Children's Worship Lesson Update

We are off to a great start!!  We welcomed a new crew of children today to our class and they all did a good job. There are 2 classes for children's worship:  a preschool class (children who will be 4 by summer 2012 - preschool) and an elementary class (Kindergarten - 2nd grade).  In order to help parents stay up to date with the lessons we are teaching at church I will update weekly with a brief overview of the lesson.  Regardless of the catechism questions the children are being taught at church they can move at their own pace at home.  Every other week your child will have an opportunity to say their catechisms to one of the teachers.  For every three catechisms answered correctly, your child earns an opportuntiy to pick from the catechism store.  There are a ton of fun prizes included in the store for the boys and girls to choose from for extra motivation to keep up the practice at home.

Preschool

Thank you to Heather Estes and Valerie Scholten for your instruction today!  Heather and Valerie worked with your children on catechism questions 1 and 2.  During the lesson the children listened to the cd: Ask Me Whooo.  Volume 1 of the Ask Me Whooo cd collection is located on the resource table for $15.  This is a great cd that puts the catechisms word for word to music.  Following a lesson on Who made you? (God), and What else did God make? (God made all things) the children discussed how God made everything. Then they each had a chance to draw a picture in their journals of something God made.  Ask your children what they drew in their journals.  The journals stay at church and are used weekly for children's worship.

Elementary

Thank you Jeanette Bowman for your instruction with this group today!  Jeanette read a lesson to the children today covering questions 23 - 28. Children learned more about the word covenant and discussed the meaning.  The lesson focused on question 24 - What is a covenant? (a relationship that God establishes with us and guarantees by his word.) In comparison to the preschool lessons this group does move at a faster pace with more catechisms learned weekly.  There are review weeks as well to further go over the questions.  The questions are taught as a theme together.  All 6 questions today dealt with covenant; therefore, instruction of  the definition of covenant was key to being able to grasp the meaning of the answers they are saying.

Catechism Questioner

Thank you Mark Estes for listening to the elementary children today as they said the answers to catechism questions.  If your child is in the elementary class, then he/she should have a catechism slip indicating the number learned in class. Thank you for all your help and reinforcement of the catechisms.  Next week the preschool class will have an opportunity to say their catechism answers. 

Sunday Community - September Memory Verse for Sprouts and Seekers

Psalm 100: 1-2 "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs."

Don't my kiddos look thrilled???  They actually were very excited to help me with the hand motions for the September memory verse.  The children will be working on this each week for the month of September. They will have an opportunity to say the verse at the end of the month to their teachers. 

Sunday Community classes begin next week on September 11th. 

Grace Kids Information

I recently was sent an email about The Jesus Storybook Bible facebook page.  You can go to this page and view a story being read from The Jesus Storybook Bible with pictures from the book as well:  http://www.facebook.com/JesusStorybookBible  We have used The Jesus Storybook Bible in the past during Children's worship.  A great Bible to introduce to your preschoolers and older.   We have copies available at the resource table at church if you are interested. 

Coming Soon - Family Worship Night - Saturday, September 17th at 6:00 PM. 

Our next Family Worship Night will be on Saturday, September 17^th at New Hanover Presbyterian Church beginning at 6:00pm.  (Please note that this is a new night and location from previous Family Worship Nights.)  We will sing Grace Kids Worship songs and also enjoy a skit.  Our time together will end with ice cream sundaes!  If you’d like to come, please RSVP to Tracy Surratt at RSVP2Tracy@yahoo.com by September 14 so we can have enough ice cream & toppings for everyone!

Children's Worship Update

Just a reminder that each week we ask one group their catechism questions.  We rotate between the preschool and elementary class.  Today we had a chance to ask both classes and will begin next week with PRESCHOOL. Your child should have brought home a catechism slip indicating the number they worked on during children's worship this morning.  We are excited to see the growth in the children and their ability to recite the catechisms.  Ultimately we want them to understand the Bible truths they are saying.  A great cd available for you at the Resource Table is the Ask Me Whooo cd.  You can check it out at http://askmewhooo.com/

Offering - We do collect an offering during children's worship.  We begin in a large circle and sing Jesus Loves Me while we pass the basket around the children.  We share with the children that the offering goes into the church offering.  I have been trying to work with John and Ruthie on remembering to take some of their own money to add to the offering.  There are so many things to remember on a Sunday morning with Grace Kids Backpacks, catechism books, sippy cup for Ben, etc, but I am trying to help them remember to take some coins from their piggy banks to give to the church. 

Kids Give Back - Conclusion

Shine the Light group playing story stomp.  Every time they heard the word CARES they would run through the sprinklers and back to their spots.  We used the story God Always Cares by Amy Beveridge. 

 

Chase the Light - Starting a lesson

Shine the Light crew wrapped up Kids Give Back with a review of all the stories heard during the week with the emphasis on how to "Let your light shine" Matthew 5:16  Chase the Light crew heard a story from Luke 24:13-35 - Road to  Emmaus.  The bottom line:  We can trust that God has a plan and we should tell others about it.  Dianne Claiborne, the Area Director for YoungLives visited both groups and thanked them for their generous donations and gifts they made this week. 

We enjoyed working with your children this summer!!  Some final pictures of our summer camp.

 The Flash and Rae Rae - A dynamic duo for teaching the children the Bible stories

 Small group discussion time with the elementary group.

Taking a break from the nursery to enjoy the sprinklers!

Water Play!  What other game is there to play when it is over 100 DEGREES!

Kids Give Back - Thursday

Shine the Light - Their  lesson last night was on the Parable of the lost coin from Luke 15:8-10.  The bottom line discussed for the children was:  "God thinks you are special"  The symbol used to help children remember the story was a coin.  They have done a wonderful job with their songs and memory verse this week.  I hope they have been singing them for you at home as well. 

Chase the Light - They heard a story about Mary Magdalene from Mark 15-16.  The bottom line discussed was God sent His Son to win the fight against sin.  During small group discussion the children worked in their groups to create the shape of a cross and write the word Forgiven on it.  The reason for completing this activity was to remind the children that no one will ever love them more than God does.  The greatest act of love in history is the cross.  Encourage your child to place the cross somewhere in his/her room to help them remember how much God loves us.

Some more fun pictures of our time together this week! 

Thanks to AWESOME volunteers who are willing to put so much time and effort into creating a fun skit for children to help them understand the Bible lessons.  You may have heard your children refer to The Flash and Rae Rae this week.  This is a very short clip with the introduction of the Flash and Rae Rae (sitting on the floor with her giant teddy bear). 

The children have worked well together to create nice gifts for our service project as well as their generous donations!  THANK YOU

Kids Give Back

Chase the Light - Working on their memory verse:  John 8:12

More pictures and information coming tomorrow!  

Our service project for tomorrow evening is participation in a diapers and wipes drive.  If you would like to contribute please send in either item to help.  Monetary donations are also appreciated if you prefer. 

If you send in a check please make it out to YoungLives VA 227