Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Unit Five: Nest

To see a list of posts for all of our units for Kindergarten, see here.  This post contains information about only Unit Five: Nest.



Unit Five focused on the letter N for Nest and the coordinating Bible truth was "God takes good care of me." We talked about how parent birds care for their babies and keep them warm, and how God loves us and wants to teach us and help us grow.

Benjamin really enjoyed the Animal Homes game, where you must match the animal with their nest.  He also enjoyed making an edible nest as well.

Some supplements we used for this unit:

ABC Memory Verse Cards
In addition to the Bible truth, we are also memorizing a Bible verse that begins with the letter of the week. I received some ACB cards as a gift and they are by Dayspring, but I have also seen these online that would work just as well.

This week our N verse was: "…no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Christian Liberty Press Nature Reader K
This book is perfect for kindergarten, as it has a well-illusrtated animal lesson for each letter of the alphabet.  This week we learned about Newts.

Danielle's Place
This is a great site, with TONS of Bible crafts and activities.  They had an entire unit on birds. I found a cute activity where Benjamin glued yarn to make a bird's nest and then colored the birds and their nest. See here.

Nest Craft

The Best Nest Video

Edible Bird Nest Recipe

Big Bird's Nest Sale
Search for this episode online

Some great books for this unit include:
The Scarecrow's Hat by Ken Brown
The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman
The Perfect Nest by Katherine Friend
Our Nest by Reeve  Lindbergh
Magic Schoolbus Flies from the Nest by Joanna Cole
Eggs and Chicks by Fionna Patchett

  



 




Noodle-less Vegetable Lasagna

I've seen recipes that use zucchini for noodles, and decided to give it a try the other night.  By slicing the zucchini and squash longways, it is thin like lasagna noodles, but much healthier!  Our young children enjoyed it too, and since we have one child who needs to eat gluten-free, it worked out nicely for our family.  Enjoy!



Ingredients:
2 zucchini
2 squash

1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes
1 cup fresh broccoli
1 cup fresh cauliflower
Spices (garlic, basil, oregano)

1 lb. turkey meat (optional)
1 jar tomato sauce

Mozzarella Cheese

Quarter the tomatoes and cook tomatoes, cauliflower, and broccoli in a pot with olive oil and minced garlic.  If possible, let it simmer for about 30 minutes.

Slice the zucchini and squash longwise, about 1/4 inches thick.  Arrange on a greased baking sheet and bake for 15 min in a 375 degree oven.

As the squash/zucchini are baking, brown the ground turkey meat.  Add the tomato sauce.
Combine the ground turkey mixture with the cooked vegetables.

Spread a small amount of the sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.  Layer the zucchini and squash and top with 1/2 the sauce.  Top that layer with mozzarella cheese.  Repeat.

Bake  covered for 45 minutes in 375 degree oven.  Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes.