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.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Back to School Sunday!

Today's class, led by Mrs. Willis, was focused on getting to know each other. Since the lesson for today was God's creation of everything, we each did a drawing of something in God's creation that began with the first letter of our names. Then, we played a little game that required each person to say his name and what he or she had drawn, as well as the name and the "creation" drawing of each other person. It was a great way to begin to remember all the kids and their names. ("Mrs. Willis drew a whale, Conor drew a crocodile, Sarah drew a softball, Teddy drew trees, Rex drew his name, Mrs. Turner drew a tree, Cate drew a carnival, Madeline drew a monkey, Meghan drew her name, Sami drew ?, Mrs. Wilson drew a wiffle ball, Penelope drew a platypus, Chris drew a cat, Sean drew a seal, Mark drew a mountain, Jack drew ?, Michael drew ?, and Mr. Tobin drew a TV." Apologies to Sami, Jack, and Michael--I remembered almost everyone!)

We asked one of the children to take the collection for the day, then we stood and sang the doxology and said the Lord's prayer.

Ms. Sullivan came in to say hello to the class and take a class picture. She also took individual pictures of Mrs. Willis, Mrs. Turner, Mrs. Wilson, and Mr. Tobin. Mrs. Mandracchia and Mr. Henderson, you're next!

Next, we turned to Psalms 23 and 148. Memorizing Psalm 23 was our collective project last year, and some of the children remembered quite a bit of the psalm. Psalm 148 was a song of praise and thanks for God's creation. Each of the children took turns reading a verse from the psalms.

At this point, we ran out of time and dismissed everyone to the annual picnic.

Next week, Mrs. Turner leads the class with Mr. Tobin assisting.