Acts

Over the past few weeks, we've been studying Acts. We're learning about God's AMAZING, UNSTOPPABLE power!

Here are a couple of movies that we've watched that help illustrate what we've been learning.

Holy Week

This coming up Sunday is Palm Sunday! We actually learned all about Palm Sunday on Week 2. Last week (Week 3), we read about the Last Supper and had Communion together. We were even able to watch a video that talked about how Jesus wants us to serve others. You can see it here:

For the next 2 weeks, we'll be learning about the Most Important Part of the Bible, when Jesus died on the Cross and then rose again! As usual, we will be doing the palm frond craft this week because Palm Sunday just wouldn't be the same without a palm leaf made out of green construction paper.

A couple of things that I need to talk about are our end of the quarter party and our Discipleship Awards. Last quarter, our class earned enough D-Points to get donuts and chocolate milk at our end of the quarter party (Yay!). We will be having our party on Easter Sunday. It will be a combination class party and Easter celebration. I will also be handing out Discipleship Awards at this time. If you and your kids have been doing a great job at home with your Discipleship Goals, be sure to let me know! That way I can make sure that they get a Discipleship Award on Easter. The easiest thing to do is to write me an email letting me know what kinds of things you guys are doing at home to fulfill your Discipleship Goals. On Easter, I'll share this with the class when I present your child's award.

Also, there will be more services than usual on Easter Sunday. Our class will be meeting during the 8:30 service! So if your child wants to participate in our party and receive their Discipleship Award, make sure you come to the right service! If you can't attend the 8:30 service, but still want your child to receive an award, let me know and I can present it to them during the following Sunday.

See you Sunday!

Christmas Updates

Hi everyone!

Last week was the end of our Service Project. Our kids were working to raise money for people in need in India. Together, our class raised enough money for:

• 16 blankets to help people stay warm in the winter
• 1 flock of chickens
• 1 goat

Altogether, our class was able to raise over $150! It was great to see God using these devoted young helpers to share His love with people in need. Praise God!

We also got to watch a video about Forgiveness. You can check it out here:

Here are the handouts from week 4 in case you need them

Hmmm

Explore

D-Journal

See you in 2010!

Advent

Hi guys!

We just started Advent, so we have some fun new stuff going on!

First of all, our class is doing a service project to help out people in India. For the rest of this month, our kids are going to try to raise money to help people in need. Here are some examples:

$5 for a blanket to keep someone warm in the winter

$10 so that a child can have school supplies

$18 for a blanket and uniform for a child who is currently coming to school in rags

$35 for a sari, sweater, blanket, and shoes for a destitute widow

$53 for a goat

You can get more information on the page that we handed out in class that you can download here:

Service Project

The 2nd thing that we have going on is our Advent Calendar. We watched this little video starring Lego Darth Vader to get an idea of what it's about:

Our class Advent Calendar is a little different from a normal Advent Calendar. Here's how it works: on each day of our calendar, we write down a way that we can share God's love with someone. Then each day, we do whatever our calendar says to do. In that way, we can give Jesus a gift of service every day before we celebrate His birthday.

Here's the sheet we handed out that talks about the Advent Calendar:

Advent Calendar Information

And here's the activity that we did in class to create the Advent Calendar:

Advent Calendar Activity

If you're still not sure how it works, I made a little video explaining the Service Project and the Advent Calendar:

Finally, our end of the quarter celebration is coming up. I decided to combine it with the last Sunday in Advent so that we can have 2 celebrations in one! I will be handing out Discipleship Awards to kids that have been earning D-Points for our class. If you've been doing some great discipleship stuff at home, but have forgotten to fill out your D-Journal pages, please let me know! I'd like to be able to give your child a Discipleship Award. Just contact me and let me know what kinds of things you've been doing so that I can share them with the class. We want to make sure all the great work you're doing to help build your child's relationship with God is recognized.

Oh, and in case you need it, here's the D-Journal page from last week:

D-Journal

See you Sunday!

Week 11 Stuff

Hi guys!

Lots of stuff going on this week!

First of all, we started something new. Worship Journals! They're little books that the kids made that you can use to help them understand the idea of worshipping God.

In case you need help understanding how to use them, I made a little video that you can watch:



You can also download the Worship Journal documents here:

Instructions - Contains instructions on how to use, as well as a list of all of the Bible verses for the week (as well as space to record any thoughts that you want to share together)

Activity Sheet - This is the page that the kids cut up to make the Worship Journal


We also watched a new video that talked about prayer. You can watch it here:



We also had several kids bring in stuff for the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes! The shoeboxes at the front of church are being taken in this week. BUT, if you still have stuff that you want to bring in, we're collecting items in class this Sunday. So this is your last chance to bring stuff in! Don't forget!

Finally, we had Sharin Moznette come in to class and talk about the Open Arms ministry in India. We learned about the kids in India that we're supporting and some of the needs that they have. Next week, we're going to start something new (similar to Blanket Month from last year), to help raise money for items that the kids in India need. I'll have all the details for you this Sunday. We're also going to be getting ready to start another new project for Advent: a service based Advent calendar! So you can look forward to that!

Lots of stuff going on, so if you have any questions or anything, feel free to call or email me.

See you Sunday!

Oh, by the way, you can download the D-Journal page for this week here:

D-Journal

Week 10 Video

This week in class, we talked about Joseph and all the things that happened to him in Egypt. We also talked about how God was always with Joseph, no matter what happened to him. God was able to use the bad things that Joseph's brothers did to him to do great things.

I made a little video to help illustrate the point that God can take our bad situations and use them for His good purposes. Here's what we watched in class:

By the way, in the video, we mention 'Operation Christmas Child'. Don't forget to get your shoeboxes into class! You can fill up your own shoeboxes, or bring items in to help fill up our classroom shoeboxes. Or both!

D-Books

Hi guys!

Last week, we handed out Bibles to the kids in class who signed up for the Free Bible Offer. Yay!

I was supposed to give them their D-Books at the same time, but I left the D-Book stuff at home. Boo!

Well, I'm going to try and make sure to remember it this Sunday. Here's a video giving a brief overview about how the D-Books are used in our class.

Note: In the video, I reference a folder that they can put their in-class activities in. I don't actually have the folders yet, and am going to try and find some this weekend. So as long as they haven't all been clearanced out yet at the office supply stores, we'll have them. Unfortunately, I found out last year that, if it's not August, it can be hard to find large quantities of those kinds of folders.

I also referenced some sheets that go in the D-Book. These will be inside the D-Book when your child gets it. I will also have them available for download on this weblog next week.

By the way, I just wanted to emphasize again that the take-home pages are not the same as Sunday School homework. Nothing bad will happen if your family doesn't use them. The After Church, Hmmm, and Explore pages are there as tools to help you in teaching your kids about God. If you have other resources you like better, please feel free to use those instead. In fact, you could even have your child bring them into class and share them with everyone else!

The only thing that I'd really like you to fill out is the D-Journal page, just so we can keep track as a class about how we're doing with our Discipleship Goals.

See you Sunday!

Week 3 Handouts

Hi guys!

This week we learned about Creation and the Fall. We talked about a couple of new important words: CORRUPTION and RESTORATION.

We even got to see a video giving an example of RESTORATION. Here it is in case you want to check it out:

Here are the Week 3 handouts in case you guys need them:

D-Journal

Hmmm

Explore

See you Sunday!

Chris K

Welcome!

Hi! Welcome to our Faith Explorers Sunday School weblog! You can come here each week to get class updates, download take-home pages, or find out helpful information about how our class works.

This video gives an overview of the types of things we do in class, how we learn about the Bible, and fun things like 'D-Points' and 'D-Journals'. It also references a couple of items that were handed out last Sunday, the 'Free Bible Offer' form (which you can download here) and the 'Discipleship Goals' form (which you can download here).

If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to ask! And thanks so much for the opportunity to share God's Word with your kids!