What is the most AMAZING thing that God has ever made? ME! And YOU! The Bible says in Psalm 139:14, "I am wonderfully made," (NIV). Each and every one of us, and each and every one of our preschoolers, was wonderfully made. By God! How awesome is that!
We will spend the month of May equipping our preschoolers with the knowledge that God made them. Because He made them, they are special. They are special not because they can jump the farthest or run the fastest. They are special because God made them and loves them.
God made our bodies. God made us to do many things. God made us with a purpose. God even made us to praise Him. Our God is an AMAZING God who makes wonderful things. And, since God made us just the way we are, He loves EVERYTHING about us. Everything! He loves our messy hair. He loves our crooked noses. He loves our loud singing voices. He even loves our silly faces. God made us, and He loves us. Awesome thought, isn't it? It's almost overwhelming. God made ME! Wow. What a strong foundation to give our preschoolers. God made them, and that makes them special.
By Kathy Hill. © 2010 The reThink Group * www.rethinkgroup.org * All rights reserved. Used by permission.
April 22, 2010
January 6, 2010
January
WOW. 2010. Where did 2009 go?
We are starting our 2010 year with a message all kids need to know in their hearts by the time they head off to kindergarten: God loves me! All month kids will be learning:
Basic Truth: Jesus wants to be my friend forever.
Key Question: How can you love God?
Bottom Line: I can love God like Jesus did.
Memory Verse: "Love God with all your heart." Matthew 22:37, NlrV
Key Question: How can you love God?
Bottom Line: I can love God like Jesus did.
Memory Verse: "Love God with all your heart." Matthew 22:37, NlrV
I hope you take every opportunity to reinforce this truth with your children this month. Imagine the impact on each child's life if we could ensure they believed this with their whole hearts at this early, early age!
December 10, 2009
December
Our new curriculum, First Look, is set up by monthly theme. Each month presents just ONE of the three basic truths we want kids to believe by age 4: God made me, God loves me, and Jesus wants to be my friend forever. Additionally there is a Key Question that we want the kids to be able to answer at the end of each month. The answer is the Bottom Line - the ONE thing we want kids to remember that month. Each week, the kids lhear and interact with a new Bible story to reinforce the Key Question and Bottom Line. Lastly, there is one memory verse for the entire month so that you and your child can work together to really hide that truth from God's Word in his/her heart.
So, what are our preschoolers learning about in December?
Basic Truth: Jesus wants to be my friend forever.
Key Question: How do we know God loves us?
Bottom Line: God gave us Jesus.
Memory Verse: God has given a Son to us. Isaiah 9:6
Our Bible stories for the month cover all the various aspects of the Christmas story: The angel visits Mary, Jesus is born, Angels announce Jesus' birth to the shepherds, and the Wise Men visit Jesus!
We hope that this year is the year that our toddlers and preschoolers begin to understand the real Reason for the season.
So, what are our preschoolers learning about in December?
Basic Truth: Jesus wants to be my friend forever.
Key Question: How do we know God loves us?
Bottom Line: God gave us Jesus.
Memory Verse: God has given a Son to us. Isaiah 9:6
Our Bible stories for the month cover all the various aspects of the Christmas story: The angel visits Mary, Jesus is born, Angels announce Jesus' birth to the shepherds, and the Wise Men visit Jesus!
We hope that this year is the year that our toddlers and preschoolers begin to understand the real Reason for the season.
October 5, 2009
Creation
The Bible says in Psalm 89:11: "You made the world and everything in it." God made EVERYTHING! That's pretty powerful for preschoolers and for us. He made everything we see, everything we touch, everything we smell. He made it ALL. There is no better way to show the wonder of God than to teach children about creation. Creation is concrete. It gives children something to experience and touch. Creation teaches that the God of the universe made it all, and then He made you and me. Awesome.
The Bible also says in Genesis 1:31: "God saw all that he had made and it was very good." Not only did God make EVERYTHING, but everything He made was very good. The trees are good. The animals are good. The vegetables are good. That one is hard for preschoolers sometimes. Most importantly, YOU are good. God made you, and you are very good. That is an amazing truth to tuck deep into the heart of every preschooler; God made me, and God makes good things.
So, for the months of October and November in preschool, we will be learning that God made everything.
Who made everything?
God made everything!
Hopefully you picked up your Creation Investigation kit at church on Sunday. This kit is designed to help you interact with your child each week to reinforce the lesson taught on Sunday. You can also check here on our blog each week where we will post other activities you can use at home to help your child hide each week's truths in their hearts and minds!
This week we learned that God created light and dark. Here's a simple little song you can sing with your child as you go over that lesson this week:
God Made (Week 1)
God made you and God made me (point to you and me)
Hip, hip hooray! (Clap your hands on all of the hip hoorays)
God made you and God made me (point to you and me)
Hip, hip hooray! (Clap your hands on all of the hip hoorays)
God made you and God made me (point to you and me)
God made everything you see (spread your arms wide)
God made you and God made me (point to you and me)
Hip, hip hooray! (Clap your hands on all of the hip hoorays)
God made dark and God made light (Cover your eyes and take your hands away)
Hip, hip Hooray!
God made dark and God made light (Cover your eyes and take your hands away)
Hip, hip Hooray!
God made dark and God made light (Cover your eyes and take your hands away)
God made everything in sight (spread your arms wide)
God made dark and God made light (Cover your eyes and take your hands away)
Hip, hip Hooray!
August 2, 2009
First Look
Coming in September 2009, preschool will be launching a whole new currculum for our kids!!! It's called "First Look" and you can get your first look here!
We are looking for teachers, assistants and volunteers willing to prepare materials to help get us off to our best start! If you would like to be a part of teaching our littlest kids that God loves them, God made them, and Jesus wants to be their friend forever, then e-mail me today using the "contact" botton in the navigation bar!!
We are looking for teachers, assistants and volunteers willing to prepare materials to help get us off to our best start! If you would like to be a part of teaching our littlest kids that God loves them, God made them, and Jesus wants to be their friend forever, then e-mail me today using the "contact" botton in the navigation bar!!
February 17, 2009
Bibles, Bibles Everywhere!
Bibles, Bibles everywhere
These are small board books that tell individual Bible stories. You can find them at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.com by using their search application to search for "Patricia Pingry" who is the author. There are quite a few titles as you can see in the picture below (some are also available in paperback which is cheaper). I like that there is just one story per book (as opposed to a toddler Bible with a collection of different stories). I just find this to be easier.
Sometimes the lesson gets wrapped up in a trite little sentence at the end, but I always expand on the story myself so I don't worry about that much. The one book that I'm not crazy about is The Story of Noah because they leave out the rainbow and God's promise. That's kind of key to the whole story, don't you think? I also really like their series for holidays. Thanksgiving and Easter are pictured below, but they also have Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, and America's Birthday (4th of July).
Once my kids were ready for more stories and more text, we moved on to The Beginner's Bible:
I liked it a lot. I liked how Sawyer could start to understand the Old Testament from the New Testament (because finishing the old and moving on to the new was always a big deal around here). The best part about it is that it doesn't break the Bible stories up. The whole story of Noah is one story. The story of Abraham is broken up into various parts that are whole stories that make sense. That's the format I prefer, but several Bibles I looked at did not do that. They would break the stories up in odd places so that they could keep the stories to just a two page spread. For example, the Read and Share Bible:
I switched to this Bible when we had gone through the Beginners Bible more than once. I like it a lot, but they put a new title on each 2 page spread. Therefore, the stories get chopped up into small parts that don't make a whole story. I would always read several "stories" at a time each night to my kids to make one coherent story. For example, the story of Noah is broken down into 5 parts: Noah,The Big Boat, Inside the boat, The Dove, and The Rainbow. I would read all 5 parts to preserve the whole story. Scot (my husband) didn't get that, so he'd read just one chunk at bedtime until I pointed out to him that that didn't make a whole lot of sense. It wasn't a big deal, I still really liked this Bible, but I just think it would be improved if the stories were kept whole.
What I did like about that Bible more than the Beginner's Bible, is that there is a question at the end of each "story", so there was good interaction about the story throughout. I also liked the illustrations better.
As my son got to be ready for kindergarten, it was time to find another Bible that was more at his level: more text, but still a lot of pictures. We had read through both the Beginner's Bible and the Read and Share Bible several times. This was somewhat hard to find. I actually ended up stumbling across the perfect pick at W@lMart, the Read and Learn Bible:
So far, this is my favorite Bible. It includes lots of detail in each Bible story, and it is perfect for K-2 I think. The thing I liked about this was that it greatly expanded on the stories from the Beginner's Bible and the Read and Share Bible, but it still had LOTS of pictures. At this age, pictures are still a HUGE boost to understanding for kids, so I think they are necessary. This book doesn't skimp on text or pictures which I love! Also, each story stays close to the Biblical account which is important to me.
Hopefully, this helps you out. Again, if you use a particular children's Bible at home and it isn't listed here, please add yours to the comments below if you'd like to recommend it (or NOT recommend it if you have found you don't like it).
If you are looking for a Bible for your elementary-aged child, check out the "Elementary" page for some recommendations!
Bibles near and far
Let's use our hands and feet to count
How many versions there are.
(Adapted from the Baby Einstein book "Water, Water Everywhere")
Probably the most important thing you can do with your kids is read the Bible to them and with them each day. We do this at bedtime, but any time that works for you and your family is the right time! We've also found that having a Bible (or Bible story books) at your child's level really does make this a time when God can speak to their little hearts (and your heart too).
I am often asked for recommendations in this area, so I'll share what I've found to be useful with my kids. I've spent a lot of time searching, and these are the Bibles I like the most. If you have one that you'd like to recommend, please do add it in the comments at the bottom of the post! The links I included are linked to Christian Book Distributors. I find they have the best prices, but they also often allow you a peek inside the books online. That's I feature I LOVE!
I started my kids off with these:
Sometimes the lesson gets wrapped up in a trite little sentence at the end, but I always expand on the story myself so I don't worry about that much. The one book that I'm not crazy about is The Story of Noah because they leave out the rainbow and God's promise. That's kind of key to the whole story, don't you think? I also really like their series for holidays. Thanksgiving and Easter are pictured below, but they also have Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, and America's Birthday (4th of July).
Once my kids were ready for more stories and more text, we moved on to The Beginner's Bible:
I liked it a lot. I liked how Sawyer could start to understand the Old Testament from the New Testament (because finishing the old and moving on to the new was always a big deal around here). The best part about it is that it doesn't break the Bible stories up. The whole story of Noah is one story. The story of Abraham is broken up into various parts that are whole stories that make sense. That's the format I prefer, but several Bibles I looked at did not do that. They would break the stories up in odd places so that they could keep the stories to just a two page spread. For example, the Read and Share Bible:
I switched to this Bible when we had gone through the Beginners Bible more than once. I like it a lot, but they put a new title on each 2 page spread. Therefore, the stories get chopped up into small parts that don't make a whole story. I would always read several "stories" at a time each night to my kids to make one coherent story. For example, the story of Noah is broken down into 5 parts: Noah,The Big Boat, Inside the boat, The Dove, and The Rainbow. I would read all 5 parts to preserve the whole story. Scot (my husband) didn't get that, so he'd read just one chunk at bedtime until I pointed out to him that that didn't make a whole lot of sense. It wasn't a big deal, I still really liked this Bible, but I just think it would be improved if the stories were kept whole.
What I did like about that Bible more than the Beginner's Bible, is that there is a question at the end of each "story", so there was good interaction about the story throughout. I also liked the illustrations better.
As my son got to be ready for kindergarten, it was time to find another Bible that was more at his level: more text, but still a lot of pictures. We had read through both the Beginner's Bible and the Read and Share Bible several times. This was somewhat hard to find. I actually ended up stumbling across the perfect pick at W@lMart, the Read and Learn Bible:
So far, this is my favorite Bible. It includes lots of detail in each Bible story, and it is perfect for K-2 I think. The thing I liked about this was that it greatly expanded on the stories from the Beginner's Bible and the Read and Share Bible, but it still had LOTS of pictures. At this age, pictures are still a HUGE boost to understanding for kids, so I think they are necessary. This book doesn't skimp on text or pictures which I love! Also, each story stays close to the Biblical account which is important to me.
Hopefully, this helps you out. Again, if you use a particular children's Bible at home and it isn't listed here, please add yours to the comments below if you'd like to recommend it (or NOT recommend it if you have found you don't like it).
If you are looking for a Bible for your elementary-aged child, check out the "Elementary" page for some recommendations!
December 30, 2008
A Family Fun Event!!
Join us for an event for the whole family as CrossWay Christian Church hosts a pre-release screening of the newest Veggie Tales DVD,
Bring the whole family on Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 2:30PM to be the first to see this fun new show that teaches kids about the value of patience! We'll watch the show, have some snacks, and play some games. There will even be some give-aways! It will be a fun (and *FREE*) way to spend an afternoon together with the whole family! If you've never seen Veggie Tales before, well, you're in for a treat! Even the adults will love it! If you are a big Veggie Tales fan, don't forget to wear your favorite Veggie Tales T-shirt or hat!
Bring your neighbors, friends, and family! Everyone is welcome!!! (Please note that all children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian as there is no childcare provided.)
If you need directions to CrossWay Christian Church, click here.
If you have any questions regarding this event, please call or e-mail Jenna Hardy at 594-0123 x209 or jhardy@crosswaycc.org.
We hope to see you there!!!
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