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THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER'S NETWORK
A Ministry of ChristianCrafters.Com
"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
Matthew 18:20

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It will be nice to see who is writing from where! :o)

<>< <>< SSTN-Volume 1-Number 82 <>< <><
August 15, 2000
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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:
1)
Jonah and the Whale
2) Looking for ideas?
3) Carnival follow up
4) Appreciation gifts?
5) Group devotions?
6) Special Needs Class
7) Goliath Game

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1)
Jonah and the Whale

I need a craft idea to go with Jonah and the Whale story for our Night Sunday School this coming Sunday. I was wondering if you could help me in any way, I would really
appreciate it and so will our children. They range from 3 to 5 years old.
Thank you, Theresa.


--From ChristianCrafters.Com:
Three years ago during our VBS program (Group Pub.) some of the leaders made a huge whale by taking black plastic tarps and taping them together, then fastening them to the ground around all the edges with heavy duty tape. Leave enough allowance at the center of the tarp to allow it to expand outwards. Place a large fan at one end of the tarp and blow fan inside. You'll need to tape around the fan to keep the air from escaping. On the opposite end of the fan make sure there is a slit for the kids to enter into the whale's belly! Inside is a dark, cool place for you to tell the story of Jonah and the big fish! (Use a small flashlight to read. Or, just tell the story.) This was one of the neatest events at VBS that year and one I'll always remember!

Also, I just posted a 'Jonah Word Puzzle' in the Games & Skit section of the site.

Blessings,
Sarah Keith - Your Moderator
www.ChristianCrafters.Com
"Home of The Sunday School Teacher's Network"

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2) Looking for ideas?

Hi I am the sunday school teacher for grades 4,5,6, this is a very interesting age. But I find myself always looking for ideas, especially for christmas, I try and use music as much as possible and skit involvement, If you have any good ideas for me please forward them.
thank you, cece.

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3) Carnival follow up

>We our planning a bible school family carnival follow up at our church . . .

Dear Dianne,
We just had our first Sunday School carnival a few weeks ago. We held it
during the SS hour (9:30-10:30) under a tent that had been rented for
another function (an outdoor VBS). I asked for donations of small toys to
use as prizes (Happy Meal toys, birthday party treats) and parents were glad
for the opportunity to clean out their kids rooms - I ended up with over 300
prizes (which saved a lot of $ and gave the kids lot of fun things to choose
from).

We borrowed some games from the PTA of one of our students (putt-putt golf,
milk can toss, and bean bag throw) - you could also make most of these and
reuse each year. I made my own duck pond game, had a craft table making
"God's Eyes", and had two teens make balloon animals (with a few supplies
and a how-to book, these are actually very easy to make). Instead of face
painting (which is very time-consuming), we had "Jesus Loves Me" tatoos.

The "price" of a carnival ticket was the donation of a school supply (or a
small monetary contribution) towards a back to school backpack project we
participated in for low-income families in our community. However, all kids
could participate regardless of whether they made a donation.

We started with about 10 minutes of group singing and then the kids were
free to play as many games as they wanted. When they arrived, we gave them
a lunch bag with their name on it in which to keep their prizes. We ended
up with about 55 kids participating. I rented a helium tank and posted
balloons around the perimeter and along with path leading to church. We are
located on a busy road so we made a "Carnival - Join Us" banner which faced
the road and was surrounded by balloons.

We had packaged snacks (goldfish, animal crackers) and small punch-type
drinks and threw down blankets when the kids were ready to eat. God blessed
us with beautiful weather and the kids had a great time!

Jill, Silver Spring, MD

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4)
Appreciation gifts?

My question to your group/company is.....I am a coordinator in my churches Children's Ministries team. We are trying to find cute little "Appreciation" gifts to send out each month. Do you have any books or ideas on things we could do? Thank you for your time!
Sincerely,
Laura Baldwin.....Peru, Indiana


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5)
Group devotions?

I currently lead devotions for a group of 7-11 year olds but am having difficulties with themes and would appreciate advice. We meet mid-week and devotions last 15/20 minutes. Praise God some of these youngsters are asking if they can "do the Bible reading" and some are even wanting to write their own prayers. Does anyone have any suggestions as to resources we can use. Ideally I'd like to be able to introduce them to the Christian faith (some of them don't know who Jesus is, let alone the Holy Spirit and the thought of the church and the Bible is a real mystery!) and work through within the 3 terms of the school year to an understanding and hopefully a desire to say "Yes, I'd like to know more" and leading on to further Bible Study clubs.

If anyone has any suggestions as to yearly curriculums (if you can suggest a logical week by week theme + Bible passage, I'm sure I can find games/crafts to use) or teaching material on the net (or even resources available here in the UK), I would be most grateful.

Mandy (P.S. My husband's the Minister of 4 Methodist Churches in the UK so this information will be well used on our ministerial travels :-)

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6)
Special Needs Class

I Taught a Special Needs Class they were mainly adults.
We made banners for the Church's Worship Center.
I also taught on Missions and we had a craft sale with proceeds
going to the mission of choice. May God richly bless those who
serve Him in this field!
Alice Stiekes

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7) Goliath Game

Get the window shades that you pull down and roll up and draw or paint Goliath on the shade. If the kids hit the target just right, the shade will roll up. Use a bean bag for your stone. An easy way to draw Goliath is to use an overhead projector sheet then trace over a picture of Goliath. Project the line drawing onto the shade and trace the lines onto the shade. You could even have the kids paint the shade.

Sarah Keith-Your Moderator
5/6th Grade Boys
K-4th Kingdom Kids

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--Copyright 2000 S.A. Keith--All Rights Reserved.--

SEND IN YOUR SUGGESTIONS, REQUESTS & IDEAS! :o)
Invite your friends and coworkers to join us!

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IMPORTANT INFO-PLEASE READ: (Especially for newcomers!)

Many of the free patterns and ideas in the ChristianCrafters.Com site are from the books I've written, or from books that I'm in the process of writing. If you'd like to know more about my Christian education resource books, email me at:
Sakeith@aol.com

I've recently published and released my Christmas-Advent Christian crafting book entitled, CHRISMON SNOWFLAKE ORNAMENTS. Check it out by clicking on "Chrismon Snowflake Ornaments" from my home page. The purchase of this book helps to support the SSTN ministry! Blessings to you, Sarah Keith.

Don't forget about the availability of free Bible Games and Christian crafts @ ChristianCrafters.Com! If you have a Bible game or Christian craft that you've created, email me, Sarah Keith, and share it with the rest of the world!

You can access past SSTN letters:
Go to www.christiancrafters.com and click on Sunday School Teachers,
then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on 'Archives List'.

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The Sunday School Teacher's Network is brought to you by:
ChristianCrafters.Com
http://www.christiancrafters.com
--Copyright 2000 S.A. Keith--
(The opinions expressed in the SSTN e-Newsletter are not necessarily endorsed by ChristianCrafters.Com. SSTN reserves the right to edit and or exclude information from the SSTN e-Newsletter. You can read a short 'bio' regarding Sarah Keith, founder of the SSTN, by clicking on the copyright info at the bottom of the home page of ChristianCrafters.Com)

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