Your Custom Text Here
We continued the annual tradition for the last day of Sunday School - a giant Bible Trivia Game to see how much the kids have learned this year. We divided the kids up into two teams and they answered question after question. Turns out they learned a lot! After the game we all had ice cream treats (another year-end tradition) and then the kids spent the last few minutes of the hour out on the playground. It was another fun year - hope everyone has a great summer!
For Mother's day we learned from the book of Ruth: (1:1-18 and 2:2-19) about Naomi and Ruth. Naomi wasn’t Ruth’s real mom, but Ruth treated her like she was and loved Naomi very much. We then decorated flower pots, and planted marigolds to give to Moms and Grandmas, along with handmade cards and notes.
This week we heard the story from John 20:24-29 about Thomas, the Disciple who did not believe Jesus had risen. He needed to see and touch Jesus for himself. The older grades explored the story by playing games in which we could not see - creating a drawing blindfolded, and guessing what items were just by touching them in a specially-made box. Grades 1-2 made a "Jesus in my Heart" pin.
This week we watched the animated movie, "He is Risen" in the theater. At the end of the movie there is a quiz, and the kids proved they were paying attention to the movie, as they knew all of the answers!
On Palm Sunday we learned about how Jesus rode into Jerusalem to shouts of "Hosanna!" but we also talked more about Holy Week and what happened on the days that followed his triumphant entry into the city. For our crat we made palms from construction paper, and the older kids learned how to fold a palm leaf into a cross.
Today we started learning about the events of Holy Week, as told in chapter 21 of Matthew. We focused on what happened on the different days of that week, and we will continue next Sunday by celebrating and learning more about Palm Sunday as Holy Week actually begins.
The older grades played a game in which they formed teams and then raced each other to put cards with different Holy Week events in chronological order. Younger grades colored different pictures about the different days of the week. We also used Play-Doh to make bread and a chalice like what was likely used after the Last Supper by Jesus, along with what our favorite foods are. The goal was to gain a better understanding of (and help remember) the events of Holy Week.
We learned more about Paul today from Romans 1:1:17, about how he wrote letters to tell people about Jesus. The older grades then wrote their own letters, to each other and we actually mailed them. The Pre-K class created letters to Jesus, but didn't send each other letters, so the students in Grades 3-5 wrote letters to them so they will get mail this week too!
In the Grade 3-5 classroom, the students who will be making their First Communion this year also glazed their chalices today. This is another step in the process, and the chalices will be fired in the next couple of weeks so they will be ready in time for First Communion Sunday.
Our story today was from Acts chapter 9, about the time when Saul was persecuting Christians. On the road to Damascus, he saw a bright light and was asked by Jesus, "Why do you persecute me?" He then lost his sight, but regained it after 3 days when he encountered a man named Ananias in Damascus. He was a changed man, but not only because he stopped persecuting Christians and began telling people about Jesus, but also because his name was changed to Paul.
The older grades did some activity sheets to help them remember the story, and made a picture with sparkly paper pieces that represented the bright light that Saul saw on the road to Damascus. They also played a game where we chose the name of a Biblical character from a basket and talked about how that person went through a change, just like Saul.
The kids in Grades 1 and 2 made special sunglasses that blocked their sight, but had fold-up flaps that let them see again, like when the scales fell from Saul's eyes just as he regained his sight.
Our lesson today was about the Greatest Commandment, from Matthew 22:34-39. When the Pharisees asked Jesus "What is the greatest commandment?" he answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself."
We talked about what this means, and then made crafts to help us remember these words. The older grades made a "fortune teller" which contained questions about this Bible story, like, "What is the name of one of your neighbors?" or "How can you show that you love God?" After we made them we had fun taking turns choosing colors and numbers while the person who made the fortune teller counted and led us through the process until it was time to answer the question.
Today children also received their Peter Pebble assignments. It's that time again! Kids have until May to earn a Peter Pebble. Click here for more information on Peter Pebbles.
Today we heard the story from John 6:1-14 about the time when Jesus used a boy's lunch of five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 people! For our crafts, the younger grades made a paper basket with pipe cleaner handle and filled it with paper fish and bread. The older grades also made a basket out of paper, but it was three dimensional and they filled it with real food - Swedish fish, Goldfish Crackers, mini donuts or bread.
On Transfiguration Sunday we read the story from Matthew 17:1-9 and then made a few crafts to help us remember the story. The younger grades made a Light Catcher that, when held up to the window or a light, makes Jesus appear to be glowing brightly, just like in the story. The older grades made a similar craft, with a built-in battery-operated tea light that had the same effect.
This week we heard.the parable of the Wedding Banquet from Matthew 22:1-14, in which a King invited people to a banquet for his son, but no one came. He then sent his servants out to invite everyone in the town instead. The lesson we learned is that God invites all of us to be in his kingdom, but not everyone accepts that invitation. By coming to church, reading our Bibles and coming to Sunday School, we are saying "Yes!" we want to accept God's invitation and be part of His kingdom.
Grades 3-5 played a "Will you accept the invitation?" beanbag toss game and earned more points if the beanbag landed in the "Yes" bins vs. the "No" bin. They got an extra point if they said, "Yes, and I'll bring a friend!" Grades 1 and 2 made kazoos and tambourines that they could play at the wedding feast. And the Pre-K group drew pictures of the types of foods they would want to eat at a wedding banquet.
Today we heard the story from Matthew 8:23-27 about a time when Jesus was on a boat with His Disciples and there was a big storm. The Disciples were afraid and asked Jesus to help them, and He calmed the storm. We learned that we, too, can trust Jesus to help us in times of trouble in our lives.
For our craft we created chalk drawings of a storm.
Today we all worked together to create Valentines using construction paper, stickers, markers, and other craft supplies. They are for the residents at the Senior Living homes that Pastor Nancy visits regularly. This week she will deliver the Valentines on behalf of the Sunday School kids during her visits.
We heard the story today from John 4:6-42 about a Samaritan woman who was surprised to find Jesus at the well she was visiting to collect water. Jesus offered her Living Water instead, which changes her life. She then tells many others about Jesus. Our crafts focused on water...we cut out droplets with the words "He who believes in me will never be thirsty" and also worked on homemade puzzles that featured a drawing of Jesus with a similar verse.
This week our lesson was about The Lord's Prayer. After looking it up in Matthew Chapter 6, we talked about prayer in general, then the kids in grades 3-5 went down to the St. James kitchen to make some biscuits. We decorated baskets with the verse 11 in chapter 6 of Matthew: "Give us today our daily bread." We made enough for the kids in our class, then we decorated and filled baskets for the rest of the kids in Sunday School. We delivered the baskets to everyone and they enjoyed the warm, yummy biscuits after they finished with the lessons in their own classrooms.
For our closing prayer, we all said The Lord's Prayer together. Some of the older kids already knew it pretty well because they memorized it to earn their Peter Pebble in second grade!
Today we heard from Matthew 4:18-22 about when Jesus called his first Disciples. The older grades solved a Word Find puzzle with all of the names of the Disciples, then created sticker pictures with fish on them, like the ones some of the Disciples were fishing for in our story. The younger grades made a picture with a boat, fish net and fish stickers.
The first thing we did today was find our where our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes were delivered!
We packed 10 shoeboxes last November, and they all went to Africa - 7 to The Republic of the Congo, 2 to Malawi and 1 to Zambia. We found those countries on our map and added stickers to it for each country.
Our Bible story for today was from Luke 3:15-22 about how John baptized Jesus, and the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove. For our craft we made different types of doves. The youngest grades made watercolor paintings and the older grades made a felt dove and an origami dove.
Today's story was about Jonah, which is one of the shortest books in the Bible - only 3 pages! Jonah tried to hide from God, so Grades 1-2 made a craft that helped them look for Jonah. The oldest grades spent a lot of time with their Bibles, looking up the different verses to help solve a word find puzzle in their leaflets.
We also practiced our songs for next week today. The kids are looking forward to participating in the Christmas concert/worship!
We started our morning by gathering around the piano in the sanctuary to practice the songs we'll be singing on December 22.
Our story today was from 1Kings 17:8-18, about Elijah and how he helped a widow and her son, with the help of God. The lesson we learned is that we can trust God to help and provide for us.
Using the leaflets provided as part of the curriculum, we did a couple of puzzles and then used our Bibles to look up verses in the story to get ideas of how to illustrate story wheels that will help us remember what happened. The youngest grades used Play-Doh to make "bread" like the widow in the story as part of their lesson.
