IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:
1) Multiple Ages
2) Multiple Ages
3) Multiple Ages
4) Teaching Very Young Kids?
5) Bible Memory Video
6) Regarding Cubs and Programs
7) HELP!
8) Teaching Multiple Ages

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1) Multiple Ages

Michelle,
I too am teaching a class on Wednesday nights with children ranging in ages from 2-11 years old.  What I do is the following:  We do songs and prayer (every age seems to enjoy the singing), then I have a story time to tell the students the bible story.  After the story time we go to a table set up for the craft.  I try to make the craft something that the older kids really enjoy and then I help the younger kids.  You can usually find something that the older kids can do very elaborately, but yet the younger kids can just do what they can.  For example, last week we talked about the Tower of Babel.  For the craft I bought 2 1/2" terra cotta pots.  I turned them upside down on paper plates and let the kids paint their little towers.  The older kids got really into this and my two year olds enjoyed just putting every color here and there on their towers.  I then try to play a memory verse game or something for the older kids and let the younger ones watch or do a puzzle or coloring sheet if they are unable to understand the game.  Also, if I do something that is a little babyish for the older ones I have crossword puzzles and wordsearches for them while I work with the younger kids.  All in all, it is called major preparation.  I find that you need lots of different activities at different levels for a diversity of ages.  But I also find the class to be very fun with lots of ages.  I think all of the kids benefit from it. Hope some of that helps.

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2) Multiple Ages

Dear Michelle,
With multiple ages you really have to keep things simple.  Action games work well, such as relay races and usually accomodate a variety of ages.  Any crafts that you do need to be process oriented.  For example instead of having the kids make a finished product to take home that is going to bore the older kids and too difficult for the younger.  You can do things like put out play dough and have the kids make props to use durning the story. Such as "Today we're learning about Joseph.  He had many brothers.  Could you make the brothers for today's story.  Then let the older kids help the younger ones and use them to tell the story.  For telling the story of Moses and the 10 plagues,  let the kids make a mat of Egypt from a big piece of paper.  They can cut up garden catalogues and glue on and color in the Nile River and the Red Sea.  Other kids can use a paper punch to punch holes from different colors  of construction paper to represent the 10 plagues (use the black dots to represent flies, green dots for grasshoppers, etc.  These ideas came from a web site called www.edupatterns.com.  There is a whole year of curriculum material for free at that web site.
Blessings as you minister such a diverse group of kids.
Linda Lawler  Pittsburgh, PA

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3) Multiple Ages

Michelle,
I worked with those ages together for about 2 years and grew to love it!
Have the older, more mature ones help the little ones.  Doing this, they
both learn and teach.  Also, organization is the key!  Have a few activities
for each age group that they can do with little or none of your help.  Get
one group started, and then go on to the next.  When you play games, you can
either split them up into age groups or leave them all together.  The kids
enjoy working together sometimes!  Again, pair up the younger and older
children to play games. There are many materials in both spanish and english for multiple age groups.  They may not cover all the age groups you are working with, but as you get to know the kids you will know what you need to do to adapt the
lessons to each age. Hope this is helpful!
Teresa

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4) Teaching Very Young Kids?

Does anyone have any ideas on how to teach really small kids, like ages 1-4 yrs?

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5) Bible Memory Video

We used the video "Bible Break"...a sing along video that is catchy and loads of fun...our 1st-5th graders learned over a 3 month period (Wednesday nights).  We played the video the first 10 minutes every week.  They all memorized it and 9months later we still hear them humming the tune when they need to look up scripture!  And me too!
Have fun!
Teri Harper
Trinity Church
Lompoc, CA

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6) Regarding Cubs and Programs to Chris Austin

On wednesday nights we have Royal Rangers At our church. It is for Boys K-18. there is a web sight for Royal Rangers. It is to reach, teach and lead boys to Christ.
Commander Marie
FSalt77@aol.com

--From ChristianCrafters.Com-I found the official site at:
http://ag.org/Royal-Rangers/

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7) HELP!

I ran across a web address from this site (I believe) that had weekly Sunday
School lessons along with craft ideas for each particular lesson.  I
bookmarked the site, and then had a major computer crash - the bookmarks
were eaten.  Does this site ring any bells with anyone??  It was a great
site, and I had planned to use it for my class as well as the youth group
for our church.
Thanks,
Patti

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8) Teaching Multiplte Ages

My friend and I started a ministry a year ago, to weekly teach sunday school at an orphanage which is home to mostly street kids. The two of us
had 40 children from the ages of 3 to 14, we could not split the group into two because at the time we only had a few small children and the rest
were older and we felt it would be easier if there were two of us to control them (rather than split them and have one person with 4 children and
the other with 35). What we did was to keep them together for singing, scripture reading and activites like a story but then we split them when
it came to the activity, giving the younger ones activities like colouring in and the older ones mazes, crosswords etc. We did not move them into
separate rooms due to lack of space so we had the room divided into two and to keep them working quietly we had children's praise & worship
playing and this helped a great deal. Also appoint one of the older children to be the leader of the group of older children during their
activity, teaching them responsibility is good for their self-esteem and will help you a great deal.

I pray that the Lord provides the labourers for you so you can split them soon but enjoy the experience you'll grow a great deal!
Vicky van Staden
Sunshine Kids Ministry - Full Gospel Church, Benoni, South Africa (http://go.to/gang.sa)

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