Oh, those trees

As the kids and I were out running errands yesterday, I almost ran over someone's Christmas tree. (For the record, we were having a wind storm that blew the tree into the middle of the street. It is safe to use the sidewalks when I'm driving.) The expedient folks that live in our neighborhood are taking down their trees, packing away their ornaments, and starting a fresh, new year. These are the same organized people that get their tree and corresponding decorations up during Thanksgiving weekend. Let me tell you, nothing makes me giddy like well organized closets, basements, cabinets, etc. I heart organization.

Picture my home. It's not as organized as I'd like. I live with kids under the age of 5, a collie that sheds faster than my twice-daily vacuuming can keep up with, and a home that is in constant refurbishment. I do keep up with chores as best I can. I am the person that stays up all night after moving into a house to unpack boxes, puts shelves back in order at the market, and will go back to any place that smells like bleach because it means clean.

You can imagine my feelings about our Christmas tree. The needles are falling, the boxes from the decorations are cluttering up my walkway in the basement, my ever-expanding preggers stomach makes watering the tree daily into an escapade that resembles freeing a whale stuck in a fishing net, and I've had to move the elaborate train set-up that ran around the tree skirt to clean up the ridiculous amount of glass that shattered when an ornament broke, which then meant I had to explain to my two-year-old why the trains had to be moved (ha!). But yet, despite the hassles, the tree remains.

As much as I love organization, I detest rushes and losing the meaning of important events. Don't tailgate me when I'm going the speed limit on a winding road in a snowstorm. Don't expect my children's birthday parties to be anything but an expression of who they are, even if it means that we're eating chili-cheese dogs, asparagus, and corn salad while we're in the backyard with the sprinkler on. And, please, for all the chocolate in the world, don't try to convince me that Christmas is about Santa and Easter is about the Easter Bunny.

Why is our tree still up? Because it's not time to take it down. Christmas is not over. It is the season of Christmas that will end on January 6. Epiphany is when the wise men reached the Christ child. There is more to the Christmas story. We need to celebrate all of it.

So, on Sunday, we'll be making a camel craft, a ridiculous star-shaped confection from white icing and sprinkles, and celebrating the whole Christmas story.

Anyone want to join me in ignoring the pine needles a little longer?

Pentecost

Here in the United States, Pentecost falls smack dab in the middle of Memorial Day weekend (can we saw loooooow Sunday?). We'll be spreading our celebration out over two Sundays.

This week, the children that attend Sunday School will be making Papier Mache pinatas. This is a great project for a mixed age group (we'll have kids from 3 years to 12 in the same group), as well as a crowd pleaser. Nothing says good time like a disgusting mess.

Inflated balloons will be suspended from the ceiling, down to an easy-to-reach height for the kids. Newspaper will be spread on the floor and small containers of water and glue will be next to each workstation. The kids will dip strips of newspaper into the glue/water mixture and slap them on the balloon. When the balloons are all covered, they'll slap pieces of red, orange, and yellow tissue paper all over the balloon. (Red, yellow, and orange will symbolize the flames.)

The celebration on the next Sunday will consist of several stations, all of which relate to the wind, different languages, and gifts of the Spirit.

1. The pinatas, which will be stuffed with Fruits of the Spirit stickers and small candies, will be taken outside for whacking.
2. Inside will be a table spread with different breads from around the world, to symbolize the different languages that were spoken on the first Pentecost.
3. Cake decorating will be done on individual cupcakes (what's a birthday party without cake?). Each child will spread white icing onto their cupcake, place a white candle in the middle, and decorate with red, orange, and yellow sprinkles.
4. Wind catchers will be made out of simple crepe paper and other recycled items.

All of the centers will be visited after the Pentecost story is told. The children will be told to be on the lookout for how the activities relate to wind, fire, and different languages. They will be given scrap paper to write down any notes and those with correct responses receive a prize at the end of the session. (I recommend that only one correct answer is required for a prize.)

All of these activities help children learn about an important church holiday in a setting with which they are already familiar- a birthday party!

joyful noise offering

Looking for a new way to support mission projects in your church? Try a joyful noise offering!

We put up a bulletin board (or some sort of display) describing the project. Then we encourage the congregation to save their loose change. On Sunday, the children then carry painter's buckets (the metal kinds you can find in the hardware store) during the offering and people drop their change into the bucket.

Benefits:

• people generally don't miss their loose change and find it an easy way to contribute in second-mile giving.
• the sound of the change in the buckets is amazing!
• it's a quick, easy that involves the children and congregation in funding important missions.

Don't like to count change? (Join the club!) Take the buckets to your local bank or credit union that have free coin sorters. You'll be amazed with how much money can be raised this way.

a cool place to get supplies

Are you looking for sources for craft supplies at great prices? Here on Long Island we have the Materials Resource Center. For a small membership fee, you and your organization can pick up all sorts of materials. (Fabric, wood, yarn, blank books, cardboard, and carpet, just to name a few.)

The best part? All of these are recycled. Not only is it a great deal, but a super lesson in stewardship!

Check in your local Yellow Pages or Google and see if you have something in your area.

Any other resources you love? Add a comment and let's share!

sibling rivalry and the Bible

I am the mommy of two little sweeties that are 22 months apart. They are very close and are basically best buddies. Except when they're tormenting each other. Or yelling at each other. Or getting a bit physical. In the past two weeks, I saw an increase in these undesired behaviors and I grew weary. So weary. Oh, did I mention frustrated? Even angry? Not good. Something had to give, and I wasn't willing to be what left.

We began a Bible study of Biblical siblings. I chose Joseph and his brothers, Miriam and Moses, and Mary and Martha. Joseph and his brothers became our touchstone text as we were able to refer to saying, "I forgive you!" and "I will share with you!" easily. We spent three days only on this story until the kids were able to repeat it at the drop of a hat. (Well, Jeb's version is somewhat fuzzy-sounding since his verbal language is not quite English.)

Now we've spent 3 days on Miriam and Moses, which has had a very powerful effect on Miss Annalise. She's really soaking in when it is important to take care of her brother and when it is just being bossy.

Tomorrow we'll start on Mary and Martha. As we have been doing, we'll just read the story several times during the day. Then, on the next day, we'll pull out particular pieces, like how Jesus told Martha not to concern herself in 'tattling' but on focusing on what is important (time with him). By Friday, we'll be ready to make our own book. The kids will illustrate and narrate and I'll write what they've dictated.

What are the benefits?

• the kids have positive role models
• the kids have specific language to use to help them with the difficult situations
• the mommy has specific instances to point to so the kids have a reference
• the mommy and the kids are less frustrated

Things are much smoother around here this week. Yes, we've had a few 'upsets', but none of the drop down, drag out scream sessions. Lots of prayer + strategy= peace (or as much peace you can have in a home with 2 children and a dog)

Scavenger Hunt Culminating Activity

The children in our church are particularly fond of hunts. We have limited space and are surrounded by a public graveyard, so we've had to get creative with scavenger hunts. We have found that the plastic Easter eggs that are prevalent in early spring are quite useful in this regard. They are small, brightly colored so that they aren't easily lost, and can be hidden outdoors beforehand since they seal (this doesn't hold if you use food, though- squirrels eat through the plastic in 20 minutes).

One way that we used this was in our culmination activity of our beatitudes study. We color coded each clue so that everyone was looking specifically for certain things. We handed out paper bags that we had coded with marker to remind the children what they were looking for. We pre-stuffed the eggs with beatitudes stickers I found from Smile Makers. The children hunted. You could hear them yelling out clues to each other and making sure that everyone was taken care of. (We had 50 children outside ranging in age from 4 to 13.)

Once the hunt was over, they had different activities. The oldest group put together a puzzle of all the beatitudes. The upper and early elementary kids worked with invisible ink to illustrate the beatitudes. (Lemon juice is great for this.)

Other materials you can use for hunts are plastic zip-top bags (very good for older children), clean yogurt containers, small, clean water bottles, and cardboard egg cartons (they blend into surroundings very well). Using a mixture of the materials is useful if you want to level the search so that it can be done with many age levels at once (for example, zippy bags for the oldest children, plastic eggs for the youngest). You can also level the activity by having the children search in different ways (the oldest have to do it with their eyes closed while someone calls out hints, the middle children have to hop on one foot, and the youngest children have to help the others).

My own two children are quite fond of searching for things in our backyard after dark. I send them out with flashlights and their sand buckets for their collections. Our poor collie gets quite confused by this, but one good dog biscuit, and she's a happy pup.

Have you used hunts? Let us know what you've found out!

Beatitudes and Children's Literature

One method for teaching the beatitudes to the early elementary aged children (6-9) is to use children's literature. We chose 4 texts to be our touchstones that would supplement our Bible study and related activities. They are:

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partidge by Mem Fox the story of the interactions between a little boy and his friend that is suffering from Alzheimer's type symptoms

Beatrice's Goat by Page McBrier the story of a young girl and her family in Uganda, who are the recipients of a goat from the Heifer Project

Thank You, Mr. Faulkner by Patricia Polacco the autobiographical story of the author as she dealt with learning difficulties and her relationship with her peers and the teacher who changed everything

Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli the story of how love changes the life of a lonely man

We began each session with a Bible reading that focus on the beatitudes. We would allow time for discussion and questions before reading one of the above stories. As we would read, we would ask the children how what they were hearing was related to the beatitudes. (We had a bulletin board that the children made, hanging up with the different beatitudes for ready reference.) Discussions always followed, along with a craft or drawing time to allow for retelling of the points made.

There are advantages to using children's literature that is often thought of as secular. Children have easy access to these works; they are prevalent in their school classrooms, libraries, and homes. They have probably been exposed to them before or will be in the near future. This is particularly advantageous because the children have additional opportunities to make connections or add to their fount of experience. They also see that their Christian Education is not just something that happens at church and home.

What are some texts that you have found useful for the early elementary set in this particular subject area?