Sheryl Haystead loved teaching kids God's Word. These writings are from her last years of teaching Sunday School and are full of wisdom and compassion for the little ones Jesus loves so dearly--Sheryl loved them, too.
RSS

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Get Going with Games!

This probably hasn’t ever happened in your class, but sometimes when I’m leading kids in a Play to Learn activity that involves beanbags, it doesn’t take much for some energetic throwing to take place! Here’s what I try to do—before and during the game. Before the game, I make sure to demonstrate the kind of tossing we are going to do and why. For example, in this week’s lesson: “Let’s see how many of you can toss the beanbag into the circle. When it lands in the circle, we get to say something we want to thank God for.” Most often, the challenge of getting the beanbag into the circle target is motivation for careful tossing. (And for the kindergartner who always says “That’s so easy!” no matter what the activity is, I give him a special challenge of taking two giant steps back before tossing the beanbag.) During the game, if a beanbag sails across the room, I’m careful to treat it as a simple action to be corrected. “Oops, that beanbag didn’t go where it was supposed to. Let’s try again.” If a child purposefully throws the beanbag in a wrong way, then it’s time for “I really want you to keep playing the game. So to keep playing, you need to toss the beanbag into the circle.” Sometimes, just before the child's turn to toss the beanbag, a gentle touch on the child’s hand is a helpful reminder and no words need to be spoken. And, of course, every beanbag that makes it into the circle is accompanied by enthusiastic clapping and cheering! Games for preschoolers are best when there isn’t too long of a wait to get a turn and when every child can be successful. Games are favorite activities with the kids at my church! I’m thankful for the games, too, because they help me connect with active kids and give lots of opportunities for building relationships. What’s your favorite game to play with preschoolers?

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Making It Stick!

Don’t you just love telling Bible stories to preschoolers? I do! Today I told the story of the four kind friends who carried the paralyzed man on a mat to see Jesus. What I especially love about telling Bible stories are all the different ways that kids can experience the story so that it sticks. For example, today each child started off by coloring four paper-doll friends. (The ones I cut didn’t look as good as the ones in the teacher’s guide, but the kids didn’t seem to care!) It was interesting to me how each child tried to find just the right color for the skin of their friends or family members: brown, pink, peach, tan, white and golden! From there we went to a fun jumping game with stuffed animals, and we talked about being kind by taking turns—easier said than done!

For the story, I had gathered every toy person I could find to make the crowd of people listening to Jesus, and then I cut the top off a grocery bag and turned it upside down to look like a flat-roofed Bible-times house. I also cut an opening in the roof with narrow fringes. So when we got to the part of the story where the four friends lowered the paralyzed man down through the roof, the kids could easily visualize what it looked like. One of my favorite parts of the story was the flannel figure which pictured the four delighted faces of the friends peering down from the roof. (One little boy was particularly intrigued with the idea of actually cutting a hole in the roof!)

Talking about being kind is more than a sweet story, however. In the midst of our activities, I heard, “My sister is never kind to me” and “You can’t have that marker. It’s mine!” Real-life situations in which kindness needs to stick! I’m praying that our Bible verse for today, “Always try to be kind to each other,” sticks through the whole week!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

7 Ways to Be a Teacher Who Makes a Difference

#1 Being prepared says you care! Prepare yourself by asking God for wisdom as you teach. Prepare the lesson by choosing the activities that will help the kids in your class play, listen and talk. The kids at my church seem to love games like the one in today’s lesson that used a balloon.
#2 Get down at a child’s eye level and listen as much as you talk. Ask questions to encourage each child’s participation. I use the questions in my curriculum—saves me time!
#3 Tell kids what they can do, instead of saying what they are supposed to stop doing. “If you want to sit next to your friend, I need you keep your hands to your self.” Wouldn’t you like to have a dollar for every time you’ve needed to say those words?
#4 Be a teacher of vision! See the most active, the most difficult or the most withdrawn child, not as a problem, but as a person to be loved into God’s family. Do you ever fall into the trap of thinking, “Oh, no. Here comes . . .” I need to view each child with God’s perspective.
#5 Teach respect by showing respect. Wait for a child to finish speaking before you talk. Model “please” and “thank you.” Show children the same respect that you would show to adults. Give kids a few minutes warning before ending their play activities. “It’s just about time to finish making our play dough faces.”
#6 Let your attitudes and actions demonstrate the truth of your words about Jesus’ love. The young child learns more from who you are than from what you say. Kids don’t wait for me to begin telling the Bible story before they begin learning. They are learning from the first minute they walk into my classroom.
#7 Give each child individual attention before negative behavior occurs. Use each child’s name often to get and keep the child’s attention. I want to the kids in my class to know that church is a safe place to be where they are loved and accepted.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Got Gifts?

Right after Christmas I remember hearing the kids in my class talking about the gifts they had received for Christmas. And in the describing of the gifts, the gifts got bigger and bigger! It seemed like a contest to see which child could lay claim to the biggest gift of all. In the eyes of children, sometimes big equals value.

The story of the widow’s small gift that was really the most valuable of all makes an impression on little kids. One of the Play to Learn activities for this story was a game in which kids tossed coins into all kinds of containers. Of course, the ones kids like the best are the metal containers that make a loud noise when a coin is tossed in! Anything big and loud seems to be a favorite with preschoolers!

But once again, in this Bible story, I’m reminded that God’s economy is different than mine. I went to church today not really expecting to be given any gifts, and thinking that my gifts to give were really pretty small. At the end of the morning, however, I knew that gifts of value had been exchanged.

I received a lot of “big” gifts: I heard preachers, I listened to singers and musicians, I saw beautiful banners. I was thankful to be led in worship through such amazing gifts. But I was equally thankful for the “small” gifts: I heard words of excitement from preschoolers glad to be at church, I listened to kids singing their hearts out, I saw beautiful works of art created by small hands. My small gifts of time, commitment and caring were thankfully received by kids, parents and co-workers. Some weeks I give more. Some weeks I receive more. Got gifts? Yes, I do. And you do, too!