Easter still continued!

Easter Sunday deserves an entry of its own as Little Learners was very special. It was our church Easter brunch and I don’t remember seeing the hall so full! As well as our faithful regulars we had a little friend of Rose’s, Ellie-Kay, join us so Rose came up as well which was lovely, and a friend of Penny’s brought along her little girls too, Sophie 4 and Emma 1. So we had six altogether and Helena came in and helped me as she knew all the children! After prayer time we launched straight into the story as I knew we had to watch the time. We began with how Barabbas was set free while the Lord Jesus took his place and ours, and continuing through Simon of Cyrene helping carry the cross, the time of the crucifixion and culminating in the wonderful Easter resurrection. I used a story book alongside the flannel graph and I had added so many items to my egg box that I had to use a shoe box instead! I added playmobil Barabbas, Simon of Cyrene, the roman centurion and several women including Mary Magdalene coming to the tomb with her lantern! Also die, white cloth, perfume and spices and others that Elaine had already mentioned. Ethan spent a long time looking at the figures around the cross on the flannelgraph and then stated firmly that the wicked soldiers should have been on that cross instead of Jesus, but how the centurion who finally believed that Jesus is the Son of God was a good centurion. He and Rose were answering the questions really well.
We watched a further clip from the read and share DVD bible by Gwen Ellis on my laptop. They loved the part where the angel came down from heaven and rolled the stone away!! We had finally come to the happy part of the story! And we just had time to sing “Jesus loves me” with the musical instruments before the children were called down for their Easter egg hunt.

During the next Little Learners Joannie and I read together out of the massive ‘Hands Up’ story book “Jesus and the Breakfast Barbecue”. This was a really lovely story to take as the boys could relate with the wonderful mural over the pulpit courtesy of Hannah and Saturday club. During our prayer time Hadley wanted to say thankyou that Jesus died on the cross.

For the next few Sundays we hope to cover some of the parables of Jesus. I began last week with the rich farmer. The boys painted cardboard barns and Ethan told Elaine afterwards how “the farmer died and the rabbits ate his carrots”!! Ethan told God in his prayer that “we love Him.”

Easter continued

Elaine writes...."Today I brought along a box containing ten objects which remind us of parts of the Easter story; nails, coins, sponge, spear, purple cloth, cross, cockerel, thorny twig, large stone, bread. Each object was wrapped in tissue paper and the boys picked them out one by one. As they unwrapped them and placed them on the table, we talked about why they were important. Ethan was a super star, remembering almost everything he had previously been taught and sharing his knowledge with me. I explained to Ethan what Peter said and we talked about how it would make us feel if someone we knew e.g. Charles or Julian suddenly said that they weren't our friend anymore and didn't even know who we were. He even realised that when the box was empty it signified the empty tomb "because Jesus rose again". Hadley particularly enjoyed the cockerel's cock-a-doodle-doo and eating the bread! We rounded off the session by making Mothers day cards and saying prayers of thanks."

Yesterday Penny was unwell so Carl stepped in and took her place. The boys were so excited that Daddy was taking Little Learners! Carl continued with the story of the crucifixion (including a detailed discussion on Pilate’s character!) He talked about how Jesus said that He would take the anger of God so that those around Him need not. Ethan is very clear on why Jesus died; so that we may go to heaven. Daddy is the absolute star as he brought in paints, and the finished paintings are now displayed outside the church in the notice board! Hadley’s hands were a real treat ….covered with blue paint and tangerine!

We commenced the Easter story on February 21st which sounds very efficient but I’m glad we didn’t leave it any later! Penny started us off with the entry into Jerusalem, linking back to the prophecy in Zechariah 9. “See, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Good on you Penny for teaching prophecy to a 2 year old!

I followed with the Passover, the garden of Gethsemane, the betrayal by Judas and Peter and the trials of Jesus before the High Priest, Pilate and Herod! Whew! I hope that their little heads weren’t spinning!

I brought in a cardboard egg box with a playmobil cup and tiny piece of bread, some ‘olive’ leaves, playmobil swords, clubs and lanterns, playmobil figures for Judas, Peter, James and John, playmobil soldiers, Pilate and King Herod, betrayal coins and a playmobil fire! As we were preparing for our colouring time Ethan had some fun with Herod fighting the soldiers but I had to reiterate that they were actually on the same side!!! I used 3 different story books for the story line.

The colouring sheets were of the sleeping disciples and Jesus being taken away by the soldiers. It was wonderful to have my deputy teacher (Joannie) in with me because she dramatised the story using the playmobil figures and was a first class role model helping Ethan colour in his pictures.

The memory verse just had to be the one from our Saturday club poster…”the Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me.” When I asked who the Son of God is Hadley immediately said ‘Jesus’. He’s one bright two year old! We said the verse several times substituting the ‘me’ with our own names, for example “the Son of God loved Ethan and gave Himself for Ethan”. They seemed to like this. The fact that they get a personal mention in the bible!

The following week we went over the entire story all over again, this time with Daddy in class. I used the flannel graph, and again used the visuals from the egg box and was pleased with how well they actually remembered how each item fitted into the story, especially seeing how much ground we had covered! We also watched a clip from the read and share DVD bible by Gwen Ellis on my laptop which was a great success. A highly recommended DVD for this age. The story progresses very gently and slowly so we were able to talk about it as we watched.

More to come as we continue with the build up to Easter…

Well after having waited so long for Penny’s write-up on the week she took the story of the prodigal son I’ve decided I can’t hold the train up any longer. Knowing Penny I’m sure the boys learned the story inside out and Carl please will you suggest to her she buys you an extra bar of galaxy as a forfeit for not sending in her blog entry!!!

So to carry on we come to the week Penny Bell and I took it together which was a real delight. We took the story of Abraham’s servant finding a bride for Isaac as we had gone through this story the evening before at Saturday club so Joannie was able to give a good telling of the story from the flannel graph. The boys prayed and sang beautifully for Penny’s first time at Little Learners and I was really touched to see how much they have learned since we began. Especially precious was when Ethan said thankyou to God for “my Jesus.” Penny told the story beautifully using a children’s bible…we have so much to learn from the experience of others. We then had great fun dipping a beaker (water pot) into the well (large jug filled with water) and pouring it into the drinking trough (washing up bowl) using a playmobil Rebekah and a toy camel. It was thought provoking to hear Ethan’s comment of how throughout all her work he hoped someone gave Rebekah a drink! Penny did a craft with them to end the lesson even though we went way over time!

Pauline took a session on how Jesus is the Good Shepherd. If we go away from Him, He will come to look for us, because He loves us. After hearing the parable, the children found the lost sheep, hidden in a shoe box, and spent some time drawing and colouring a picture of a sheep. Joannie was more than happy to help out, followed quickly by Lydie with her broken leg!

Last week Elaine had a lovely true story to tell of Miranda having problems in the snow and how she needed to call on Jesus to help her. The boys produced a beautiful poster of which they were very proud, and rightly so, and had taken in the main lesson of how whenever we are worried we can call on Jesus and how He will not fail us. They sang "give me oil in my lamp" with an adapted verse of "give us petrol in our car, keep us driving" and Hadley remembered part of the song to tell Mummy…(who hasn’t sent in her blog entry)…..

Catch-up!

Time to catch up in here before we forget completely what we have covered! The second week of December we had another session on the shepherds and angels, this time with Joannie as the master storyteller from the flannel graph again. She knows just how to position the figures and the boys listened spell bound and were really forthcoming with their answers. We had Elaine with us that week so we managed some Christmas craft with silver foil, baubles, glue and ribbon with the verse “Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life” to enable the ornaments to hang on the Christmas tree!
Not to be outdone by his elder brother Hadley prayed this week and it needed a quiet ‘amen’ in his ear to suggest to him that it was time to finish!!

The following week I again reinforced the Christmas story, this time using flash cards, the white board and magnets which they loved. Then came Penny’s turn and she moved on to the wise men which I reinforced last week with the flannel graph, the white board, models of the Christmas ‘characters’ and a jigsaw. A lot of visuals but hey! They went down a real treat followed by wise men creations covered with glitter glue. Lydie and Elsie came and joined in after the church service while Hadley proved he has the memory verse down to a fine art.

Penny’s turn again next week so watch this space!

Encouragement

Last Sunday was a real encouragement. We had a new family in church and the younger two girls joined us in Little Learners. Our prayer time was very extended with so much exciting news for which to thank God. Ethan, Maya and Lottie all prayed individually with their list of thanksgivings to God which was a real delight to hear.

Our memory verse for this Christmas is “you shall call His Name JESUS” Matthew 1 v 21 which Hadley is beginning to master! The girls loved joining in the singing with percussion instruments so we shall try more of this the next time. I read with the help of Maya two story books about the shepherds seeing the angels and then running to see Jesus. I love what Lydie wrote a few years ago in Saturday club….”I would like to be a shepherd because you would think you are a nobody and then an angel comes and tells you that the Greatest Person on earth has been born. And that you can see Him.”

Then we had a wonderful time with our shepherd pictures and creating a thick covering of wool to keep even the shepherds warm! I think the pics below give a good idea of the activities. Church lunch was nearly forgotten in the fun of craft work!

Joannie's first time at Little Learners

Busy evening! Writing up what we did last Sunday and preparing for tomorrow. Well it was terrific having Joannie’s help. We started on the Christmas story including the journey to Bethlehem and the Baby Jesus being born and laid in a manger. We told the story together while Joannie put up the figures on the flannelgraph. It was a real joy to see my Saturday club girl changing roles and the boys were fascinated. She helped them with their pictures and as you can see from the photos Hadley had great fun with the golden glitter glue!