FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MEMORY

Teachers, tell us about your favorite Christmas memory. These could be childhood memories, memories from your class, memories with your own children... just share a memory!

Favorite Fall Craft

What is your favorite fall craft - to do in your classroom or at home with your own kids?

Inspired by your kids?

Tell us about a time that you have been inspired by your kids (at home or in class).

Cool Website for Bible Stories

Hey everyone,

While doing some prep, I came across this website of Bible stories designed for elementary aged kids. I love it. Only skimmed a couple of the stories, so can't vouch 100% for their versions of the stories. The graphics are cool, and kids can log on and scroll through the story at their own pace. The stories are also available on CD. Hope you enjoy.

Jena

Funny Things Kids Say

The topic for the month is "Funniest Things Your Kids Have Said." When I think of this topic, I remember one evening, after putting the kids in bed, I went back upstairs to check on them. As I approached their room, I thought that I heard someone in the bathroom. I walked through the door just in time to see my oldest son putting the finishing touches on an impressive toothpaste Abe Lincoln beard. We looked at each other in shock for a moment, and then I managed to say, "What were you thinking?"

Ben, still in a state of shock, replied, "That you weren't coming up here."

Suggestion

I think that we have all noticed the lack of activity on this blog. One thing that affects my level of participation is the fact that it is a closed blog, which means I can't just subscribe to it through a feed reader. I don't really visit the blogs I read on a daily basis, I watch my Google Reader account to see which ones have been updated.

Perhaps if we changed the permissions on the blog to allow anybody to read the blog. Just make sure that under the Basic settings we answer 'No' to adding the blog to blogger listings or letting search engines find the blog. This would work well for anyone who uses a feed reader and wants to comment on discussions.

Some Boats Don't Float

This is just a heads up about next week's lesson for the Consumed series. The project "Some Boats Don't Float" probably is a good one to avoid, from a safety standpoint, from a consumer standpoint and also from an environmental standpoint. I tend to think that acetone and children don't mix well, but that's just my opinion.

First of all, acetone should only be used in well ventilated areas, and people using it should wear goggles -- if it splashes in the eye it can blind, causing "cornea clouding". I know that none of the downstairs rooms are well ventilated, and there are always children who will not follow directions or get in harms-way because they're being silly.

Second of all, if you put it in a glass baking dish that baking dish would need to be either disposed -- ideally because you're not supposed to rinse this stuff down a drain -- or never used again for baking. So, as far as being a consumer goes, you've bought a glass pan that's now useless and you've bought a container of acetone that isn't useful for anything else.

Thirdly, the sheet on the activity only goes half way with disposal. If the acetone goes into the ground or down a drain, it will pollute our ground water. Acetone needs to be disposed of in kitty litter and then taken to a contained landfill (one that accepts toxic waste). So, you shouldn't put it at the curb for rumpke.

I do lots of science experiments with my kids. They define chemistry as the subject that means blowing stuff up! However, this seems like not a good situation for a sunday school lesson, and I would be concerned about the health and safety of my own kids in a classroom where this was being done if all the necessary safety precautions weren't taken. We're already missing limbs, I don't really want to lose any eyes!!!

Easter on the Westside

I thought you guys would like to see some of the pictures from the Westside Easter Egg Hunt!

A little Sad

Okay people, I am a little sad that nothing has been published. No sharing of the activities, no sharing of wonderful prayers from the little babies, nothing. :( So I shall share, once again.

I love it when little kids pray and start to understand concepts. I work in the crawlers, so I don't get to see much of that. But, I do have 2 toddlers in my house. So the other night when we asked Isaiah what he wanted to pray for, he listed off his friends. Well this is a normal happening. So we prayed and Isaiah said, "Dear Lord thank you for this day and thank you for our friends. And thank you for the combine." Now if you know anything about my kids, this is a big deal. They just loved it when we went and visited on the farm and got to ride the tractors and combine and trucks. I just thought it was great that he remembered (almost a whole year later we talk about it.) and that he prayed for it. At first, I thought it was silly, but it's really not all that silly. If we did not have great and wonderful combines, we would not have any wheat, corn, and other grain products which make up a majority of our food and help feed the livestock that we eat also. So, thank you Lord for the combines!

So now, please post the silliest/wonderful prayer you've heard from children in your ministry or home!

So I've heard....

...that no one is posting on here. I think this is the most wonderful thing in the world! I'm so glad that we can connect with each other and not just get to know each other during our annual meeting. I'm hoping to learn about what is happening in the Children's Ministry Area. I work in crawlers and just love the babies. I think it's the most rewarding class (just my opinion). I love to see first steps and here the new word. It's also great to see them pull up for the first time and all the chattering that goes on. I would love to know what you think the most rewarding thing is in your classroom! Come on people, let's share!

Extra Resources for the Month of March

Since the stories we are teaching during second hour (at least at the Clovernook location) are set in Ancient Babylon, Persia and Rome, I thought I would let everyone know that I have some additional books about those cultures that I am bringing with me each week to use in the 4th/5th grade rooms. I know this is a little late for Persia since it's this week, but it could be used as a way to review the story of Esther during a different part of the month....

At any rate, I will have all the books and be using one or two of them each week from about 11:25 to the end of the class, but people are welcome to borrow them to use either at the beginning or directly after children's worship. I won't be using every book every week, so there is greater flexibility for those books which are not pertinent to that week's story.

Also, I really liked the idea of a prayer journal, so I kind of expanded the idea. I'm letting the kids chose as an option each week, and work on a personal prayer journal. They can create art, worship poetry and write out prayers, copy scripture ect. in the journal, and then at the end of the month, I'm going to let them take it home with them and give them blank pages at the end to continue. Since we're talking about courage, I'm bringing in some drawing books for them to draw images that would have to do with courage....

So, those are just some ideas I had to help fill in the month. Hope somebody finds it helpful!

What's Your Class Doing for Easter?

Do you have any great Easter craft ideas or lesson plans?

What's your favorite thing about Children's Ministry?

Comment on what you like best!

Bridging Home and Church

I do westside nursery so I don't teach too much at church now; however, I have older children who benefit from children's ministry every Sunday. At home we have Family Devotion night every Monday and we usually take what's been talked about on Sunday and apply to the Monday night topic.

In my blog, I've kept track of most all of our topics. Feel free to open up the linked spreadsheets. There are two, one for preschool age:

preschooldevotions

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=ppiDZ7YunhtY-_r9WzfYJUg )

and another for my now kindergartners:

familytime

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=ppiDZ7YunhtZrb5BdEU7IWA ).

There are a lot of ideas you can use both in the classroom or at home with your family. It's meant to be a blessing to be shared by all.

Welcome

Welcome to The Splash Zone blog for teachers!

This is your space to toss around ideas, collaborate, and build community.

Enjoy!