrock. This first week we prepped our "rock". We spent time removing the paper from the sheetrock. This was hard work and the kids did great!

Week 3: Cartouche sheetrock carving: This day we drew our names using Hyroglyphs. Then we carved them using carving tools. The kids did great work!

Week 4: We re-looked at the pictures of Cartouches to see how they would have been painted. Then we painted, using alot of gold.

Week 5: We are looking at Mosaics and what a Jewish Menorah is. We are making a Mosaic Menorah.

Trojan War - History 1&2, Explorers & Trailblazers

Separating history from mythology is one of the great challenges when studying the Bronze age. The writings of Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey tell us that the Trojan war began when Paris of Troy took Helen away from her husband, Menelaus, the king of Sparta in Mycenaean Greece around 1180 BCE.

The siege of Troy lasted over 10 years until Odysseus, a greek general, delivered a beautiful wooden horse to Troy and pretended to leave with his army.  When night fell, soldiers erupted from the hollow horse, conquering the town.

In 1879 archaeologists  found the city of Troy, with the remnants of ashes and bones lending credibility to the stories wartime destruction.

In class activities:

• Listened to the story of the Trojan Horse
• Discussed the difficulty that historians have separating fact from fiction in ancient writings
• Talked about the changes that happen to stories over time
• Built our own Trojan Horses

Optional lesson extension activities:

• Have fun with BBC's School Radio episodes covering the Iliad
• View images of the archaeological site of Troy

Assignment:

• Read (or listen to) any greek myth.  I suggest choosing a children's version adapted from the Iliad or Odyssey, but any myth will do. - Story Nory has several children's versions available that you can listen to online.
• Read history cards NT 4-8, OT 29-30
• Practice your timeline

Drama for All!

Posting for Sandie Dillion...my apologies for the lateness!

Last week and the next two, we have been working on space and movement.  We are using pantomime to become more physically expressive and begin to develop stage presence.  Last week I introduced the treats bag rewards for hard work or excellent cooperation. The students have the option to choose a small piece of candy or a small toy eraser or pencil. They have been instructed to follow home rules regarding candy and if I find they have eaten it without your knowledge or permission they would lose treat bag privileges. Also you should all have received my card with contact information. Please pop me an email so I know you have my address. Oh and ask your students what pantomime is!

Blessings!
Sandie Dillion

Explorers and Trailblazers!
 Please bring something to Batik this week! It can be a t-shirt, pillowcase or a piece of white fabric of some sort. Thanks!

Treasure Hunters : "The Feast of Tabernacles"

FOCUS: The Feast of Tabernacles (Booths)

DISCOVERY: Made fruit to decorate our Booth (or Sukkot)

LITERATURE: "Walk with Y'shua Through the Jewish Year" by Wetheim&Shapiro,
                  "Pyramid" by Macaulay, and Leviticus 23:33-43

MUSIC: learned some more blue-jello beats
                 began learning a Fruits of the Spirit song

SUMMARY: While roaming in the desert, the Israelites made booths (sukkot) to shelter them.  God provided food, water, and protection.  After finding the promised land and settling into houses, God commanded that they remember His care for them by celebrating The Feast of Tabernacles each year - The Season of our Joy - Z'man Simhatenu

We had a snack of apples and honey under our Sukkot.

Art-Pathfinders&Navigators
Tuesday, October 13

Class Overview
The Tabernacle was an amazing mix of skill and art! We would need the whole semester to thoroughly cover all the detail that went into God's design of the tabernacle, but we covered it as well as we could in one class.

Class started with a brief look at Bezalel, the man who God filled with His spirit and gifted with a huge array of skills to oversee His tabernacle design.

Project
Armed with their Bibles, students drew out a simple outline of the design of the tabernacle and the major pieces of furniture.

Assignments
-Read Exodus 35:20-26
-Find an additional Bible reference (from anywhere in the Bible) of weaving/fabric/dyeing
-Bring in a bendable twig at least 18 inches long (we need to be able to bend it into a circle without it snapping; good choices are weeping willow branches or grapevines)

Exodus - History 1&2, Explorers & Trailblazers

 In 1570 BCE  Egypt defeated the Hyksos who had invaded their land.  Using their new knowledge of Hyksos’ weapons and chariots, they drove the invaders back and expanded Egypt’s borders further than ever before. They continued to grow more powerful during this “Golden Age of Egypt,” which included great pharaohs such as Thutmose I, Hatshepsut (the girl pharaoh) Akhenaten, and “King Tut.”

After receiving grain from Joseph, the Israelites did not return to Canaan, but settled on the banks of the Nile, eventually becoming slaves to the Egyptians.  Moses, an Israelite raised in the Pharaoh’s house, was called to free the Israelites. Pharaoh refused Moses request, and there were great plagues.  Eventually Pharaoh relented, if for only a moment, and the Israelites were able to escape across the Red Sea.

In class activities:

• Reviewed the timeline of events leading up to the Israelites bondage in Egypt
• Discussed the Code of Hammurabi and its similarities to Biblical law
• Made our own Egyptian shirts
• Learned about the Hyksos and what their invasion of Egypt meant
• Finished our Egyptian mobiles
• Mapped the wanderings of the Israelites

Optional lesson extension activities:

• Pretend you are Moses in this online game
• Learn more about the Hyksos from Answers in Genesis
• Celebrate your own Passover feast
• Dover has excellent coloring books for this time period.  Not only are the images beautiful, but the captions at the bottom provide lots of historical context.  

Assignment:

• Read history cards NT2-3, OT 26-28
• Practice your timeline

History Timeline @ 10/13/2015

Remember to keep practicing your timeline!

Art class for Explorers and Trailblazers: Please have your child bring a white shirt to class for next weeks project. It should be cotton, but any style is fine.

Art- Navigators/Pathfinders
October 6, 2015

Class Overview
Today in class we looked at stonework and engraving, focusing most of the study on the Ten Commandments. Most of us have a set image in our minds of what the Ten Commandment tablets looked like, but we learned that image is probably not too accurate:
-The traditional "tombstone" look of the tablets with a rounded top was actually attributed to medieval artists. In reality, the stones would have been rectangle, with sharp edges. Also, they weren't as massive as sometimes seen in pictures of Moses carrying them- they were stone and he had to carry them down the mountain!
-The writing was likely in Hebrew, and was on both front and back of the stones. It was likely small print - Though we call them the the Ten Commandments, the Bible refers to the them as the Tablets of the Covenant Law; this means there is the possibility they not only contained the commandments from Exodus 20, but also the entire law as laid out in the following chapters.
-Here was the big surprise: based on other Scripture references and history, some scholars believe the stone the tablets were made of were Sapphire! They could have been blue!
-The tablets are believe to be similar in design to the ancient peace treaties. These were stone tablets engraved with the terms and agreements between two nations/tribes; a copy was made for each of the two parties. Some believe the two tablets of the Covenant Law were exactly the same- one for God, and one for Israel.

Project
After looking briefly at the stone engraving process, we took the simpler route of "engraving" the bricks we had made in last week's class. Talking about the importance of the ancient art of storytelling, students engraved their bricks with designs to create "Story Stones". At the end of class, we went around the room, telling a group story by having each student contribute a part with one of their story stones.

Assignments
-Using the StoryStones they made in class, students need to tell a story to a family member or friend.
-Read Exodus 31:1-11; Be prepared to name some of the parts of the Tabernacle in next week's class.

Music - Explorers/Trailblazers - 10/6/15

Today we started our official study on - Music in the Beginning. Students started a take-home booklet, to keep track of all the activities and information from our classes.

Today's theme - All for God's Glory. All that God created, He created to bring Himself glory.. to worship Him. And so, in the beginning, what were the first musical sounds? Be sure to ask your kids, and see what they come up with. :) Wind, water, birds, etc all lift up a joyful noise. We also talked about the fact that the things we find in nature (sticks, rocks, grass) are the things people used in the beginning to create instruments.

We also did some more rhythm and singing practice.

And then, we started working on our own natural instrument, the Sistrum (found in 2 Samuel 6:5). The Sistrum is a percussion instrument, that originated in Ancient Egypt. It was an important instrument for both the Egyptians and the Isrealites. Originally they were made from materials like gold, bronze, clay and stone. We made ours from y-shaped sticks and bottle caps. The kids will be able to take them home next week.

Middle Kingdom of Egypt - History 1&2

 The Middle Kingdom of Egypt was the second peak of the Nile river civilization. It followed a time of weak leadership and political chaos called the First Intermediate Period during which the north and south had split.  Around 2040,  Mentuhotep II launched an attack on the north and eventually reunited Egypt under one government again.  

In the Bible the land of Egypt is sometimes identified as Mizraim (the name of Ham's son) and it was the destination for the Jewish people fleeing the famine.  Thanks to God's providence through Joseph, they were preserved.   

Eventually, a group of kings in northern Egypt split from southern Egypt yet again. As the country fell into disarray, the Middle Kingdom collapsed and the Second Intermediate Period began, which is most famous for the rule of the Hyksos. 

In class activities:

• Experimented with hieroglyphics, and discussed the importance of the Rosetta Stone
• Reviewed the Biblical story of Joseph
• Learned about the brick pyramids that were being built during this time period, and compared that knowledge to Biblical accounts of Jewish slaves making bricks
• Made our own mummies, and discussed the mummification process including the ingredients in natron
• Learned about the differences between Egypt's kingdoms and intermediate periods
• Created an Egyptian mobile

Optional lesson extension activities:

• Online games and activities
• Watch Disney's "Prince of Egypt" or "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and compare it to the Biblical account of Joseph
• Explore a museum exhibition: Inside King Tut's Tomb
• Print: Pharaoh Maze
• Find the hidden pictures:Tomb Magic Eye

Ask your child:

What does the word cartouche mean in French?  How did this label come to be what we call written  Egyptian names?

During which period were the biggest pyramids built?

Assignment:

Read history cards OT19-25

Practice your timeline

DRAMA - 9/15/15-9/29/15
Posting for Mrs. Dillion

Hi Parents!

To answer a question I'm sure you have asked your child, no they have not had any homework, at least not written, from drama.  We have been learning about "ensemble" or how to work as a team, as well as beginning to learn what drama or theatre is, and why we use it. (Ask them about the spelling of theater/theatre) 

I am very excited about working with your students this year and know we will have fun as we learn.  On 9/29, I gave each student a card with my contact information on it. Please ask them for it and feel free to contact me with any questions.

Blessings,
Sandie Dillion