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SSTN - Number 227
September 18, 2001
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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:
1) Autism/special needs children in Sunday school
2) Help with "Problem Kids"
3) Christmas play?
4) Bible coloring pages on the Internet
5) Attendance Software?
6) Greeting the children?
7) Teaching 3 and 4's about the Bible?
8) Children's monthly newsletter and visitation?
9) Getting to know you ideas
10) Bible coloring pages
11) 5/6th Bible Curriculum
12) Children's church alternative
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1) Autism/special needs children in Sunday school
There is an excellent study done by The Geneva Centre for Autism called
"You Don't Have the Words to Describe What I Experience" that contains
many quotes from individuals with Autism about their sensory experiences and
difficulties. There is a great new book called Building Bridges through
Sensory Integration: Occupational Therapy for Children with Autism and
other Pervasive Disorders. It contains many useful suggest for school and
home.The authors are Ellen Yack (who has consulted to Graham), Shirley
Sutton and Paula Aquila. It is available from: 132 Queen's Drive, Weston,
Ontario, Canada M9N 2H6 Phone: (416) 785-7899
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2) Help with "Problem Kids"
Lynne, I am a Pre-Primary Sunday School teacher as well as an Elementary
Education teacher. I have not run into these "problem children" as a
Sunday School teacher, but have run into these children in the school
setting. My first suggestion is read all about ADD, ADHD and autisim.
There are wonderful resources out there for teachers. This way you get a
better understanding of what the children may be feeling and ways to keep
them under control. Plus it may give you ideas of what types of
activities you can have for them in your room. My next suggestion is ask
the parents. You can do this as a class. Have the parents and the
children fill out sheets about things they like and dislike and share them
in class. Then you don't have to single out the "problem kids" and you
can learn more about what they like and dislike. Then it will make it
easier when planning for your activities. Always another thing you can do
is contact your local school and talk with a special education teacher
about these types of children. They may be able to offer you pointers on
how to deal with the disrupting behavior as well give you ideas about
things to do in your classroom. Also when doing things in your class, make
sure an adult is always standing by them. This way you have an adult
watching their behavior and maybe a simple hand on the shoulder may be all
you need when trying to control the child.
You can always ask the parents to come and attend the Sunday School. I
know it is nice for them to attend their own class, but for the first
weeks they may have to attend to give the child more one on one attention.
I will be praying for you. These types of children are tough in a school
setting and can be even harder in a Sunday School setting where the
experience with these types of issues is very limited. Please let me know
if you need any other additional ideas - you can email me at
njtravis@uslink.net. God bless you!
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3) Christmas play?
Hi, I teach in a small country church where we average 5 to 12 children
of all ages per Sunday. We don't have enough children who come regularly
to put on a nice Christmas program, yet I wish we could have them to
participate in something, maybe for our Sunday before Christmas. Could
anyone please help us with an idea for some skit that could fit into our
worship service? Many Thanks....Laura
--from SSTN: make sure you check out the FREE Christian Skits section at:
http://www.ChristianCrafters.Com
Also, in the Bookstore are some great Skit books!
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4) Bible coloring pages on the Internet
Hi, I collect Internet addresses with good Bible coloring pages. Here are
some:
http://www.hattoncoc.org/kid.html
http://kids.botcw.com/
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/4571/cbible.html
http://www.coloring.ws/bible.htm
http://www.tne.net.au/abdaacts/script.html
http://www.ilovejesus.com/allgodschildren/
http://www.raindrop.org/rugrat/color.shtml
http://www.christiananswers.net/kids/clr-indx.html
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/8004/color.html
http://www.emmanuel.kiev.ua/KidsE.html
I hope this helps! God bless you all. Ljiljana
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5) Attendance Software?
Do you know where I can find any attendance software? Any cheap software
idea for a 6th grade boy's memory verse awards? something that I can use
to keep track of who came to class, how many times, and I would also like
to be able to track whether they brought their bible (or other tasks).
Kinda like the front portion of a Baptist
donation envelope, if you know what they look like. Al
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6) Greeting the children
Our Sunday School Director has prayer meeting for the teachers in our
Sunday School from 8:45 a.m. until about 9:00 a.m. Sunday School starts
at 9:00 a.m. I have always been taught that we as teachers should be in our
classrooms when children arrive for Sunday School to greet them and get
the early arrivers busy with an activity. I have not been attending these
prayer meetings because I have been in my classroom greeting the children
as they come in. I don't think a child should come into an empty
classroom with no teacher there. The Director says these prayer meetings are very
important to get us ready to teach our lesson. Our Sunday School material
has a program for early arrivals called "Explorations" which I try to use.
I am feeling a little pressure to attend these prayer meetings. None of
the other teachers have said anything. I would add that some of our teachers
live 30 minutes away from our church and it may be hard for them to get
there any earlier for an early prayer meeting. Any comments would be
appreciated. Gloria
--from SSTN: I agree that we should be in class ready to greet our
students. You probably have already done this, but if not, speak with your
director and tell her your concerns. She is right that prayer is
important, so maybe everyone could meet to pray at 8:30 A.M. and be out in
time to greet the children. ysic, sarah <><
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7) Teaching 3 and 4's about the Bible
I am teaching 3 and 4 year old Sunday school and would like to begin with
introducing the Bible to them. Does anyone have any ideas?
--from SSTN: check out the Christian Education section of the Bookstore,
as well as the Bibles, etc. section for some great resource material!
The latest book, Pray & Play is a wonderful resource for 2-5 yr olds!
ysic, sarah. http://www.ChristianCrafters.Com
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Precepts for Children's Ministry - FREE shipping
Kay Arthur's children's ministry books are now available in the Christian
Education section of the Bookstore at: http://christiancrafters.com
Buy two or more books and shipping is FREE!
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8) Children's monthly newsletter and visitation?
We are looking for resources to help us start a children's monthly
newsletter and also any information about starting a children's visitation
program. Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks Joe
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9) Getting to know you ideas
>>If anyone has any suggestions on ways for kids to "get
>>to know each other" in the first week or two
Our new Sunday School literature suggests that we play "Get to know you
BINGO" You make a regular BINGO sheet and in each square ask personal
questions...who has a dog, who had an older brother, who likes basketball,
who has blonde hair, etc. Then have the children go around the room
asking each other the questions in order to fill in their boxes. The
first child to have a name in all 5 boxes across, up and down or diagonal
wins a small prize. This helps the children get to know each other better
and talk to each other. You can adapt this to best suit your group.
Chastity Whittemore, Greeneville, TN
--from SSTN: remember to check out Ice Breaker games in the free Bible
Games section at: http://www.ChristianCrafters.Com
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10) Bible coloring pages
There is a really nice site at:
www.christiananswers.net/kids/clr-indx.html
A few others are:
http://childreninchrist.homestead.com/christiancoloringpages.html
www.coloring.ws/coloring.html
Have fun! -Lori Plummer
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150 Best Ever Ideas !!
The best of the best! Teacher-tested, winning ideas from Children's
Ministry Magazine. You'll find creative games, crafts, and ideas for
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Buy two or more books and shipping is FREE!
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11) 5/6th Bible Curriculum
>>I am looking for a Bible Study curriculum geared towards 5 and 6th
>>grade students that know the Lord. Al Ortiz
We are just starting to use a cool curriculum that I got from Charisma
Life - it is called "Club 56", and it is a study of various books of the
Bible. There is a spiral-bound teacher's manual and a consumable book for
kids. The one we are starting is on Proverbs, and it's called "Wise Guys
are the Good Guys". I picked up some samples of their stuff at the
Children's Pastor's Conference in Nashville last winter, and I really
like them. There is one on Acts that is about how the church is supposed
to be, and lots of others. There are 13 lessons in each study, and about
2 hrs. worth of activities to go with each one. We will be using it with
our 5th and 6th graders on Wednesday nights this fall.
Kit MacLeod, North Palm Beach, FL
--from SSTN: all the Club 56 curriculum books are now available in the
Curriculum section at: http://www.ChristianCrafters.Com
Free shipping when you purchase two or more books!
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12) Children's church alternative
> I disagree strongly with anyone that would force a young child, ANY
> AGE, to sit through a traditional church service,
Isn't it wonderful how God creates us with so many different gifts and so
many different ways of using them for His glory! I celebrate James'
enthusiasm and gifts of time and talents to the children of his church,
and I'd also like to offer an alternative - which is the way we provide
for children in our church. We want children to feel welcome in
corporate worship, to learn the creeds, the hymns, to participate in the
sacraments, to experience the sense of awe and holiness of coming before
God in His sanctuary, and to feel included in the larger family of Christ
as we worship together. To this end, we invite them to join with the
rest of the church family in the sanctuary, and we provide activity bags,
children's bulletins, and a children's message during worship. We also
provide a booklet for parents on introducing children to worship. Many
parents bring children from toddler age and up into worship, and I
haven't noticed any of them being mistreated, as James sadly was. The
idea is to welcome them and give them a desire to worship - not force
them into a miserable experience. Many churches provide a Children's
Church, and I know much love and hard work go into their programs, and
that many children benefit and God is glorified as a result. However,
many other churches try to provide a positive experience for children in
traditional worship, and, as we are noticing in our congregation, they
also benefit, and are developing habits that we feel are important to
their spiritual development. Kit MacLeod, North Palm Beach, FL
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