Sunday, January 31, 2010

Today's class was led by Mr. Tobin and Mrs. Mandrachhia. Following session 9 in the "We Believe" program, we examined the Lord's Prayer.

First, our class joined grades 2 through 4 in the Assembly Room for "Singing Our Faith." Mrs. Rawson led the children in singing several songs, some that were well known, as well as a couple of new ones for them to begin learning.

We returned to our classroom and proceeded with our lesson. Chris lit the candle to symbolize God's presence, Noah took the weekly collection, then we all stood to sing the Doxology and recite the Apostles Creed.

Since all of the children knew the Lord's Prayer by heart, we began by reading from Matthew's gospel. We started with the opening of Chapter 5 to explain the Sermon on the Mount, then skipped ahead to Chapter 6, verse 5. Here, we read Jesus say "And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites,..." and we explained the word "hypocrite." As an example, we said if an adult told us not to smoke cigarettes but then we saw that person smoking, we would say that was "hypocritical." Noah found a definition of the word in the glossary in our bibles and read it for us. We then took turns reading all the way up to verse 15.

We then focused on the Lord's Prayer (verses 9 through 13), trying to explore the meaning of each part. We talked about "Our Father," and "hallowed be thy name." We spent a few minutes explaining what "hallowed" means ("holy"), and made a connection to Halloween ("All Hallows Eve"). We also talked a bit about what this means: that God's name is holy. We reminded the children of the ten commandments and not using God's name "in vain." We looked at the meanings of "thy kingdom come," and "your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Finally, we talked about what "give us this day our daily bread" might mean.

At this point, parents were gathering at the door so we quickly ended with a prayer and dispersed. Hopefully, next week we can continue with the rest of the Lord's Prayer.

The painting above is by the Danish artist Carl Heinrich Bloch. Completed in 1865, it shows the Sermon on the Mount and hangs today at Frederiksborg Palace in Copenhagen.

January 24, 2010

Today's class, led by Mrs. Turner and assisted by Mr. Tobin, focused on the Sacrament of Baptism. Following Session 8 in our curriculum, we explained the meaning of Baptism and the various things that it symbolizes: the welcoming of a new person into the Christian family, a new beginning, the washing away of sins, and God claiming us as His own.


As usual, we began by taking the weekly collection, after which we stood and sang the Doxology, recited the Apostles Creed and the Lord's Prayer. We then turned to our lesson for the day.


We explained that Baptism is one of two sacraments that we recognize as Presbyterians, the other being the Lord's Supper. We also mentioned that our friends and neighbors in the Roman Catholic church recognize seven sacraments (baptism, confession, holy communion, confirmation, marriage, holy orders, and the last rites), and that this was one of the disagreements (Just how many sacraments are there?) in the early days of the Christian church.


Next, we looked at pictures that Mrs. Turner had brought in to show different ways that people are baptized. We saw the familiar version with babies and water poured or sprinkled on their heads, as well as older people being baptized by immersion, sometimes standing in a river and being "dunked." We talked about the importance of water in baptism.


Turning to our bibles,we read the passage in Matthew (3:13-17) to learn how John the Baptist was baptizing people in the River Jordan, telling them to "repent," to change their ways and stop doing bad things, because "the kingdom of heaven has come near." We also read how Jesus came one day to be baptized by John. Of course, John felt that it was not right that he should baptize Jesus, that it should be the other way around. Jesus, however, insisted, so John baptized him. We read that, immediately after Jesus was baptized, the spirit of God descended like a dove, and the voice of God was heard saying "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."


We concluded our lesson with a prayer and, it being Empty Bowls Sunday, all rushed off to the Assembly Room for soup!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Today's class was led by Mr. Tobin. Our lesson today involved 2 Samuel 7:1-17, God's covenant promise with David. The class first spent time completing either a word search or maze with words relevant to the reading--we discussed the meaning of the word "smote," which was new to all of the children.

After our offering, Doxology, and Lord's Prayer, we read the passage from Samuel, which is the highlight of the history of David--God's covenant promise with David and his descendants. David has established Jerusalem as his capital city, has built a palace, and has brought the Ark of the Covenant as an act of worship as well as a statement of God's backing of his government. He believes he should build a temple to honor God, but God makes it clear that He is in charge and rejects the temple plan. God then proclaims that He will build David a house, and that David's descendants will be forever loved and protected by God, even when they commit sin. This is a dramatic step in Israel's relationship with God--letting the Israelites know that God loves them even if they don't follow the law to the letter, and that His presence is not limited to the Ark. There is now a much broader and encompassing concept of God's love and the promise of His eternal presence. This marks the beginning of a new era of faith.

We did not do the family picture project--only two children had brought their photos, so if next weeks' leaders would like to do the project, they may want to contact the families and pick up the supplies from Ms. Emily.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Today's class was led by Mrs. Willis. Our lesson today covered the story of David and Goliath. We also celebrated All Saints Day with a specific lesson by Ms. Emily.



The story of David and Goliath as told in 1 Samuel 17 is about how a young David stood up against a very large and strong man, Goliath of Gath. The Philistines and the Israelites were at war and Goliath challenged the King of Israel, Saul, to send one of his men to fight him. No one wanted to fight Goliath but David, a shepard, heard his challenge and agreed to the challenge. David used his slingshot and hit Goliath in the forehead which killed him. David and the Israelites celebrated their victory. The significance of this story is that with God on your side you can make anything happen- just as young David defeated Goliath. Young David later became the next King of Israel.

Our activity for the day was to complete a maze which lead us through the important times of King David's life. We searched through the Bible for the clues.

We then went to the Chapel for a lesson about All Saint's Day. We learned about many Saints and discussed the Saints in our own lives.

Next week Mrs. Turner and Mr. Tobin will be leading the class. All students are asked to bring in a family picture for a special project.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

This Sunday we had a very active class. Mrs. Mandracchia and Mrs. Willis taught the class. The entire Sunday School put on their gardening gloves and planted daffodil bulbs in a garden area near the playground. Ms. Emily explained to us that the bulbs need to be planted in the fall in order to establish strong roots during the winter which will then become beautiful flowers in the spring. We did this not only to beautify the grounds of our Church but also to remind us that in order to enjoy the beauty of the flowers it takes time to prepare the soil, plant the bulbs, nurture the bulbs just as God wants us to prepare and be patient in our own lives. The planting also shows how we praise God through taking care of creation. The bulbs were donated by The Little Garden Club of Rye.

After cleaning our hands of all the dirt, we joined Mrs. Rawson and Mrs. DeSantis in the Assembly room for Singing Our Faith which demonstrates our praise for God through singing. We sang Jesus Loves Me, He's Got the Whole World in His Hands and the Doxology which our entire class knew- they both were impressed that we knew it by heart. We learned a new song Go Now in Peace which we will be singing at the end of class each Sunday.

We concluded our class by reading Psalm 150 which is the last Psalm in the Bible. It tells us ways in which we should praise God.

Sunday, October 1, 2009

Today's class was lead by Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Willis assisted.



This Sunday was World Communion Sunday in which Christians all around the world celebrate Communion together on the first Sunday of October.


Our class started the day by singing the Doxology and saying the Lord's prayer. The lesson today was based on the Hymns of the Bible. We learned that hymns are songs and poems. We then did a Hymnal Hunt looking for specific hymns within The Presbyterian Hymnal. We recited Psalm 19 and learned that Psalm 19 has three sections: verses 1-6 which focuses on creation, verses 7-10 focuses on the goodness of God's law and verses 11-13 which focuses on our desire to live by the law with God's help.


Because it was World Communion Sunday we celebrated by learning about different breads of the world. We went to the Chapel and Ms. Emily gave us samples of the different breads. We tasted pita bread, italian bread, tortillas and naan bread.


We also welcomed three new students to our class- Jamie and Teddy Clarken and Austen Freda.
Next week there is no Sunday School but there will be an Enrichment program lead by Ms. Emily.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Today's class, led by Mrs. Turner, covered lesson two in the We Believe booklet: God Meets Us in the Law: The Ark of the Covenant.

We had a small, but enthusiastic, group for the second Sunday of our school year: Noah, Chris, Sean, Penelope, Cate, Madeline, Sami, and Brendan.

The children began by spending the first few minutes of class with the Ark of the Covenant Word Search and coloring a picture of the Ark. We then formally opened our assembly by lighting a candle, singing the doxology, saying the Lord's Prayer, and reciting the Apostles' Creed. We told the children that memorizing the Apostles' Creed would be one of our projects for the year. (Teachers: all three prayers have been printed on a single card, and these can be found in the resource bin).

Mrs. Turner then explained what the Ark was, how it was built according to specific instructions given to Moses by God, and how it was used to hold the tablets on which Moses had carved the Ten Commandments. She pointed out that the Ark was considered sacred and that only the chief priests were allowed to come into contact with it; it was always treated with the utmost reverence and respect. Mrs. Turner described for the children how Moses had been leading the Israelites in the desert for many years, and how the Ten Commandments were God's way of giving the Israelites rules to live by. We also talked about some rules that we use today, some that we like, and some that we might not like so much. The kids offered some examples: we have to do our homework (in the "rules we don't like" category), but we also have rules that protect our way of living (like free speech).

We then turned to our bibles and opened to Exodus 25:10-22. The children took terms reading different verses from the passage. Here we read God's instructions to Moses to build an Ark "made of acacia wood," of specific dimensions, and with a very particular design (including two cherubim on the top). We paused briefly to describe what the word "cubit" means.

The children then worked on a project, gluing pieces of paper on which were printed each of the ten commandments to paper "tablets."

At this point, we ran out of time and concluded our lesson. Next week, Mr. Tobin leads, assisted by Mrs. Mandracchia. We will continue with lesson three, learning some more about the Ark.

The photo above comes from the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. It shows Indiana Jones and his friend Sallah after they discovered the Ark in an archaeological dig. Fictional, of course, since we learned in class that the Ark has been lost for centuries.