Teachwell

On Saturday, February 21, our congregation participated in a program called TeachWell. We're trying to help people become more comfortable teaching Bible class. (We need more teachers!!)

Joyce Bloomingburg taught the CradleRoll class. I taught the 3-5 year old class. Becky taught the K-3 group. Dwina and David Willis taught the 4-6 grade group. Other presenters taught the folks who were interested in teaching junior high through adults. Becky and I had decided not to bring much stuff, but as you can tell by the picture, I did not follow that decision. I'm always so afraid that I'll go blank, so the more "stuff" I can have, the better. Along those lines, I prepared a PowerPoint presentation - it had 209 slides!! I was able to cover them all and cover all the "stuff" I brought as well.

I thought the day was great! Justin showed a video of the elders singing children's songs and encouraging everyone to try to be a teacher. I hope we were able to encourage some more people to share in the joy of teaching. I have gained so much by being a teacher, and I wish more people would try and see the great things that will happen!!

Bible Class Christmas Party

Sunday after going to the funeral home and to a baby shower, we had a Christmas party for the four-year old and kindergarten Bible classes. We had several sweet children who came - Carter, Cade, Sofie, Sophie, Jacob, Gary, Josh, Joey, Lawson, Tucker, Alex, and Clint. We started our party by decorating Merry Christmas cards with crayons and stickers. Then I read a couple of Christmas books to get us in the holiday mood while Sandy and Becky sat out the snack for the day, Oreos, chips, and juice. We also played a quick game of 4-Corners, one of the children's favorite games. Then it was time for centers: we made reindeer food & snowman soup with Becky; did a Santa puzzle & made a pattern necklace with red, white, and green beads with me; and decorated a Christmas tree with sequins along with a Santa Claus beard countdown with Sandy. We covered cans with holiday wrap for the children to keep their goodies in. The end of the party was the highlight of the entire party though - we took the children upstairs to give their cards and Snowman Soup to some of the older members of the congregation. Mrs. Holly even made our picture for the newspaper. We had a wonderful time and even made plans to expand our activities next year. It's so wonderful to have such precious children to work with along with two ladies who are very special to me.