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SSTN # 69 - June 6, 2003


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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:


--> July 4th Activity...

1) Teaching anger to 6-7 year olds   
2) Fruit of the Spirit Crafts
3) Lighthouse bulletin board?
4) CM director tips
5) Bulletin Boards for SCUBA?
6) Name Tag Idea   
7) CE Director tips
8) Teacher appreciation video
9) Lessons on Giving?

--> Sword of the Spirit - Bookmark

10) Penpals
11) Ready To Give Up
12) Penpals
13) VBS in remote village
14) How do you train teachers

--> Is SSTN Helping YOU?


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--> July 4th Activity...Make the USA Patriotic Catcher

Kids will learn the answers to eight basic USA citizenship questions such
as, "Why did the Pilgrims come to America?", What is the US Constitution?,
and "What does the First Amendment guarantee?". A great activity for July
4th! Kids can make it and take it home!

Find the USA Patriotic Catcher at:
http://www.christiancrafters.com/curriculum.html#usacatcher 
(you may need to copy and paste the address to your browser)


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1) Teaching anger to 6-7 year olds   

Here's  a great way to teach young kids about anger. It is based on a
puppet skit, all though instead of using two puppets, you could use two
children and have them act it out, if they can handle doing so
responsibly. Using two puppets (preferably two different animals or two
different people puppets), act out the following.

Tell children that the Bible never said that we were not allowed to get
angry, things will make us angry, what the Bible does say is that we are
not allowed to get even with the person that made us mad. Pretend that the
two puppets are playing on the playground with a ball (you can use a small
plastic ball such as the kind that are in ball pits for this puppet
scene), have one puppet take the ball from the other puppet, making the
first puppet angry. Let the two puppets argue who had the ball first, such
as I had it first, no I had it first, back and forth for a moment or two.
Let the first puppet (the one which had the ball taken from it) say I'm
not going to play with you anymore or something like that. Let the other
puppet say fine or something like that. Separate the puppets by spreading
your arms apart. The first puppet realizes that it has to play alone now,
and that playing with who he is angry at hurts him too. Have him go back
to the other puppet and say do you want to play, to show how easily young
children forgive and forget, let them play with the ball together. The
puppets realized that it was impossible to stay mad at each other forever,
and that if they did neither of them had someone to play with. Even
without an apology the puppets were able to play with each other again,
and most of the time that is the case unless an adult tells either child
to apologize, which should occur when someone's feelings were hurt, or
someone was physically harmed. And after an apology, remember to teach the
child who is receiving the apology to say something like I forgive you for
taking the ball, or I forgive you for...this does two things, one it
closes the subject permanently, and two it teaches both children a lesson.
If you would rather just use the Bible approach through verses, Proverbs
14:29 and Psalm 37:8 are easy verses pertaining to anger that can be
simplified for children to be able to understand.
Hope this helps
Sarah in California

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2) Fruit of the Spirit Crafts

I've been trying to put together a Fruit of the Spirit lesson plan of my
own.  Here are some fruit craft ideas that could be used or adapted for
fruit of the spirit projects.  You will probably have to cut and paste the
URLs into your browser.:

A.  Make an orange pomander (See
http://home.inreach.com/marthac/craft4.html)
B.  Make apple prints (see
www.fruitfromwashington.com/calendar/holiday/kids.htm)
C.  Make a Fruit of the Spirit basket (see at
www.just4kidsmagazine.com/craftcorner/feb.html.  Scroll down on the page)
D.  Make a fruit print T-shirt (or tote bag, or whatever) (see at
http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/drawpaint/craft/fruitshirt)
E.  Make a 3-D hanging fruit mobile that you can adapt by adding more
fruit than this website shows.  (See at
www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/plants/fruit/)
F.  Use dried fruits (lemon slices, orange slices, apples, oranges,
grapefruit, etc) and put into a potpourri mixture of other dried items.
You could let the kids decorate a bowl to put the fruit in. Dry the fruit
ahead of time in a microwave. (See
http://applecountryfurnitureandcrafts.com/cotm-2002july.html)

Hope this helps
Sally in Wichita

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3) Lighthouse Bulletin Board?

I need ideas to add to our bulletin board for VBS.  I'm being given a
large lighthouse and the concept is supposed to be how we're a light in
the community.  This is supposed to be for adults and children so it can't
be too juvenile.  Thanks.

--from SSTN: check the archives too:
http://christiancrafters.com/archives.html 

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4) CM director tips   

Hello,  I am responding to the need for one idea to tell CM directors. The
first one that came to mind is PRAY!   So often we try to do things in our
own strength and miss the opportunity for God to be in charge of the
details.  I have never recruited a teacher at our small church.I have
prayed for God to bring the teachers to me at an info meeting and so far I
have had enough to cover the program.  So, that is my number one
suggestion--pray and ask God to guide you.

Julie Richardson
CM Director, Cascade Comm. Church

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5) Bulletin Boards for SCUBA?

Our church will be doing the SCUBA VBS this year.  I am planning to put up
a separate bullentin board for each bible story(4 days) and include the
Memory Buddy and Bible Point for each day (I have 4 bulletin boards so I
will not have to change the board each day).  Can anyone give me some
bulletin board decorating ideas that correspond with the following bible
stories from SCUBA:

Day 1.) Bible Story: "Elijah Confront The Prophet of Baal" & Bible Point:
"Believe in God"
Day 2) Bible Story: "Jonah Disobeys God" & Bible Point: "Obey God"
Day 3.) Bible Story:  "Jesus Calms a Storm" & Bible Point: "Trust God"
Day 4.)  Bible Story:  "Jesus Appears to His Followers as They Fish" &
Bible Point: "Share God's Love".

We only do 4 days of bible stories and on the 5th day we have a cook-out
and fun activities that involve the whole family.  Thanks for all your
ideas and help!!!
YSIC,
Sam Dermott
samdermott@faithmail.com


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6) Name Tag Idea   

We sometimes have kids make necklaces for nametags. You can come up with
so many ways to make them and they're very cheap~ some paper & yarn!
Angie

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7) CE Director tips

Re. Sabrina and her request for CE Director tips

A. Not everyone can "teach" any grade any material.

B. Do not assume that one person would not consider being involved in the
program. ASK!! If then they say no, ask if they would consider helping
with collecting/organizing supplies, the bulletin board, taking
photographs occassionally, the mission project etc.

C. tryr to make a connection between all age groups : Preschool-Fifth,
Confirmation, HS, Adult.[(I am still working on this :) ]

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8) Teacher appreciation video

One year I made my own video for teacher appreciation.  Using my own video
camera went from classroom to classroom, asking the teacher to step out
for a moment, and on camera had the kids tell me their favorite thing
about the teacher and their favorite class so far that year.  I did have
to edit it a bit, but for the most part the students not only had fun
doing it, but it reminded them all their teacher does for them.  The
teachers loved it, they were all beaming and smiled during the whole
video.
Good luck!! annette

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9) Lessons on Giving?

I have compiled 3 lessons dealing with the subject of money and giving. I
am using: The Widow's Offering in Mk.12, The Rich Farmer who built more
barns in Lk.12, sowing in Mark 4, and finally, the young man who went away
sad in Mt.19. I am having a time finding "enrichment" material/activities
to reinforce and compliment the lessons. I have formulated questions from
each lesson's Bible text, but that is all. Please email me at
SMissita@aol.com if you have ideas/suggestions. Thanks much!

--from SSTN: for those responding, please share your ideas with everyone
in the network. Thanks! Sarah <><

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Sword of the Spirit - Bookmark


The Old and New Testament books are listed on either side of the sword's
"blade". A great Scripture memory tool from ChristianCrafters.Com.

Children can make it and take it home. Print out as many patterns as you
need for a one time fee of only $3.00. To see a picture and to learn more,
go to the following webpage:

http://www.christiancrafters.com/curriculum.html 


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10) Penpals

> to exchange photos of the children, where they live,our church,
> school etc and a few drawings and letters and perhaps a short
> video of ourselves

I would be interested in doing something like this.  We occasionally do a
video of our Vacation Bible School program and have a video we did this
spring of our Preschool.  I teach the 4th and 5th grade class (10, 11 and
12 year olds)- they would love to write letters.

Barbara Kelkhoff
Word of Life Lutheran Church
879 Tudor Road
Naperville, Illinois  60563
USA


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11) Ready To Give Up

> Is there anyone out there who can Identify with me If so please I could
> use your advice and prayers. I am a childrens church leader of a new
> ministry for the last 2 years. I have two people who is suppose to be
> working along with me but instead they work against me. Are church do not

Well, just praise God!  Anytime something good is happening in the church
-
Satan tries to destroy it!  Unfortunately, sometimes we, as Christians,
allow him to use us.  Thank you for working so hard with the kids.  Maybe
the person that thinks it is boring has some really good ideas and just
doesn't know how to go about it.  Why not ask her?  And bottom line,
remember what you are doing is for the glory of God and these little
children's souls.  And Philipians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ
which strengthens me."
-Christina

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12) Penpals

> exchange photos of the children, where they live,
>our church, school etc and a few drawings and letters and perhaps a short
>video of ourselves, with other Sunday schools. Or if anyone has done a
>similar project and can give me some ideas that would be wonderful too.

This is a response for Sam who wanted to do penpals. 

Sam-
I would love to do this!  I tried to do it with my kids last year but
never managed to find anyone else willing to do it.  I have Kindergarten
and 1st graders, so my kids are ages 5-7.  The only problem I forsee is
that our Sunday School just ended for the summer so you wouldn't have
anyone to corespond with until the fall.  If you're willing to wait a
couple of months, I think it's a terriffic idea.  If you'd like to contact
me directly, my e-mail address is edalynne@hotmail.com.
Christine, Whitinsville, Massachusetts USA.


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13) VBS in remote village

Why not mail curriculum and perhaps some supplies? You can use this using
the media rate, which is fairly cheap.

Plan lessons around things that are available in the village/area.  Object
lessons would be good.  Learn some simple balloon twisting. Balloons do
not take up much room and are very effective teaching tools. Sarah
mentioned the armor of God lessons. You can twist a full set of armor from
balloons! In addition you can make angel wings, swords, hats and even do a
lesson on Jonah.

Teresa
La Marque, TX

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14) How do you train teachers

We require each teacher to have at least 12 hours "continuing education"
(sounds better than training) each year. They can get this through
workshops, conferences, or classes at the community college (ours offers
one time classes on Sat.).  BRING IN SOMEONE rather than do it yourself.
This is SOOO important. People listen to another voice better than one
they hear all the time.  We started doing an annual workshop about 7 years
ago. We bring in lots of workshop leaders and invite many churches. This
is an all day Saturday affair and everyone looks forward to it.
In my 9 years at this church I have had ZERO burnout from the teachers
(they teach year around, we do not take off for summer), and only one has
resigned to work in another ministry in the church.

Teresa

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