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SSTN  # 37 - April 15, 2002

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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:

1) Youth Service
-> Advertise your event...
2) Teacher longevity
3) How to make a kaleidoscope?   
4) VBS light bulbs?   
-> VBS Funpak
5) 12 disciples crafts
6) Gifts for High School Graduates?   
7) 12 disciples crafts
8) Easter Balloon craft   
9) Easter Egg Object lesson   
10) Believer song lyrics?
11) Believer song lyrics?
12) Children's Church
13) Bulletin board?
14) Jonah ideas

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1) Youth Service

>In relation to presenting Bibles to the "graduating" 5th grade class, we
>are planning a Youth led service...Thanks for any ideas!

Response:
The last Sunday of each month we have a Sunday School Service. We call it
S3 (S cubed) Sunday. The children volunteer to be greeters (welcome people
and hand out hymn books), read the announcements, read from the Old and
New Testament, lead the Responsive Psalm and do the offering. The order of
service is changed a bit for these Sundays. The kids love it - we never
have a shortage of volunteers.

Fort McMurray, Alberta

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2) Teacher longevity

> Does anyone have any views on how long a Sunday School teacher should
> with a class?  We have a couple who want to start teaching
> Middle-Schoolers and stay with the class until they graduate from high

I  have taught the 2s & 3s class for 9 years - I can't imagine myself
teaching high school kids!  People who teach are gifted in different ways
-some like little children,  others really connect with teens. And that
class won't stay the same through high school - families come and go - old
ones will be gone and new students will join.

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3) How to make a kaleidoscope?   

I teach Sunday church with children ranging from age 3-10. With Spring
coming I would like to know how to make a simple kaleidoscope and some how
use it in a sermon. Any ideas?

--from SSTN: type "kaleidoscope" into the search box on the Archives List.
You'll find instructions to make one there.
http://christiancrafters.com/archives.html     

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4) VBS light bulbs?   

A couple of weeks ago someone put on the site about doing a ministry or
doing invitions to VBS by using light bulbs with a note saying something
like Jesus light up my life.I tryed looking on the archives but I can't
seem to find it. If anyone knows anything about this would you please
e-mail me at knr1127@bellsouth.net Thank you Robin

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VBS FUNPAK

Get three great VBS resources at one reduced price!

In the Curriculum section: 
http://www.christiancrafters.com/kt_kit.html 


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5)  12 disciples crafts

>We are getting prepared to study the 12 disciples I need craft ideas and
>any help

You have given me an idea and so I am going to share with you what I am
going to do. This will be for my Youth group, but will pass the idea along
to my children's class volunteers as well. Plan a 6-12 week study on the
disciples. Use each one's banner for each lesson. Cover 1-2 disciples each
week. Learn a little about each one and present info and questions to the
class.

Some things to consider:

a. Where they came from
b. Any childhood info?
c. Any lineage?
d. How old when they began to follow Christ
e. What do we know about them during the Passion?
f. What do we know about them immediately following?
g. What do we know about their life after Christ?
h. What do we know about their death?

As for the craft, we did this several years ago with the children, none of
whom would remember much about the details if we did it again, but each
child had drawn and cut-out the banners of each disciple and decorated and
colored them. On the back, they wrote a brief story about that particular
disciple. You could have them each do all the banners individually (as the
study goes along) and then they can have a Disciple book at the completion
of the study.

Hope this helps!

Greg Subick

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6) Gifts for High School Graduates?   

Our Church's Christian Education Committee is looking for some new ideas
for gifts for our congregation's High School Graduates.  For the past few
years we have given them each a "Chicken Soup" book, but this year we
wanted to come up with something new.  I appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks,
Heidi Bilbo-First Congregational Church, UCC
Stoneham, Massachusetts

--from SSTN: a good gift idea is our FaithShapes Card Game!
http://www.christiancrafters.com/kt_kit.html 

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7) 12 disciples crafts

One Sunday we made boats out of half a kiwi fruit, a toothpick and
construction paper cut like a sail.  Not only was it cute, it's edible.
(minus the toothpick and flag of course.)
God bless,
Joni

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8) Easter Balloon craft   

It is probably too late to have this printed before Easter but maybe
someone can use this craft idea for next year.  I am trying to teach the
children in Sunday School about the meaning of Easter and the
Resurrection.  I had my husband help me with this.  We cut some squares of
Styrofoam, use wood if you would like.  We blew up small water balloons
and laid them on the board.  We purchased some cans of spray insulation
and covered the balloon, leaving the front of the balloon so that it would
look like the opening of the tomb. We also cut circles out for the rock in
front of the tomb.  You will need to let all of this dry before you pop
the balloon, once you do, it can easily be removed from inside the small
cave.  We sprayed ours with texture, my husband is in the drywall trade,
but you can also purchase texture in the can at most hardware stores.
This needs time to set and dry also.  I took them to Sunday School and let
the children  paint them, I had purchased trees and other items that they
could place on the outside to decorate it. On the top of the tomb I had
used Popsicle sticks to make crosses and they decorated these with glitter
and other items.  You can easily insert it into the foam insulation, we
did this part for the children as the cross will go all the way through if
you aren't careful. This was a fun craft for the kids and they are so
proud of their work.  Some useful items to purchase are moss, small
pebbles, small birds, small trees( you can also make your trees out of the
moist colored moss and a twig), and of course your paints and other
necessary items to complete the project.  Hope someone can use this idea,
I have a photo if anyone would like to see it.  Cindy S.

--from SSTN: Sounds interesting! Send me the pics...and I'll post them to
the site. ysic, sarah - ChristianCrafters.com

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9) Easter Egg Object lesson   

For the past few years, one of the ladies at my church has explained the
symbolizm of the easter egg, something her dad told her when she was a
child. I don't remember exactly what she said, but I vaguely remember what
the parts meant.

Outer shell is like the tomb Jesus was put in. If you place a raw egg in
the palm of your hand & squeeze, you can't break it. Make sure you're not
wearing any rings when you do this. The shell is strong, like the rock
Jesus was placed in.

The thin film inside a boiled egg (looks kinda like a layer of skin) is
the cloths they wrapped his body in.

The white of the egg is the nutrients that help the chick develop. It's
the part of us that grows as we learn more about God.

The yellow part of the egg is Jesus' love. The yolk makes up the largest
part of the egg, representing that Jesus has enough love for everyone.

After you take the boiled egg from the shell, you have an empty shell,
just like the empty tomb.

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10) Believer song lyrics?

My name is Nora, and I wrote the new "Believer" song lyrics. I am so glad
that you can use this song in your church! It's amazing what God is doing
with this song! More than I ever imagined!  Would it be possible for you
to make an audio tape of the performance? I could pay you shipping, and
for the cost of the tape.

--from SSTN: for those interested in this song, it is in a few SSTN issues
back. Check out the Archives List:
http://christiancrafters.com/archives.html 

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11)  Believer song lyrics?

……any chance I or someone could contact her to record her husband singing
the song.  Nora would be thrilled.  Brenda Corbett

--from SSTN: this is the order I received the two previous requests.
Mother and daughter obviously think alike! :o))

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12) Children's Church

We do a children's church at our church, and the age range is the same.  I
find that object lesson books work great for a 20-30 minute time span.  We
start off with a prayer.  We ask most of the children who they would like
us to pray for, then we do an object lesson (there are many fun ones that
you can find at a Christian bookstore), we spend the last 10 minutes on a
quick craft that ties in to the lesson.   Hope this helps.   Kathy Madison

--from SSTN: Hopefully you'll find your resources in
ChristianCrafters.Com's Bookstore:
http://www.christiancrafters.com/bookstore.html 
Blessings! ;o)) sarah <><

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13) Bulletin board?   

Could you help as to where I can find information on making
Bulletin boards
Thanks
Terry,

--from SSTN: The Archives List...and the Bookstore:
http://christiancrafters.com/archives.html  
http://www.christiancrafters.com/bookstore.html 

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14) Jonah ideas

> Hello, I need some information on teaching my students about Jonah. They
> are 8 years old to 12 years old, and very smart. So it needs to be
> creative. If you have any idea's please send them to me. I only have 2


A friend of mine re-created the "Jonah experience" as she told her class
the story of Jonah and the whale.  She cut several of the large black
trash bags down one side and taped them together to make a sort of tent
that served as the whale.  She opened a can of sardines and placed them in
the back corner of the whale to make a "fishy" smell.  She used a small
fan to blow into the opening of the whale to hold it open and represent
the wind of the storm.  As she told about the storm, she used a water
bottle to squirt water into the fan current to re-create the rain.  The
kids loved it!


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