A. TIME SPENT THIS WEEK
2/17/08: 2 ½ hours for worship service in which I went and helped in children’s church, and Sunday school.
B. CLASS THIS WEEK
For class this week I was finally able to be in the classroom I was originally planning on being in – the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade class. Angel, my practicum supervisor is the teacher of this class also. We finally had 3 students who were in that age group, Chance, Sophie, and Courtney. My cousin, Kaitlyn, was also a visitor in the classroom and she too is a 4th grader. At FUMC we are struggling with getting a big number of kids for Sunday school. We had four in this classroom and only one in another classroom which was for the youngest age group. There are two teachers for that class and they had been planning on doing a Jesus and Zacchaeus project for about a month but never had enough kids to do it with. Therefore, this Sunday to begin our class, we went and participated in the project. I felt like it was a neat project for kids of all ages (I was very intrigued by it!). The students all enjoyed it to and learned more about this Bible story.
After we did the project we headed back to the classroom for the lesson Angel had planned. She decided to show a NOOMA Kickball video to the kids. I was a little nervous about this because those videos are for the youth group, not really for younger kids, but they all grasped onto the point of the video. It went over very well. I was sitting beside Kaitlyn and at times she would look over at me and explain things a little further showing me that she had gotten the point of what Rob Bell was saying. Chance, Sophie, and Courtney also were able to answer Angel’s questions at the end. There were a few things we had to explain further, but I really felt like they got the point from the lesson. They learned that sometimes God may not answer our prayers right away because He knows what the best is for us and what is needed in our lives. This not only was a good lesson for these kids, but also for us adults that were in the room!
I thought the NOOMA video was a creative idea and even though this one worked well, I really feel like the videos are geared to older students. I think we could be selective though and share them with the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders too. It was evident that all the kids pulled from the video. Angel did a great job of asking questions, pointing out parts in the movie to really pay attention to, and it was short enough to keep their attention, which proved to me that they learned something!
C. QUESTIONS THIS WEEK
1. What are some ways that we can get more parents to let their children stay for Sunday school?
2. How do you feel about showing Rob Bell’s NOOMA videos to 4th, 5th, and 6th graders?
3. What would be some great learning resources for this age group?
2 comments:
That's interesting that they would show a Rob Bell video to fourth and fifth graders but then again why not. Our youth are being exposed to so many things they shouldn't be exposed. They are growing up faster and more knowledgeable about certain issues. Why not offer them the opportunity to learn more about mature Christian issues. But again you still have to be careful with them.
i too was suprised that they would show a nooma video to that age group. i have never seen the kickball one, so maybe it is easier to understand. most of the others can become quite deep. but, i would say there isnt a standard rule of who should and who shouldnt see the videos. in your case, it seemed to work out well. however, i would be cautious in the future. also, dont let videos become an excuse to not prepare an actual lesson :)
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