November 2

Happy Monday! (Or Tuesday, if that's when you get this in an e-mail.)

I am so sorry that the curriculum links were broken for Sunday! That was my bad. I have double checked the links for this week, so you should be good to go. Let me know if you have any questions. Here are some announcements for this Sunday:

Special Needs Support

Becky Powers, our coordinator for special needs ministries, has worked with me for the past several months to develop resources for you to use in your classrooms. We're ready to unveil! Please make use of these resources to help children focus, enjoy, communicate and receive the blessings you're giving them. 

Call Becky

If there's a child in your class that concerns you or that you'd like some ideas for how to engage, just give Becky a call! She'd love to hear from you at 502-245-9943. 

Use a Request for Resources Form

In your rooms this Sunday, you'll see a large envelope that says "Request for Resources". Inside will be simple forms and pre-addressed envelopes. If you would like some fidget busters, noise canceling headphones, allergy-free snacks, manipulatives, or just advice for a particular child, fill out a form, put it in an envelope and drop it in the mail. Becky will respond within two weeks. 

We want to be a welcoming, fun, comfortable place for children to connect with you, one another and with Jesus. Thank you for helping us meet that goal!

Advent Curriculum

During Advent we will use a different curriculum for our small groups. This curriculum will be available as a hard copy in your classrooms in early November, and we will also post it here on the blog for you to download if you prefer. The lessons are:

November 30 - The Annunciation

December 7 - Mary & Elizabeth

December 14 - Jesus is Born

December 21 - The Magi

The last Sunday of the semester, December 28, will be spent simply having fellowship time together. 

These Advent lessons include a short video component. First thru Fifth graders will begin each week of Advent in Room 005 together where we can view the video and introduce the story for that morning. Each grade level team (1st, 2nd, 3rd, Alive) will be assigned to one of those Sundays to lead this 10 minute opening time. 

November 30 - 1st grade team 

December 7 - 2nd grade team

December 14 - 3rd grade team

December 21 - Alive team

We will provide a TV for Kindergartners and a DVD of the video for you to play in your classroom. Note: If Kindergarten leaders would prefer to come downstairs to watch the DVD with the big kids, please let Karen Larimore or Sarah know!

You'll receive more detailed instructions about that as the time approaches. Do you have some Advent in your heart already? Hope you soon will!

Lesson for this Week

This week we launch into a new series called Why Can't We Just Get Along? Here's what the schedule will look like:

October 26 - Why do my parents always say no?
November 2 - Why can't we all just get along?
November 9 - Why can't I be an only child?
November 16 - Christmas Eve offering vote in Fellowship Hall
November 23 - Why do I have to sit in the back seat?

All the Grapple curriculum is communicated electronically, and you can find it anytime on the Grapple tab here. You can download this week's lesson here:

Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

Other questions? Send an e-mail, phone call or text - we're here for you!

October 26

Hello leaders,

Did you miss me? You may (or may not) have noticed that there was zero communication from me last week to prepare you for Sunday, but clearly you rose to the occasion. I apologize! I attended a conference along with Karen Kleuver this past weekend, and I am looking forward to putting into practice some of the skills we learned there.

In the meantime, here is this week's blog. Love,

Sarah

Advent Curriculum

During Advent we will use a different curriculum for our small groups. This curriculum will be available as a hard copy in your classrooms in early November, and we will also post it here on the blog for you to download if you prefer. The lessons are:

November 30 - The Annunciation

December 7 - Mary & Elizabeth

December 14 - Jesus is Born

December 21 - The Magi

The last Sunday of the semester, December 28, will be spent simply having fellowship time together. 

These Advent lessons include a short video component. First thru Fifth graders will begin each week of Advent in Room 005 together where we can view the video and introduce the story for that morning. Each grade level team (1st, 2nd, 3rd, Alive) will be assigned to one of those Sundays to lead this 10 minute opening time. 

November 30 - 1st grade team 

December 7 - 2nd grade team

December 14 - 3rd grade team

December 21 - Alive team

You'll receive more detailed instructions about that as the time approaches. Do you have some Advent in your heart already? Hope you soon will!

Communicating with your Class Online

I hope you have all gone to www.ccum.net/online to create your account. From there, you can register for events, upload your family photos, access the church directory and update your personal information. And now, you can do even more!

You can view your class list and send out an e-mail to your class. When you are logged in, simply click on "My Groups" up a the top of the page. You will see a class list that includes each child and that child's parent(s). If you click on the "Send an e-mail" link at the top right, you can send a quick e-mail through the browser or port all the e-mail addresses into your own e-mail program. 

If you have any trouble figuring out how to use this new communication tool, don't hesitate to ask Sarah!

Nametags

Remember that we want you to have name tags each week! Just go to the check-in screen, put in the last four digits of your main phone number, and select your name and "event". Then click "Finish", and your name tag will print. 

Lesson for this Week

This week we launch into a new series called Why Can't We Just Get Along? Here's what the schedule will look like:

October 26 - Why do my parents always say no?
November 2 - Why can't we all just get along?
November 9 - Why can't I be an only child?
November 16 - Christmas Eve offering vote in Fellowship Hall
November 23 - Why do I have to sit in the back seat?

All the Grapple curriculum is communicated electronically, and you can find it anytime on the Grapple tab here. You can download this week's lesson here:

Why do my parents always say no?

Other questions? Send an e-mail, phone call or text - we're here for you!

October 12

Hello small group leader! We apologize for sending out this week's blog so late (please direct all blame toward Sarah's sick 1yr old who cramped her style). Here are this week's announcements:

Stewardship Discussions

By now, each of you should have your own Walking the Path notebook which provides personal reflection throughout our stewardship series. Please take a few minutes over the next four weeks and talk to your class about each of the topics we are studying as a church:

Oct 5 -Prayers

Oct 12 -Presence

Oct 19 -Gifts

Oct 26 -Service

Nov 2 - Witness

Share your own experiences from the workbook and ask them if they're using the take-home stewardship worksheets they receive each week. 

Communicating with your Class Online

I hope you have all gone to www.ccum.net/online to create your account. From there, you can register for events, upload your family photos, access the church directory and update your personal information. And now, you can do even more!

You can view your class list and send out an e-mail to your class. When you are logged in, simply click on "My Groups" up a the top of the page. You will see a class list that includes each child and that child's parent(s). If you click on the "Send an e-mail" link at the top right, you can send a quick e-mail through the browser or port all the e-mail addresses into your own e-mail program. 

If you have any trouble figuring out how to use this new communication tool, don't hesitate to ask Sarah!

Safe Sanctuaries Training

Thank you to those of you who have already made time this week for the 20-minute Safe Sanctuaries training. Our conference policy is that all volunteers complete Safe Sanctuaries training annually. If you did not complete training for VBS or at the beginning of the school year, please contact Sarah Flannery to arrange a training time that works for you. 

Nametags

Remember that we want you to have name tags each week! Just go to the check-in screen, put in the last four digits of your main phone number, and select your name and "event". Then click "Finish", and your name tag will print. 

Reminder E-mails from Elexio

We are so sorry that you have received "confirmation of serving" e-mails from our database for the past few weeks. Many thanks to one of you for pointing that out! We have disabled the reminder e-mail feature, so you should not receive those in the future. But if you DO receive more e-mails, please let us know!

Lesson for this Week

Time to prepare for another awesome week of Alive! The four questions you will grapple with are:

Why did God create me?
How come I'm not perfect?
Why didn't God make us like robots?
What does God want from me?

All the Grapple curriculum is communicated electronically, and you can find it anytime on the Grapple tab here. You can download this week's lesson here:

Why Didn't God Make Us Like Robots?

Other questions? Send an e-mail, phone call or text - we're here for you!