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EPHESIANS 3:20-21
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Week 3: The Angels and the Stars

12/27/2016

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WEEK 3 of our Christmas lessons for our Sunday School class was centered around the 
                                                                     
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Angels and the Star of David!  

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.'
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.'
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told."
Luke 2:8-20


An angel appeared followed by a group of angels to the shepherds, so this proved that they had a very important message to give to them. YES!  Our Savior's Birth is TRULY a VERY Important MESSAGE!  We don't know the names of the angels or how many there were of them, but in the Bible it says that it was a great company (which would mean A LOT) - so it would have been an amazing experience!


OPENING:

As the kids entered into the room, I put out another coloring page to start. 

​This is what they colored:
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SONG AND STORY TIME:
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The kids LOVE singing time...so like last week, we sang the songs that were our favorites.  Check out last week's lesson on the Magi HERE!

We reviewed the past 2 weeks of stories and then moved on to the Angels and the importance of the Star.  It is sometimes referred to as the Star of Bethlehem or the Star of David.  We know that Astronomy and using the stars for mapping was important for navigation and many other things in those times.  God showed us in the Old Testament Prophesies about the importance of the coming birth of the Savior.  Even the STARS were involved!  

The Wise Men had seen an unusual new star in the sky, and knew that it told of the birth of a special King in Israel. But what did they see? The Bible says they 'saw it in the east' and then when they were in Jerusalem that it 'went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was'.  AMAZING!  

We even talked about what we thought the Shepherds were feeling when the sky lit up with all those Angels!  It was in the middle of the night but the LIGHT that filled the sky was probably brighter than the SUN!  

God went all out with making sure everyone knew how truly Magnificent and Magestic this GOOD NEWS was!  HIS SON was born and it was TRULY an important message...lifesaving!

CRAFT TIME:

We moved over to the table to start some messy fun!  You'll need Blue (or any color really) Construction Paper, Glitter, Coffee Filters, and Glue Sticks.  The kids were making Angel Christmas Cards to share the Good News with someone.
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  1. First, Fold the Blue Paper in half and give one to each child.
  2. To make the Body and Wings, you just cut a Coffee Filter in half, then cut the halves in half.  This would give you 6 triangles.  Each child should be given 3 triangles.  One for the body and 2 for the wings.
  3. Cut out Tan circles for each
  4. The last step is to help the kids put a ring of glitter over the circles once they were glued on to the paper.  

                              We then moved on to making STARS!

So after the Cards, I gave each child a pre-made popsicle stick star.  I had made them at home to make sure the glue was dry for the kids to decorate.  I found that the Craft Glue was the best to use for these.

Each kiddo was able to pick out their own glitter and decorate.  It is easiest to do this over paper plates (and having a few helpers).  

The last step is to add a piece of curling ribbon through the top loop so the kids can hang their star on their Christmas tree!  Perfecto...a cute, easy, and colorful Star Ornament!


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SNACK TIME:


We kept snack simple...first, washing hands, then saying a prayer thanking God for our food.  The kids enjoyed Pretzels and Cheeze Crackers.  The kids could make stars out of their pretzels.  :)  They have fun being given a challenge as they snack away.

CLOSING:
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With the little time we had left, the kids played a game of "Duck, Duck, Goose" over in the story time area.  We modified it to be "Sheep, Sheep, Star" just to spice the game up a bit.  :)  

                 I hope your preschoolers have as much fun as mine did!  


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         Merry Christmas 
                    & 
             God Bless!
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Week 2: Preschool Sunday School Christmas Lesson-Wise Men

12/16/2016

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WEEK 2 of our Christmas lessons for our Sunday School class was centered around the Wise Men!  These men were truly wise as they sought to honor God with their lives.  They were obedient to the Lord's message to not report to Herod about the born Messiah.  
It would have been so amazing to be there at the time when the Magi came to visit Joseph, Mary, and Jesus.


OPENING:

As the kids entered into the room, we had these coloring sheets out for them to use.  My preschoolers LOVE to color so it is nice to always have this option...plus, they do like routine.   When I don't have a coloring sheet laying out for them, they look at me cross-eyed and ask, "Where is our picture, Mrs. Cook!?"  Ha...so I better stick with what they like.
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SONG AND STORY TIME:
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Once all the kids have been checked into class and they've had enough time to color, we moved over to the reading area for our singing and story time.  We usually spend a little more time on the singing since this is one of their favorite things to do.  We keep it pretty simple but I do try to sneak in a new song from time to time.

Here are their all-time favorites (classics but still just as popular):
"Jesus Loves Me" - We do the sign language movements with this one
"This Little Light of Mine" - Their favorite verse is about "Hiding It Uunder a Bushel, NO".  Haha!
"The Lord's Army" - We sing this atleast 3-4 times through.  If I forget this song, they always remind me.



365 Bibe Stories for Young Hearts is a GREAT Children's Bible. I love using this Children's Bible for our Story Time. It is our personal Bible from home and I love using it for class too.

We read through last week's story and added the next part on the Wise Men.  This is a great way to review from the previous week and add a little bit of newer information.  


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We talked briefly about why the Wise Men (they were commonly referred to as the Magi) may have given Jesus these 3 gifts and what they actually were.  Gold-because it is valuable and Jesus was a King, Frankincense-because it was a highly valued oil and used in priestly roles of the church, and Myrrh-this was a common and important incense for funerals and burials.  They may have been familiar with the important prophesies of the Old Testament about Jesus' eventual death and resurrection.
(This is the condensed preschool version)


These Wise Men were obviously well versed in both the Scriptures and in Astronomy.  They knew when the Star of David was in position to signal Christ's birth and understood how to follow it through the night sky towards Bethlehem.  Their names were thought to have been Melchior (he brought the Gold), Caspar (he brought the Frankincense), and Balthasar (he brought the myrrh).

CRAFT TIME:

We then moved over to the table to make our Wise Men Picture.  I had pre-cut different colored triangles, Light Tan Circles, and 3 varying shaped crowns.  The kids were given these to glue onto their paper to form the 3 Magi.  I even gave them the verse Luke 2:11 "For Unto You is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord". They could glue this on their page as well.  The kids added faces and stars in the sky with crayons.  

SNACK TIME:

We kept snack simple...first, washing hands, then saying a prayer thanking God for our food.  The kids enjoyed animal crackers this week and had to count how many camels they could find out of all their crackers. They had fun finding and counting them.

CLOSING:
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We ended by giving each kiddo a set of the 3 Magi Gift Ornaments.  We didn't finish these up but they were sent home for the kids to complete at home.  I printed out the black and white version of the FREE Printable from the sundayschoolcrafts website.  There is a color version you can print out for FREE too. Once the kids color them, laminating them would be a super nice touch!  

​Click on the picture of the ornaments to print out your 
FREE copy! 


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Hope you have a VERY Merry Preschool Christmas!

Hallelujah, A Savior is Born!
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Week 1:  Preschool Sunday School Christmas Lesson-Shepherds

12/16/2016

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It is my month for teaching the cute preschoolers at my church for Sunday School.  Since I was given December, I decided to break down the Christmas Story and go over the important people God chose to be a part of it.  We focussed on the Shepherds for the first week.  

First thing, the kids came into the class and as I welcomed them, they can go over and color a picture to keep them busy as we wait for the kids to all get to class.
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We then moved on over to our reading circle where we had our praise and worship singing time and then our story time.  

We focused on the Shepherd's story.  Before beginning the story, I talked with the kids about the importance of a Shepherd's job in the time of Christ's birth.  
  • The shepherd faced the continuous challenge of teaching the sheep to obey his commands. A good shepherd took care of the animals in their charge, even giving them names to which they would respond.
  • For many days, shepherds would work and sleep outdoors so the flock could graze in the fields and spent the nights guarding them. At times, the shepherd might shelter his flock overnight in a cave, where they would be protected from wild animals that could harm the sheep. If the howl of a wild animal panicked the flock of sheep in the dark of night, the shepherd’s calm reassuring voice would still them.
  • Each evening, the shepherd counted the sheep and checked the health of the animals. In the morning, he would call, and the flock would follow him to the pasture ground. (John 10:3, 4) During the day, shepherds led the animals to the water to drink. 
  • Good shepherds were diligent, dependable, and brave. They would even risk their lives to protect the flock.--1 Samuel 17:34-36.


I LOVE using this Bible that our family purchased for our kids.  The stories and pictures are very detailed and engaging!  

After our story, the kids moved over to the table to work on our Sheep ornament.  It was simple for the kids to complete but kept them busy and engaged.  I precut the sheep and the stars before class and hole punched them and strung them.
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Click here for the sheep pattern

Click here for the star pattern

The kids added the cotton balls, googly eyes and glued the verse on the star.  They LOVE having an ornament to take home for their tree.  I used a verse from Veggie Tales that I found online but you could use any verse.  



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​We moved on to our HERDING SHEEP game.  This is so very simple and the kids had a blast!  

I made 2 "corrals" out of popsicle sticks and put a bunch of sheep in random places in front of the corral.  The kids had to "herd" the sheep (by blowing air) into the corral.  We made it a kind of competition.  Even my teen helpers had fun playing.  haha!



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​The last thing we did was our snack time...this was a hands-on snack time today.  We talked about the importance of the Shepherd's staff.  
  • The staff was used to help a sheep find it's mother if he gets lost.  The shepherd will gently use his staff (with the rounded "crook" on the end) to help lift the sheep and get it back over by it's mother.
  •  It is also used for guiding his sheep.  Either down a path or to help guide them away from danger if they were too close.  The hook can be used to catch a straying sheep and bring it back to safety.  The hook could fit nicely around a sheep's neck when the sheep is out of arms reach from the shepherd.

We had a box of fruit loops (I bought the fruit rings from Aldis) and a pipe cleaner for each kid.  The were able to make a shepherd's staff with their pipe cleaner and fruit loops.  

​          Of Course they were given a pretty large pile so they could also enjoy these for their snack.  



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We had a great class!  It was fun and the kids learned a lot about the life of the Shepherds.  

​The Lord used them for an important role in the Christmas story.  We will continue our study of the important people that God used during the birth of Christ with next week's lesson!

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Even my son who was my helper, enjoyed making the shepherd's hook!  :)  
​He was helpful with the other kids too!
 



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Enjoy & Christmas Blessings!
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Sea Creatures-Fish Ornament

10/23/2016

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Who doesn't love a good CRAFT!?  We try to add a variety of different lessons and crafts into our science curriculum.  As we moved closer to Christmas time, we found a few fun ideas for sea creature ornaments on the internet.  We took a few of the ideas we found and came up with this version.  


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Since I kept forgetting to take pics throughout the process, I will have to walk you through it.  

Here are the supplies we had on hand:
  • Clear Plastic Fill-able Ornaments
  • Plastic Sea Animal Figures
  • String of any kind for hanging
  • Blue tinted Glue (or glitter glue to add sparkle)
  • Yellow or any color Sand
  • Thin thread (for handing sea creature)
  • Scotch tape
  • Green Sharpie
  • Paint brush
  • Scissors
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  1. First thing we did was tie the sea creatures on thread long enough that we could trim the string after we were all finished up.  
  2. The kids took green sharpies to color green sea grass on the outside of the ornaments for extra affect.
  3. We painted the inside of the ornament (you can take the ornaments apart to do this easily) with the blue glitter glue.  
  4. We were able to sprinkle some colored sand on parts of the inside bottoms of each ornament to represent the ocean floor.
  5. Then we place the thread between the 2 open sides of the ornament (this took 2 people; one to hold both sides of the ornament and one to hold the thread in the spot where you want your sea creature to hand inside the ornament.)
  6. Once the 2 ornament sides are snapped into place, we placed clear scotch tape over the seams to just give it an extra seal.
  7. Last step is to put pretty string in the hole at the top of the ornament so you can hang it from your tree!  (Or on your kitchen cupboard knob where mine is currently hanging, ha)


​After we finished our ornament, we had a nice relaxing movie time with this DVD!  

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Ocean Adventures, Volume 1
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Enjoy and Many Blessings!
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Ephesians 3:20-21

20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.


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