March - Palm Sunday and Easter!!

We had a lot of exciting things happen this month!  Palm Sunday, the musical, the Easter Egg Hunt, our Prayer Stations, Easter, the cherub choir...whew!!  It was a full and fun month :)  Here are some highlights below!


SUNDAY SCHOOL
This month the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th graders learned the Easter story - specifically the death and resurrection (we did not concentrate this year on Holy Week).  The preschoolers did this as well.  The third graders finished their journey through the Old Testament and made it into the Gospels just in time for Easter! :) We're excited for you third graders!  Your journey is coming to an end and I know you've had a fun time with Ms. Parker!  

One highlight is that some of our children participated in Prayer Stations on Palm Sunday.  The children were divided up into groups of 3 and went around to each station (with an adult) and experienced different ways to pray - using all 5 senses!  I don't know about the kids but I had a great time :)  Here are a few pics of the experience...

Ms. Sally had the 4th/5th graders totally engrossed in the story of  Easter.  Their questions and observations were awesome!

Did you know that some creative people have made Bible Lego Stories?!  Look them up on youtube :)  The kids love them, and this month we watched the Easter story.

The third graders got to learn about Queen Esther while doing a puppet show!

PRAYER STATIONS

The group in the foreground is creating a lego cross.  Every time they picked up a lego, they were to read what that color stood for and then pray for what was listed (see below).




Our finished product!  You can see it in the hallway!

Another station was the "prayer web".  The kids picked a color of yarn and weaved it in and out, looping it around the outside frame while praying silently.  Thank you Dick for making this awesome prayer web for us!!


finished product!  It's hanging in the hallway - check it out!


This was our "Stacking cups" station.  Each of those cups fit inside another (like nesting dolls).  There were two sets - the first set started with the church (smallest) and grew larger until the biggest one was the world.  As they stacked they prayed!  The other set started with them (smallest) and grew to each member of their family :)  Thank you Carol for setting up this station!!



This is one of my favorite stations.  The children started with a plain white piece of paper, wrote something like "Thank you God for Jesus" down the middle.  Then, as the adult read the instructions, the children ended up with a cross at the end :)  very cool!




This seemed to be the favorite...because they got to use their sense of taste :)  While learning of the history of the pretzel, they snacked while making their own out of pipe cleaners!  Do you know about the legend of the lenten pretzel?


Nice pretzels :)  Do you know which way is right side up?  Ask your kids!  They can show you!


Our last prayer station was a listening station.  The teacher played 3 very different types of sounds/music on the ipad and while the children listened, they drew whatever came to mind...and while they drew they prayed.

The stations were on Palm Sunday when the children also processed in the first service waving palm branches, and acted out Jesus riding on the donkey in the second service!  And, of course, Palm Sunday is when our cherubs sang for the first time!!  They did awesome!!  I am very proud of them :)  Next time, we will put a microphone on them, so I apologize if you couldn't hear them...but they were adorable :)  Thank you Ms. Anne, Ms. Alysha and Ms. Barb for all you did to help make it successful!  We may see them back for Mother's Day but that's still up in the air :)

The Easter Egg hunt was a lot of fun!  I saw a lot of you there and many helped!  Thank you very much!!  We had close to 70 kids there plus their families.  I prayed all week that God didn't send us too many kids...but I still wanted a lot of kids!  (it was a pretty specific prayer :)  God came through!  We had just enough eggs/candy/prizes for all the children.  Next year we'll have to prepare more eggs! :)  First we met in the Fellowship Hall and heard the story of Easter and about Jesus' love for us...then we headed outside to hunt!

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter.  I loved seeing all the families worshiping together.  

Next month the children will be practicing and recording their Milestones and hopefully we'll see their videos during worship in May!  God bless!

PRAYground!

After attending the APCE (Assoc of Presbyterian Church Educators) conference, where Karen Ware Jackson told us about the name "prayground" that another church had coined to describe the designated children's space in the worship service; I of course, had to take it!  :)  I love it!!  We already had the space and most of the materials, but I got some great ideas (some for our worship bags too, click here to see them!) to spice up the space, so I wanted to share the finished product :)

I'm sure I'll continue to tweak it and change things to make it interesting, but this is basically the set up...

The children create their "offerings" to God and the church and we hang some up on our picture wall!

 The children meet with me at the front for our children's time, which is when I give them their worship bags.  They don't get them before that time, because mainly we are singing and greeting one another and there is no need for them.  Then they have the choice of going to the "prayground" with me, or returning to their parents.  It's been working out great and we are all enjoying it :)

they love the new fidget sticks :)  that's all some of them did!  fidget and listen :)

puzzles are another favorite!

my older girls love creating "offerings" to hang on the wall!

I'm loving the space!  I had been searching for a great name to call it and now I have it :)  Thank you Grace Lutheran for coming up with it!!

God bless!

February - Family Retreat and Joseph!

FAMILY RETREAT 2016!!

We had a great time on the family retreat this month!  We focused on time - using it wisely, not wasting it and figuring out what are our top priorities.  Here are a few pics...hope to see more people next year!  It will still be the first weekend on February 2017 but I hear it may be totally different...and closer to home!  So mark your calendars!!

making our clocks!

 Some of the families presenting their faith statements!

Our group (minus a few :)

ribbit :) The nature place was really neat!

racing the turtle :)

the kids beat the youth and adults in trivia!!

the kids' clocks turned out great!

At Sunday school this month the kids learned all about the story of Joseph - in my opinion - one of the best stories in the Bible!  Drama! Mystery! Love! Hate!  It has it all :)  Since I was out two Sundays, I don't have many pictures - but the kids had a great time writing and playing jeopardy, acting out the story, understanding Joseph's timeline and making their own and playing the Joseph version of Cranium (I wish I could've gotten pictures of their sculptures and drawings!) :)

First and second grade in storytelling!

first and second grade making their timelines

The preschoolers listening intently to the story

The preschoolers saying their final prayer :)

Ms. Jo Ann making the timeline!

The 1st and 2nd grade timeline.  They had to choose 5 big events that happened in the lives (including their birth).  I loved seeing what events seemed "big" to them! :) 

If you haven't seen them up in the hallway take a look! 

4th/5th grade timeline

Third grade continued working their way through the Bible.  Have you seen their notebooks?  Very impressive!!

We also learned about the "One Great Hour of Sharing" from Ms. Juanita Fowler and all the kids received their fish banks!  I hope they're being fed!  Please bring them in on Palm Sunday (march 20) big and fat :)    

The kids also helped me create a few picture frames for the silent auction!  Aren't they beautiful!  Nice job kiddos :)

In March we will be learning about the Easter story - specifically about Jesus being crucified and his resurrection (we will not be concentrating much on Holy Week this year).

We had a great February!!