Summer Sunday School for Elementary Age Children:
“Sundae Sunday” Lesson in a Bag (PDF Version) 
Are you looking for easy, inexpensive summer “Faith Exploration” lessons which require little to no set up time for teachers?
What you will need:
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1 extra large zip-lock bags for each week
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a Bible story for each week (Secular story books with spiritual or religious themes could be used as well.)
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a craft idea or game for each week
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necessary supplies or directions where to find them
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popsicles or Hoodsie ice cream cups (optional)
How to use this resource:
(One person or a committee of people can put these bags together…)
For each week of the summer that you will have Sunday school:
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Create an instruction sheet for each week which includes suggestions for greeting time, prayers, story time, suggested discussion questions, activity/game instructions, ice cream time, closing prayer.
Sunday mornings might look like this.
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The two teachers would arrive and pick up the pre-packaged lesson in a bag.
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When Sundae Sunday starts, children arrive, attendance is taken, a prayer is offered, offering is received, etc.
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The story is read to the children.
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Have a brief discussion about the story using “I wonder” questions.
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Do an art project or play a game relating to the story.
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5-10 minutes prior to the end of class offer each of the children a popsicle or ice cream cup.
The Massachusetts Conference Resource Center is made possible through generous donations
to Our Churches Wider Mission and Fellowship Dues.
Come Ye Faithful to the newly established Christian Education and/ or Youth Ministry Communities of Practice! There have been two facilitator trainings and groups in each association are now being formed. Christian Education and /or Youth Ministry Communities of Practice are intended to support educators and youth workers serving in the MACUCC Conference providing them with networking, increased awareness of UCC resources, as well as effective and best practices of Christian education and youth ministry found throughout our local churches. If you would like to participate and have not received an invitation from a Community of Practice facilitator, please contact Cindy Bolton at boltonc@macucc.org or Elsa Marshall at elsa.marshall@gmail.com.
Lent traditionally focuses on an increased emphasis on prayer. When we pray we “connect with God” and we become more aware of God’s presence within us. Something within us young and old, longs to know God. A spiritual writer suggests that we can think of our own heart as God's “family room within us”. What a beautiful image of a place where we can just relax with God! During Lent have each Sunday School class in your church be intentional about the Christian practice of prayer. Help children learn many different forms of prayer and experience communicating with God. By praying we rest in God. As our children learn to communicate with God, they too find this special place of rest. Prayer encourages a special relationship with God. Through practice and example teach the children of your church school that to talk with God, prayer, is a privilege - not a duty. Here are a few suggestions for this Lenten season: 
- Set aside two consistent times each class for prayer. The time spent can be as little as three minutes.
- Encourage your children to express their thoughts in their own words. Help them to include praise, thanks, apologies, concerns, and requests for others as part of their prayers. Let them hear your prayers as well.
- Make sure your class also takes time to listen. Listening is an important a part of any conversation. Provide silence in which to think, reflect, wait, and listen.
- Young children can draw their prayers on note cards and you can post them in the classroom on a clothesline.
- Create a prayer corner in your classroom. Place a clipboard, some paper, a few markers in the corner and you have created a sacred space.
- Ask students to write a passage from Scripture on a blank page of paper. Invite them to allow the words to fill the page. Have them read the words slowly, reading them over and over again. Then instruct them to highlight, circle, color the word/s or phrase that speaks to them and to fill the page with doodles and free forms created from colored pencils, pens, markers while reflecting.
- Have students list everything they are unhappy about on one side of a piece of paper. Have them list everything they are happy about on the other side. We can be grateful and grumpy with God.
- Have each child create a prayer jar. Plastic peanut butter jars are safe and each child could probably bring one to class or collect junior size baby food jars and lids. Be sure to make one for yourself. Using a label and magic marker, label each jar: “From me to God and Jesus” Each week during class have each child write a one sentence prayer or draw a picture prayer and put it in the jar. Give the children their prayer jars to take home after Lent.
- Teach children there are many and varied postures for prayer. Sometimes we bow our heads, sometimes we close our eyes, sometimes we fold our hands, sometimes we stand up and hold hands, other times we might want to hold our hands outstretched, sometimes we kneel and maybe sometimes we want to pray laying face down with our arms outstretched making the sign of the cross. As a class project you might have each child lay down on a larger than their body sheet of paper and have them outstretch their arms to make the sign of the cross. Trace each child. Have them put their names on their sheets and post them on the classroom walls. Each week have students color prayers or write prayers on their own body cross sheet. Have the children take them home on Palm Sunday.
- Teach the class Flash Prayers. Flash prayers are simple prayers offered when we see someone in need we flash (send) them a prayer. “God be with _______, be with them.” If you hear a fire engine or an ambulance, send a flash prayer. “God please be with that person who is sick or in need.” If a child notices someone who is sad, they can send a flash prayer. “God make _______ happy again.” Children can quickly pick up on this kind of intercessory prayer and after very little practice can recognize many situations were flash prayers can be prayed. Each Sunday ask them to share the flash prayers they sent during the week.
- If you have a computer lab in your church school or in your classroom, have the children go to the following website for interactive prayer time. www.catholicireland.net/talk2god
- Have the children say a blessing together before they leave class. Young children can easily say to one another, “God bless you.” Primary age can offer, “May God bless you and keep you.” Older students can add, “May the face of God shine on you and be kind to you. May God turn toward you and give you peace.” (paraphrase of Numbers 6:25)
The Advent Wreath 
Use the Advent wreath in your classrooms as sacred and holy teaching time. Employ the lighting of the wreath as a gentle and visual reminder that Advent is a time of preparing ourselves and each other for Emmanuel, Jesus, Light of the world. Begin each class during Advent lighting your classroom Advent wreath and offering a brief candle lighting service as the gathering activity, even if there is a special time offered in worship for the lighting of the Advent wreath. You can purchase wreaths or have your class create one for their use. Use battery operated candles which are readily available in this season. Spray paint them purple and pink. Leave the center battery operated pillar white. Two special liturgies are available on the UCC website. Make sure each student in your classroom has a copy so they can fully participate. Make this time interactive. Have participants stand when they read. Ask the whole class to stand for their responses. Perhaps you would offer the liturgy as a reader’s theatre, or have the children experience and learn American Sign Language for a couple of the words repeated each week.
Advent is the beginning of the church year. In life we all order time and seasons of the year by using calendars which provide us occasions to witness, revere and mark certain events or occasions. The church’s liturgical calendar provides us with recurring opportunities to celebrate our many and varied stories of Scripture. Following earlier Jewish tradition, Christians have long used the seasons of the year as an opportunity for festivals and holidays. Sacred time set aside to inform and teach about God and Jesus. This is important, not only for the whole congregation, but especially for the children. In the context of the church’s life and celebration, it demonstrates and instructs them in those things that are important to their faith (Deut 6:20-25).
The Advent Candle Lighting Service, A Liturgy of Light found at http://www.ucc.org/worship/worship-ways/pdfs/advent-candle-lighting.pdf focuses on Old Testament readings. The other Advent Candle Lighting Service, Advent the Journey to Christmas, found at http://i.ucc.org/Portals/0/adventwreath.pdf also includes two Old Testament readings. An important message of the Old Testament prophetic books lies in what they tell us about God, what they render to us about ourselves, and what they reveal of how God relates to us and how we should respond to God. It is often easy to take the Old Testament readings for the season of Advent as the preliminaries that are setting the stage for Christmas. In one sense that is true as they focus on expectation, hope, and God’s future work in history. But when we listen to the Old Testament readings as Scripture, we hear the living word of God spoken through the community of faith across the centuries, God speaking in various times and in various ways. The Biblical story and theology developed within the life of Israel and the traditions of the Old Testament will inform later revelations of God in history. The Old Testament Scriptures bear witness to God’s grace, and they will continue to call us to repentance, righteousness, justice and a transformed life. In that, there is a preparation and leading toward hearing and receiving the new Word spoken to us in Jesus the Christ (Heb 1:1-2). What a worthy gift to offer our youth and children this Advent season.
November 2008 Christian Education Survey:
Recently, on behalf of the Commission for Educational Ministries, an electronic survey was sent to all the churches in the MACUCC with questions to be answered by Christian educators, associate ministers, youth leaders, CE committee chairs or any person directly related to the administration of the church's educational programs. Thank you to all who participated in this survey. We will be in contact with you.
To view the results, click here.
RALLY DAY: PART II 
Now that Rally Day and Welcome Back Sunday have come and gone, consider assessing your faith formation programs with these questions:
- How are the learners engaged with the congregation as their extended family of faith?
- How do we, as a congregation, help the children and youth fully participate in the whole life of the church (including its leadership) as they are able?
- How are we equipping our children and youth with the language, practices, traditions, rituals, music to participate in the worshipping life of the church community?
- How are our children and youth experiencing the Christian Scriptures and how are we providing opportunities for them to imagine and realize that the stories of the bible are intertwined with their personal stories?
- How is the learning environment reflective that this is a “special place” a place where we gather to praise and worship God?
What happens not only on Sunday mornings but whenever the church gathers is a learning opportunity for all the congregation, from the youngest to the eldest and should mirror and reflect our beliefs, traditions, and understanding of being God’s people. All generations need multiple relationships with people from many different ages and in many stages of faith development. We are all constantly being formed in the faith and grow from each other and from shared experiences.
Adults and children alike must be accepted for who they are and encouraged to participate in the life of the community according to their gifts and talents.
Children and youth must be involved in learning contexts that provide them with resources and experiences that enable them to have a sense of belonging, to feel that this is a place that I call home. That requires they have access to the church’s rich use of words, spiritual practices, liturgy, and biblical story. The faith family together encounters the living God when directly sharing in experiences and/or personal spiritual stories. This creates space for trust and for wondering together about the relationship of their experiences and stories to their lives, and the tradition’s understanding of who God is and how God is present to us in all facets of our lives.
RALLY DAY: PART I
Here are some things to consider:
How will we begin or kick off this fall’s Sunday School? Will there be a time for families to come to the church and register their children for the church school? Choose a Sunday in September or an evening during the week and hold registration and create your own sundae Sunday. Or perhaps you would prefer to have a registration breakfast or luncheon. Invite everyone through the church’s newsletter, e-groups, and send individual postcard invitations to each family. Advertize the event in your local newspaper and put it on the local cable network. Make sure teachers are present to meet the children and their families. Have registration centrally located and easily available for guests and visitors as well as for new families. Good signage should be strategically placed directing people to registration. Have the curriculum to be used out and available in each child’s classroom. Make your Christian education mission statement visible both in words and by the practices that are being experienced. Have calendars, brochures and materials available for the upcoming church school year. Create an information packet for families about the policies and procedures that are in place for the church school (i.e.) pick up procedures for children, discipline policy, media/electronic equipment use, field trips, two adult rule, incident reporting forms etc. Use this as an intentional time to make everyone welcome. Celebrate this as a reunion time and a special event. Utilize registration to build energy and enthusiasm for your children’s ministry.
Are the classrooms prepared, welcoming and ready? Be sure that every classroom is clean, neat and looks ready and welcoming. Have bulletin boards covered with fresh paper. Dust and wash the tables and chairs. Make sure the curtains are crisp and clean. Clean the carpets. Arrange the bookshelves neatly. Have all the supplies fresh and waiting for use. Check all the equipment that it is working properly. Throw away broken crayons, dried up magic markers, glue sticks and paste. Have fresh stacks of colored and white paper available as well as staplers filled and scissors ready. Put up fresh posters and have signs saying “welcome, glad you are here”. If you have different learning stations in the classroom, make sure signs are decorative and well placed. Make sure the worship center is prepared with the right liturgical color and that a bible and offering basket are there. Place a new Christ candle in the middle of the worship center. Have a first aid kit in every classroom as well as an evacuation plan.
How is the children’s stewardship and offering to be handled? Too often children’s offering is not connected to the lesson or to worship and therefore the understanding that they are called to respond to God’s abundant goodness and grace through their time, talents and money is lost. If the children’s offering is taken during worship separately from the worship offertory time, it is important that the children are clear that their offering will be joined with the adult’s offering later in worship. They should be made aware over and over again, that later in worship, their offering will also have a prayer asking for God’s blessing upon it and that it will be used for the ministry and mission of the church. If the children’s offerings are collected during church school class, then time should be set aside for the collection of their gifts. The class can sing the doxology together and they can read a prayer each week following the collection. If they have forgotten their offering ask the child to hold the offering basket and to pause, and while holding the basket silently think of something they can do as a gift for a member of their family or a friend. Children can make stewardship pledges beyond money by offering to bring cans of food for the food drive each month, offering to participate in the church school’s mission and outreach programs, and offering to do something for others. Be sure that the teaching staff is trained to talk with children about stewardship, how the church uses their donations and that they often thank their class for their generous gifts and offerings.
How is hospitality provided to new children and their families? Welcoming is a sacred act as the story of Abraham and Sarah illustrates. Hospitality is a biblical tradition. It is important that the church be extravagant in it’s provisions for new families and children. Make sure that name tags worn by everyone, adults and children alike. Specify and assign greeters for new children and families at registration. They can become their shepherds through registration and in the beginning weeks that follow as visitors and guest decide if they wish to make this their church home. Go through your facility, looking at it as if you have never been in the community before so that you can evaluate it for signage, directions to bathrooms, the sanctuary, classrooms, etc. Are all the bulletin boards throughout interesting and informational? Are there informational packets about the church’s life, ministry and mission available and plentiful? Another words, would a visitor know that there are fellowship dinners for all on Weds. evenings followed by a brief worship service and then bible study with child care provided? Is worship welcoming to young and old? Do you offer Sunday bulletins to children and youth? Do you offer Sunday bulletins designed for non-readers? Have ushers and greeters been trained in ways to “meet and welcome” children? Are there activity packets for children and age appropriate bibles available for their use? Is there a plan for greeting and meeting new families visiting the church? Is there a plan for greeting and meeting their children? How do they know where and when their children go to church school? Is there an intentional strategy to integrate them into the church family from coffee fellowship time until they become full members?
Is the teaching ministry staff prepared and trained? Jesus is the prime example of a good teacher. All of us are called to ministry as part of our baptism. Teaching is a true calling and preparing the teaching ministry staff is vital. It is important that each of us is equipped for the call that we answer. Teacher orientation and ongoing communications and training sessions should be scheduled and be part of the staff’s call to ministry. Teaching is a covenantal relationship with God, the church and the students with whom the staff is working. Have a teaching staff “job” description i.e. the church will provide curriculum, supplies, clean classrooms, training experiences, leadership and resource persons, and ongoing prayer and support. The teaching staff will use the curriculum, prepare and be in the classroom on their team teaching Sundays or call a substitute, know their students and attempt to recognize their needs, attend training events whenever possible, etc. Dedicate and commission for ministry the teaching staff during worship making sure that the entire congregation is mentioned as part of this special and faith forming ministry. The dedication becomes a “teaching opportunity” to remind all members that each are mentors in faith to one another, young and old alike.
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