Send It Home!

A recent Sunday School product survey here at CPH has suggested that the family connections built into our student leaflets may be the components of the material least valued by teachers. The response rate on the survey was rather low; the data is not statistically reliable. But the message is troubling.

Are we guilty of paying lip service to the notion that parents are the primary sources of faith nurture for their children? We know that is God's plan. Surely we must do all we can to support and encourage faith formation in the home, throughout the week, even as we also encourage families to avail themselves of Christian education and Sunday School.

On one hand, I can imagine some of the reasoning behind the low scores some teachers give the family connection components. They are not intended for use in class. They take up space in the leaflet that could be devoted to in-class activities. The students often don't even take the leaflet with them when they leave the classroom. It could be perceived as a waste.

Instead, I might suggest that we re-think our strategy. If we value our partnership with the home in faith formation, we might:

• Encourage students to take the leaflets home.
• Point out the activities the student could show their parents or even do with their parents at home.
• Mention the Bible account summaries and family devotion suggestions to the parents in conversation at the classroom door, or in e-mail updates to the parents. Challenge them to look for these things in the leaflet their child brings home.

Finally, I would encourage Sunday School teachers and directors to make full use of two key resources as you partner with parents.

The first are the Explore More Cards feature the biblical art for each lesson along with 4 or 5 activities or discussion questions that families can use in the car or during family devotions to review and explore the Bible account more fully. Some congregations use these cards as incentives to encourage attendance. They are listed in the Cross Explorations section of our Sunday School order form, but are designed for work equally well with Growing in Christ.

The second resource are the weekly "bulletin notes" available on the Director CD (GiC), in the Director Handbook (CE), or in the Tools section of our Sunday School Web site (cph.org/SundaySchool). Many congregations already print these paragraphs in the church bulletin, but they can also e-mailed to parents before each Sunday as a way of encouraging attendance or after each lesson as a reminder to review and discuss the lesson with the students.

God bless you as you equip parents to teach His children His Word!

Do It Now

You're in the first month of a new school year. The slate is fresh. Energy is high.

Sunday School Director, now is the time to . . .

• List every child in your congregation eligible for Sunday School. If they have attended already this month, send their parents a note or call them with thanks for their commitment to Christian education. If they have not yet attended, send their parents a note or call them, encouraging them to join the other families in your congregation who hear the Gospel each week in Sunday School.
• Check each Sunday School classroom for appropriate furniture, adequate storage, clean windows and floors, and a fresh coat of paint.
• Start plans for your children's Christmas service.
• Speak a public word of thanks for those who teach in your Sunday School.

Sunday School Teacher, now is the time to . . .

• List each child who is eligible for your class. Pray for each child. Note the ones who have attended in September.
• Introduce yourself to the parents of children who are attending. Invite their input on how their child learns best and is most readily motivated to be engaged in class.
• Introduce yourself to the parents of children who have not yet attended. Invite their children to join their peers in studying God's Word.
• Request a list of birthdays and Baptismal dates from parents or the church office.
• Start a weekly Sunday School class e-mail. Alert the parents to activities that went well last Sunday and to what lesson will be taught this Sunday.

Is that too much to do now, or this week? Then do one thing on your list this week, and do another one next week. It will be time well invested.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

Have You Seen the NEW 'Happy Times'?

 

CPH's fun magazine for preschoolers and the adults to love them has undergone and thorough, thoughtful revision.

Each issue has a topic, a recipe, an action poem, a coloring page, a craft, one of God's amazing creatures, and the faith talk parents and teachers can use to share the Gospel with their children.

Click here to get more information and see a sample issue online.

Share this great news with Sunday School parents, preschool and daycare families, grandparents . . . anyone who loves preschoolers!

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

Are You Ready for Christmas?

If Sunday School has kicked off the fall quarter of lessons, can the children's Christmas service be far behind?

Here are some basics steps to take as you work toward Christmas!

Set a date! (Or dates!) My congregation often has scheduled two Sunday School Christmas presentations, one early on Christmas Eve and one on the Sunday before schools let out for Christmas break. This allowed families who were headed out of town for Christmas to participate. Curiously, the two services are nearly identical in size.

Select a program. This year CPH is releasing another service based on a favorite Christmas hymn, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." You can get details here.

Prepare scripts and rehearsal CDs. Share the scripts and CDs with your teachers to distribute in class. With the publisher's permission, prepare a CD of songs the children should practice and send a copy home with each student or with the oldest child in each family. (CPH Christmas programs come with permission to duplicate such a CD for practice at home.)

Schedule rehearsal time. Work several weeks in advance and encourage your teachers not to spend too much class time on this project. Teaching the Gospel in Sunday School certainly comes first. Alert parents to ways their children can prepare at home.

Delegate key tasks. Volunteers are usually willing to tackle limited, one-time projects like duplicating material, arranging costumes, rounding up props, preparing banners or other visual aids, and helping supervise the children at rehearsals and presentations.

Publicize the event. Make sure that parents, grandparents, and congregation members know the dates and times of the presentations.

Conduct dress rehearsals. One or two Saturdays before the presentation, bring the children together for rehearsal and to run through the presentation. When we have two presentations, we would schedule two back-to-back rehearsals, one for each service.

Why go to all this trouble, you may ask? The annual children's Christmas service is an opportunity to teach one of the central events of Scripture in an event that engages visual, verbal, musical, and kinetic learners. It teaches the story of salvation. It teaches about the Church Year. It also gives your children an opportunity to share the Gospel with their families, friends, congregation, and community.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

A Good Start on Discipline

Next Sunday many Sunday School teachers will be teaching a new class of students for the first time.

Although discipline strategies will differ by age level and local custom, here are five things that will help most teachers enjoy a good start and maintain a happy classroom environment with their new class.

1. Prepare thoroughly. It can be difficult at times to set sufficient time aside for preparing for your class each week, but it's a fact that being prepared heads off a world of discipline problems. When the teacher is confident, not distracted with last-minute preparations, with less need to bury one's nose in the teacher guide, and knowing what comes next, the students have less opportunity to wander mentally or physically. Pay special attention to engaging presession activities for students as they gather, and prepare an interesting transition into the start of the lesson.

2. Be present early and always. The teacher should be the first one in the room, greeting the students and directing them into presession activities, not studying the teacher guide at the last minute or gathering supplies.

3. Post classroom rules, three or four, perhaps letting the students help craft them. Remind the students of them at the beginning of each class for the first few weeks, and as needed during the lesson.

4. Know your church's policies for handling discipline problems. When should the director or parents be engaged and how? What physical contact is allowed?

5. Team up with a partner. Many congregations have learned the advantages of staffing two deep, placing at least two adults in each classroom. The benefits are obvious, and it is not as difficult as you might believe. It is easier to enlist both volunteers, since they know they will have support in the room.

God bless your good start as you teach His children His Word!