To all our children, families and Church School staff, we are well into the Lenten Season! The First day of Lent was February 10th and lots of fun things were planned for the children! We hosted our Mardi Gras/Lent event on February 14th in fellowship hall. We also celebrated love on this Valentine’s Day! There were symbolic crafts made, snacks enjoyed, and fun was had by all as we learned about the true meaning of Mardi Gras. The children listened to Pastor Tami as she discussed the handout “What is Mardi Gras?”, followed by making Valentine’s Day cards, bead bracelets, scratch off masks, and prayer flags. The children also colored a Lenten calendar and thought about why we celebrate on this special day just before Lent begins.
We would like to share with everyone what’s happening in Church School…
Re:form: The 7th and 8th grade completed Old Testament study. They spent one week discussing personal prayer prior to starting their Lenten Study: A Journey with Jesus in the 21st Century.
The 5th/6th grade CONNECT class finished Unit 8, Jesus: The Savior and joined the Sunday School’s Mardi Gras Party in Fellowship Hall. We have moved on to Unit 9, The Apostle and learned about Saul’s (Paul’s) conversion on the road to Damascus, accompanied by a craft project based on the lesson’s icon, a butterfly. In the lesson on the gospel, we learned about how Paul urges believers to become ambassadors of the gospel in the world. The craft based on the megaphone icon symbolizes the power of words and the power of the Holy Spirit. As we had been approaching Lent, we studied Betrayal: Peter betraying Jesus three times, Death: Jesus being tortured and crucified and the Resurrection of Jesus. The kids had many questions and commentary during these past few weeks of very in-depth topics. Students will continue taking turns reading lesson related passages in their own CONNECT bibles and discussing these readings. Snacks are enjoyed while watching lesson-related videos involving students in a present day school setting.
In our Spark classroom (PreK through 4th Grade) the children have completed The Storm unit from Matthew 8:23-27 and the Walking on Water rotation from Matthew 14:22-33.
Family Conversations could include:
- What would it feel like to be in a boat during a storm?
- For what could a storm be a metaphor what might symbolically feel like a storm and cause fear?
- What can we do to help us focus on Jesus when we are afraid?
The children have learned two songs: “God is Good” and “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”.
In preparation of Holy Week, we have begun The Last Supper from John 13:120.
Family Conversations could include:
- How do you know when someone loves you?
- Do you or would you like to have someone wash your feet? Why?
- How can you show love to somebody in your family? To somebody outside your family?
- Using the numbered cards in a deck of cards, pull 1 out each day and strive to do that many acts of love during the day. They can be very simple things helping with a chore, delivering a meal, or making a card for someone.
For families to do together:
- Bake Jesus bread together (any bread will do!). While it bakes in the oven, read stories in your Bible about Jesus serving others. When you eat the bread, instead of cutting it into pieces, pull off chunks and serve it to one another like Jesus did with his disciples.
Thank you to all of our staff that make Church School the wonderful program that it is and for all the parents who share your wonderful children with us.
~Co-Superintendents
Liza Placido & Michele Mosca