Here is the text of our one-page monthly article going out in our next church newsletter.  No graphics obviously as I couldn't add them here.  

 

I always:

• tout our teachers
• talk about the upcoming lessons
• and add an educational piece for parents.

~Lois

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SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWS!

We’re coming to the finish line of our “Moses Frees His People” rotation and the kids are doing a great job of learning.

 

The teachers for this rotation are:

First Acts - Brian Koehler;

Son Theater - Kelly Mostrom;

Creation Station - Dee Dee Novotny

Bible Quest - Lois Petersen

 

As well, Jolene Jensen puts in a lot of hard work with the kids in music. Don’t hesitate to ask any questions and thank them for their part in teaching our kids. Better yet, volunteer to help.

 

Quiz your students on what they have learned.

 

Ask them:

1. What book of the Bible is our lesson in? Old or new testament? Mini Message of Exodus?
2. What did you make in Creation Station?
3. Ask them what plagues were represented in the game “Pharaoh’s Folly” in Bible Quest.
4. Ask your pre-schooler or kindergartner about the game “Moses Says” or “Pharaoh’s Frogs”.
5. Ask the students what they saw in the “Prince of Egypt” video.
6. Ask your child how many plagues there were and how many can they name.
7. Ask them about acting out the story in First Acts. What part did they play?
8. Ask your students, did Pharoah let the people go? Why or why not?
9. How did the Israelites feel?

Our next rotation is “Ruth and Naomi”

It will begin on November 9th. Help get your student started on their memory verse.

 

Ruth 1:16 - “Where you go, I will go. Where you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.”

 

DOES SUNDAY SCHOOL & CHURCH MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse recently announced the findings of one of the first surveys that specifically addressed the impact of church attendance on kids’ drinking and drug-taking behaviors. The survey found that churchgoers are much less likely than infrequent and non-attendees to smoke, drink, or get high.

 

According to the survey...
One in five unchurched kids smoke. Only one in 13 churched kids smoke.
Two in five unchurched kids have smoked marijuana. Only one in eight churched kids have ever tried marijuana.
Two in five unchurched kids say at least half of their friends drink. One in five churched kids say at least half of their friends drink.

 

Posted by a member who loves this web-site, me!

We have an insert in our bulletin that runs the entire month of the rotation.

 

It will always be the same color so people know to look for it.

 

The front side lists the month and the story. Below that is the Rotation schedule for the month in a table format--it lists the various stations (and where they are being held that month) and then charts out the dates and when each class is attending each station.

 

Below that is the memory verse. I also list the overall purpose and some of the objectives for the month (taken from the lessons themselves).

 

On the back of the insert is a section titled "For the Ride Home". This section lists some discussion starters for each station (often taken from the journaling questions). We hope that families will talk about this on the ride home from church.

 

Below that I thank all the people who are involved that month: teachers, guides, behind the scenes folks, etc.

 

Since the insert has the schedule on it, I also post it on the Sunday school bulletin board and on various doors throughout the building so that people know where to go.

I put a brief paragraph in our monthly newsletter explaining that month's workshop theme. Then, on the first Sunday of the new rotation, the kids take hope a small card
(about 3x5 on bright card stock) that lists the story we are teaching, the key verse, and the goals for the rotation - for example this month is Jonah and one goal is understanding the forgiving nature of God. This informs our parents and is an easy way for them to help their children learn the key verse - we encourage them to stick the card to the refrigerator.

Editor's Note:

Nancy's newsletter is different than Lois' above in this respect:  She talks about what happened in each workshop.

 

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The following was distributed to the entire congregation from our church in our monthly newsletter. This is just a portion of what was included in the newsletter for our first month. I feel that by personalizing the newsletter we put a face on our program and thank our leaders at the same time  Many of the lesson ideas mentioned here came from ROTATION.ORG!


Our Sunday School Story This Month

Genesis 9:11 - I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."

I can’t believe that the first month of rotation is almost complete! This first month we concentrated on the story of Noah’s Ark. We focused not as much on the story – more on the meaning behind the story and the covenant, which was made by God to Noah. So, how did we do this you might ask….

Week One – the kids were able to dig into the ark itself by exploring the dimensions and learning how big the Ark really was. We took a string that was 450 Ft. long (the length of the Ark) and stretched it out starting at the front of the church…. To the old parsonage! We talked about how tall the Ark was and how wide the Ark was. We also discussed how it must have looked to the neighbors of Noah and his family when they were constructing the Ark when there had been NO RAIN! We asked the kids what they think they would have done if they were asked to do this task …. And if they think they could have handled the “peer” pressures that Noah heard. I think the most fun that children had was diving back into the music for VBS! Ms. Kathie was so very energetic and the kids loved her!

Week Two – The kids were able to learn about the story of Noah and what a covenant is. (A promise) and they all made a covenant that they had to keep for a week. The covenants, which they made, are proudly displayed on the bulletin board they created in the basement – ALONG WITH THEIR COVENANT - THEY BUILT THEIR ARK ON THE BULLETIN BOARD!

Week Three – By using their hands through puppetry we were able to see the kids have fun and perform their own puppet shows! All ages were able to dive into the fun! We also had our Diner this week and worked on The sweet taste of obeying God which focused on making decisions – based on not what looks good, because everything that looks good is not necessarily the best choice.

Week Four –We talked about promises and the promise that God made with Noah. Our Game section – our teacher came up with her own game! She brought sticks – one for each child. They were told that these sticks represented promises that they make. They were then told to break the sticks – the kids really enjoyed this part. She identified to them how easy it was to break the promises. Then they were given tape and they had to put them back together with the tape. She stressed how easy it was to “break” the promises – and how hard it was to repair a broken promise. The message got through! We also had movie time with popcorn and juice boxes. The movie was a hit with ALL ages!

For everyone who has been helping make this a success – I THANK YOU! In the past month I have visited other churches in the area and been able to network with many people around the world to see what will and will not work – This has been a huge help to my position. Hopefully, this will only help to improve a program, which seems to be motivating all!

Here's an example of the rest of our newsletter insert touting THE NEXT ROTATION.

Sunday Kids Club
February is the story of Creation!

We will be studying:

Genesis 1
<excerpt text of Genesis 1 was here>

Genesis 2
<excerpt text of Genesis 2:1-3 was here>


Our key memory verse is . .

Memory Verse: You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created. Revelation 4:11

What we will learn:
At the end of the rotation, the students will
· know that “Genesis” means “beginning” and that it is the first book in the Bible and includes many stories, including the creation story.
· know that God was there first (and always).
· know that God created all the things in the world.
· know that God created everything good.
· be able to repeat the memory verse.

Kids Club Workshops:

Creation Station (Art) - The children will hear/experience the Creation story by being creators. They will look at the work of Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel Ceiling and will experiment with painting while lying on their backs and by painting frescoes. They will consider what it means to be created in God’s image and how they can use their creativity to bring glory to God.


Solid Rock Productions (Drama) – The children will hear/experience the Creation story with mystery containers that hold tactile objects that provide a sensory experience of the story (from the book Crazy Clothesline Characters). Then they will reenact the days of creation using scarves and creative movement to interpret the Scripture kinesthetically. They will explore how God’s good creation is a great gift to us by creating chaos and turning it into an orderly creation!

Sonshine Theatre (Movies) – See a movie/eat popcorn/talk Creation

Our Daily Bread (Diner) – The children will create an “earth cake” and at the same time learn the story of creation – Then…. They will eat the earth cake! mmm…

The Game Called Life (Games) – The purpose of this workshop is to awaken the students to the realization that God’s creation is both for our good and to bring God glory. The children will also discover how God’s gift to us of a good creation brings the responsibility to manage and take care of that creation.

Joyfull Jamming (Music) – Learn the Creation Story through song.

Character Building (Puppets) – The children will hear/ experience the Creation story with a “hands-on approach” to learning!

Discovery Kingdom (Science) - The children will hear/ experience the Creation story by being creators and learning how to create their own “slime”!

Disciples Den (Storytelling) – The children will hear/ experience the Creation story by using an interactive form of learning!

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At our church we have done away with the monthly newsletter that went out to families about church school stuff. Now we send weekly emails to all of our families. It took some doing to collect all of the emails and we still don't have everyone but it is being worked on. We use churchpost.com to send out our emails.
(I think this will work...) View a sample of an email sent here.
--Carol

I've recently discovered a new resource... it's by Group and is called The Parent Link -- there's a kids and teen edition. It's a fully editable newsletter already designed and written. It has a blank calendar on the last page for your information/activities. There is also room for a small logo and church info on the front page and plenty of room on the back page to add things like: service times, rotation memory verse, even a little clip art. It's a subscription service -- costs about $100 for the year I think. This is our second month and so far the parents seem to like it. We email it to our parents and then I copy a few extras for visitors and those who don't have email. It's long (3 pages + the calendar), but the articles are relevant, short and the layout is very professional. It takes me about 15 minutes to edit it and get it ready to go out!

We used to do a monthly paper newsletter. About 2 years ago we went to monthly emails, with other information as needed. Communication is always the issue isn't it???

Jaymie