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SSTN # 89 - October 6, 2005


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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:

1) Fear Factor Wastes Food
2) Home & Public Schooled kids
3) Snacks & Food Allergies
4) Snacks in Sunday School
5) Peanut butter Allergy
6) Bag of Popcorn day...

--->>> Christ-trees and a Video!

7) Why Have Sunday School
8) Packs of coffee filters
9) One Room Sunday School
10) Empty prescription bottles?
11) Pre-K Ideas
12) Bug Safari VBS Report


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1) Fear Factor Wastes Food

One of the things that concerns me about many of these suggested Fear 
Factor activities is the great waste of food involved!  When there 
are people all over the world dying of hunger, how can we as 
Christians justify wasting so much food on games? What happens to the 
food after the game is over? Much of it is no longer fit to eat.
Sharon


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2) Home & Public Schooled Kids

My husband and I work
with junior high age kids on Wednesday nights.  This particular group has
some home schooled kids and some public school kids.  A lot of topics we
deal with seem to stress Christian living at school, etc.  Does anybody
else experience this?  Some times I'm at a loss for how to make the
subject matter relate to the home school kids.  Does anybody have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.  Sherri K-Evansville, IN

--from SSTN: home schooled kids are not kept out of "the world".
Applications for Christian living are relevant as they encounter others in
the public square (at soccer practice, baseball, dance or music classes,
meeting sales clerks, waitresses, people in their neighborhoods, etc).
Have the children think of ways to apply the princples being taught to
those "worldly" situations.


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3) Snacks & Food Allergies

I wanted to say that I enjoyed and appreciated reading all the ideas for
Sunday School snacks.  I just felt the need to add one thing. Like regular
school teachers, we need to remember to ask the children's parents if
their kids have allergies of any sort before doling out snacks.  Many
children are allergic to peanuts; some to milk products, etc.
 
--Angie in Yorktown, VA 


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4) Snacks in Sunday School
 
In response to the pastor comments regarding snacks in Sunday school, its
vital to ministry.  My church has a lot of proverty children who attend
church and the only meal or snack they are given during the weekend may be
at church.  Our church pass our groceries twice a month to people in the
community - the issue is the parents may not prepare the food for the
children, or they may sell it.  I give the children either oatmeal and
cold cereal in between Sunday School and Morning Worship Service.  During
Children's Church, the children are given a snack which consist of juice
and crackers - occassionally, they may have something special like floats,
pizza, or other bite size snacks.

Houston Worker


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5) Peanut butter Allergy

I am really very concerned about the number of people who serve peanut
butter to their children and the suggestions to use it in Sunday School.
We recently had a case of a child who was highly allergic to peanut
butter, using it in a game in school camp in Australia and the child died
very quickly. I don’t know whether it is more common in Australia but many
children have a serious allergy to nuts and all our food products have to
carry a warning if there is any chance there are even traces of nuts in
the product. I just wanted to warn you all as it would be terribly sad to
hear of someone having a problem with this and not knowing the dangers.

Kind regards and love to you all for the work you do with the little ones.

Margaret Carey
Rowville Baptist Church (Australia)

--from SSTN: it is an issue in the USA as well. It is wise to include a
place on your registration forms for parents to indicate whether or not
their child has food allergies.


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6) Bag of Popcorn day...

I would like to share a story.... Years ago when I was a childrens worker
in Huntsville, AL I had the opportunity to teach p/k children for
childrens church.  Attendance was around 20-30 weekly.  I had special days
every now and than for the children to look forward too...sometimes having
nothing to do with the lesson...such as "Bag of Popcorn" day.... One day a
young boy came to our church from the bus ministry.  He was dirty and
cried the whole hour. He did this for three weeks.    I sat him to the
side each time and continued to work with the children.  I would look at
him and try to include him and after a while he would stop crying and pay
attention some....we had not had a special treat day yet while he was
there ....One day we had "Candy Cotton Day".  ....This little boy came up
to me and said, "Ms Dianne, I is sooo hungry..." and he cried....  I vowed
from that day on to investigate my little charges...I found this child had
a big brother and asked him about his home life; very little food, mother
and boyfriend were into drinking and drugs, etc.   The staff and I decided
to have a ten minute snack time between Sunday School and church.  Most of
the time it was a half cup of cereal and water.  The kids were fine with
that.; sometimes a half of an apple.....it helped in their attention span
and gave me time to pray and prepare the room prior to the kids coming
in....Teens helped with the snack time in another room...
Gradually we moved away from that area and had to attend another
church...a few years later I learned that this little boys mother had
murdered her boyfriend and this child and his brother went into foster
care....I pray for him and think of him often even after 15 years.....I
pray I had a small impact on his life....

Be sure none of the children have allergies or are diabetics.....a simple
note home or in the bulletin will work....if you have a bus ministry, they
should mention the snack time and find out if there are any
restrictions..... Dianne


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Christ-trees and a Video!

Do you remember the fun of making paper-cut snowflakes as a child?
This holiday season relive the nostalgia with friends and family by making
my Christ-filled, "Chrismon Snowflake Ornaments" for your Christmas tree.
To see a video of an Angel Snowflake being cut, go to: 
 http://www.christiancrafters.com/video.html  

Your webservant,
Sarah Keith <><


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7) Why Have Sunday School

Karen - Some things I thought of when I read your question:
We currently have 6 classes every week - even if 1 child in that class
attends that week- that class meets.
Are numbers more important than the soul of 1 child?
Obviously, you feel hurt by the fact that your child will not be able
to attend - I am sure you are not the only parent who feels that way.
How does that make the children feel? That they are not important
enough? So many of these 'little lambs' NEED to be attended to not
tossed to the side.  They get enough of that in the world.
Wasn't it was Jesus who talked about leaving the 99 sheep to go after the
1 .
Didn't the Lord reprimand the disciples when they tried to stop the
children from coming to Him.
According to your numbers (80 on Wednesday and 10 on Sunday) - that is
12% that attends on a Sunday -  would church service be canceled if
only 12% of the congregation showed up?
I encourage you today to talk with your pastor and explain your
situation.  Be ready though - you may be asked to take on the task of
teaching the 10 that come - are you willing to do that on a weekly
basis?
We'll be praying for you that the Lord will keep the doors open where
they need to be - that He will touch the hearts of those who are making
the decision and that they will make the right decision based on the
right motives and that the children will not be the ones that suffer.

God bless!


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8) Packs of coffee filters
 
We buy huge packs of coffee filters to use for serving cookies or
crackers.  Very cheap, disposable, contains the crumbs (well, most of
them!)

Peggy D


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9) One Room Sunday School

Every responder to this post has had great input!  I belong to a small
(what is called "family-sized") church.  I would like to ask whether you
have considered Multi-age or One Room Sunday School (most are structured
for K-8, but you can stretch this a little).  This really opens up your
options when attendance is sporadic at the different age levels. There are
lots of great materials out there for this, you can (usually) do it with
only one good, committed teacher and it is a great way to get kids at all
ages to love and respect each other.  The older kids act in a
maternal/mentoring manner towards the younger kids, so behavior tends to
be better.  We have some regular attenders who are "special needs" who can
get taught at their level, but not appear "different".  I construct the
lesson such that reading is unnecessary most of the time.  Kids of all
ages love to have hands-on games and crafts that support the story.  There
is so much useful material on the internet, that you can tailor the
curriculum to your needs.  I augment the leaflets supplied with my
curriculum with reproducible activity sheets/puzzles (or occassionally
make my own), about 1/2 really easy and the other half harder.  The kids
who can't read well enjoy working through the leaflets with a parent or
older sibling.  If anyone wants more details, I would be happy to
supply...
 
Keep up the faith -- EVERY child is worth it!!
Nancy in Texas


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10) Empty prescription bottles?

Hello, does anyone know of a craft idea with empty prescription bottles. 
I have lots of them and wish I could think of a craft for them.
 
Thanks.  Mary Ann Freeman


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11) Pre-K Ideas

I teach ages 2-4 Sunday School Class. My class loves simple action songs,
like "This Little Light." They love crafts with gluing & cutting. We play
hide & seek w/ the Bible pictures, that go w/ our lesson. They love it
when I let them hide the pictures, & I "can't" find them. Fingerplays are
good too. There is a book I found at a Bible book store filled w/ action
rhymes for toddlers. Its called "Playful Songs Bible Stories for
preschoolers". Its from GROUP Publishing. Puppets are also helpful. My
kids like to make their own w/ popsicle sticks. I hope this helps! God
Bless, Angela Hamilton.
Hamilton432@hotmail.com


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12) Bug Safari VBS Report
 
Our small church did Vacation Bible School this year for the first time,
and had amazing success! Thanks for all of the encouragement from you who
have participated in VBS in the past, and for the tips on decorating, etc.
We did Bug Safari, and we have some great photos posted at
http://www.apostolicfaith.org/aboutus/location/RoseburgVacationBibleSchool.asp. 

We adapted the curriculum somewhat to our needs, and changed to a four-day
VBS, but it was really fun and very successful.  Dondi


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