Show & Tell: MFW K—Creation

On the first day of Kindergarten,

My student said to me,

"Mom, take me to

the library!"

It's true.  When Millie turned 5 in February, we tried to get her her very own library card, but we found out that our local library requires children not only to be 5 years old but also to be officially in Kindergarten.

Well, stink!

BUT ... apparently that made quite an impression on my Millie because she woke up early on her first day of school, got all dressed up, and asked if we could go to the library to get her a library card.  Not exactly what I had planned for the day, but ... um ... yeah, we can go!!

Signing her card to make it all official

One proud cardholder!!

Millie was eager to start her Kindergarten year, so I decided to do the creation unit with her before our first official week of school.  I'm glad we did it that way because it gave her my undivided attention for a couple of weeks and it gave me a gentle transition back into school mode.  :)

Our focus during this unit was learning how God created the world.

If anyone is looking for resources to supplement the Creation unit, I highly recommend The Creation Story for Children (beautifully illustrated!) and a companion teacher's guide called God Made the World & Me.  Actually, we'll be using the teacher's guide throughout the year as we study various units.

 
We learned that on Day 1, God made light and separated light from darkness. I finally broke down and bought a prism, and the kids had fun using the prism to separate light into different colors.

We sang the "light" verse from our creation song.  (Tune:  Are You Sleeping?)

On Day 1, On Day 1,
God did make, God did make,
Light to shine in darkness, Light to shine in darkness,
It was good, It was good.

Millie worked on a creation book throughout the unit.  I wish I had taken a picture of her while she was working on it every day, but I only got the camera out a couple of times.  Here is her Day 1 page.

On Day 2, we learned that God created the sky and put some water above the sky and some below it.

We added the "sky" verse onto our creation song.

On Day 2, On Day 2,
God did make, God did make,
Lots of sky and water, Lots of sky and water,
It was good, It was good.

Here is Millie's creation page for Day 2.  I found some sort of metallic blue ribbon back when Hannah did K, and we used what was left for the water on Millie's page.  The coulds are made of cotton balls.

On Day 3, we learned that God made land and put trees, plants, and flowers on it.

We added the "trees and flowers" verse onto our creation song.

On Day 3, On Day 3,
God did make, God did make,
Many trees and flowers, Many trees and flowers,
It was good, It was good.

Here is the page Millie made on Day 3 for her creation book.  The land and tree are both made of construction paper (we just holepunched red and orange construction paper to make the fuit), and the water is made of the same ribbon we used for Day 2.  The flowers are foam stickers I found in the kids' art bin.

On Day 4 we learned that God made the sun, moon, and stars.  I love taking the time to really look at the days of creation and think it all through.  Some people believe that God used evolution to create the world and that his "days" are simply "periods of time."  But when you stop to think about the fact that He had already put plants, flowers, and trees on the earth, how in the world could they live for thousands of years without sunlight?!  But I digress ...

We added the "sun, moon, and stars" verse onto our creation song.

On Day 4, On Day 4,
God did make, God did make,
The sun and moon and stars, The sun and moon and stars,
It was good, It was good.

Finally, here's a picture of my Millie-Girl while she's working on her project!  :)  She painted a yellow sun and a white moon, then she painted some white dots for stars and added some silver star stickers.

On Day 5, we learned that God made the birds and the sea creatures.

We added the "fish and birds" verse onto our creation song.

On Day 5, On Day 5,
God did make, God did make,
All the fish and birdies, All the fish and birdies,
It was good, It was good.

And here's Millie with her Day 5 creation page.  WOO HOO ... I got her working again!  :)  We used the same metallic ribbon for water and added some sea creature stickers.  Then she used a marker to draw birds flying in the air.



Check out that look of concentration!

 On Day 6, we learned that God made land animals and his crown creation, man.

We added the "animals and man" verse to our creation song.

On Day 6, On Day 6,
God did make, God did make,
All the other animals,
All the other animals,
God made man, Woman too.

Here is Millie's Day 6 creation page.  I had a stack of National Geographic magazines, and she went through them and cut out animal pictures.  I had to find an Adam & Eve picture online ... none of those in National Geographic!  ;)


 And finally, on Day 7 we learned that God rested and enjoyed His creation, setting a model for us.

We added the final verse to our creation song.

On Day 7, On Day 7,
God did rest, God did rest,
All the work was finished, all the work was finished,
It was good, very good!

Here is the page Millie made for Day 7 of her creation book.

She also worked on a creation poster throughout the unit.  Each picture was shaped like a number, and in it were things that God created on that day.  When she added the last number, I hung it above the window in the school room.

When Hannah was in Kindergarten, we had a creation snack for each day of creation.  But Millie, my poor second child, doesn't get that luxury!  ;)  Gotta keep it simple these days!  :)  So instead, we had a creation party at the end of the unit.  We sang our creation song, and with each verse, there was some activity that went with it.

After we sang the Day 1 verse in the dark, she turned on the kitchen lights for us.

After we sang the Day 2 verse, she put a glass of water at the table for everyone in our family.

After we sang the Day 3 verse, she brought a plate of fruit to the table.

After we sang the Day 4 verse, she brought some star-shaped cheese to the table.  We used a star cookie cutter she had in her play kitchen to cut it out.  :)

After we sang the Day 5 verse, she brought a plate of goldfish to the table.

After we sang the Day 6 verse, she brought a plate of animals crackers to the table.

And finally, after she sang the Day 7 verse, we were all able to sit down and rest.  The girls also blew party horns to celebrate because it was very good.

We had a lot of fun with this creation unit.  It was a very gentle way to ease back into the school year!