The Sunday School Teacher's Network Newsletter - Great ideas for children's ministry!





October 31, 2011 Ideas? Questions? Opinions? Articles are listed, below. When replying, highlight the text that is pertinent to your response, then hit reply. Title your message to reflect the content. 1) ATTENTION! Mail Server Glitch, etc. 2) Youth Vision Class 3) It's Christmas Day - Song-Skit 4) Lessons for 5th/6th grade class? 5) My Favorite Things 6) Sinful Woman Skit? 7) Idea Folder "Portable SSTN" 8) Permissions for Church Newsletter 9) Ten Commands Teaching Guide 10) Ten Commands Shoes 11) Jesus-ween 12) HELP! Sunday School is Dying 13) Trunk n' Treat 14) Dry Bones Skit The Red Button indicates a teacher who needs your help.

1) ATTENTION: Mail Server Glitch, etc. Late Saturday night I discovered a glitch in the SSTN mail server. Come to find out not all SSTN mail was getting through, but some was, which is why it went undetected for so long. If you sent a message and it was never posted to the newsletter or responded to, then the mail glitch is to blame. I am so sorry! I'll be spending a good portion of my day getting this straightened out, and going through mail that was sent, some as far back as May 2011. I will begin posting those delayed postings today. Please pray that I get this straightened out today. Please continue to pray for my health. I find out tomorrow the test results regarding my heart. And, please pray that God would supply the finances to keep SSTN running. The down economy has been challenging keeping it solvent. I hope you'll enjoy today's newsletter! Your Webservant, Sarah Keith <><

2) Youth Vision classes Hi Sarah, I had used your curriculum for four years for my Youth Vision classes. I am the teacher and it is my decision what I want to teach. Someone new on our board suggested a curriculum that they had used and thought was really good. I felt obliged to let someone else have some say in our lessons so, I gave it a try . I regretted the decision all school year. The organization of the lessons were similar to yours but, for some reason it was a struggle to get them to work. I ended up having to put something together on my own for my 6th graders because the lessons were too young for them (even though it was supposed to work for grades 1-6). This is year six and I am using another one of your books again. I have a habit of doing things the way I want to do them, and seldom compromise. I used to think that was a character flaw of mine that I needed to work on. Ha! Never again, at least when it comes to curriculum. I knew what I was getting from you was the best and I should have stuck to my guns. I may be stubborn but, apparently I am perceptive when it comes to teaching my classes. I am excited to see that you have a new book coming out. I will plan on that for next year! Thanks so much for a great job, Kim Eriksen --from SSTN: Thank you, Kim! Sometimes an encouraging word can brighten one's day...and yours just did that for me! For anyone else interested in learning about our curriculum, visit the following link: http://www.sundayschoolnetwork.com/Bible-4-life.html In ministry together! Sarah Keith	Jesus-O-Lantern Many of you may have received the story via e-mail, on witnessing salvation by using a Jack-O-Lantern: The inside of the pumpkin represents the sin in our life. When we ask Christ to forgive our sins, HE "cleans us out" - removes the sin. Then as Christ changes our lives, the story suggests that we designate this by carving a happy face that shines for the entire world to see. The past few years I have shared Christ in the much the same manner but by carving a unique...click the lantern to get the rest of this lesson. *Support SSTN --learn how-- Click here.*

3) It's Christmas Day - Song-Skit Children perform the music, while other children pantomime the Nativity scene. A baby boy was born one day In a stable far away He nestled in a manger bed On straw he laid his tiny head (Chorus) It's Christmas Day all over earth let the... To get the rest of the lyrics for "It's Christmas Day" and the music accompaniment, go to our Holidays & Holy Days Skits page at: http://sundayschoolnetwork.com/skits-Christmas.html


4) Lessons for 5th/6th grade class Hello! Any ideas/suggestions for the subject? I'm stumped!! They're too mature for the younger age-group materials .... Thanks a million and God Bless you!! Cathy Rader St. John's Presbyterian --from SSTN: The Bible-4-Life books are written to "teach up," which means the younger ones must be pulled along. However, there are also preteen and teen options in our online bookstore: http://www.sundayschoolnetwork.com/bookstore.html
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5) My Favorite Things Love the “My Favorite Things” parody! And it came in a timely fashion as we are holding Celebration Sunday to recognize Teachers and the children this coming Sunday. Thanks Kath Doerr! Andrea Paschal



6) Sinful Woman Skit? Hi I need a 3-5 skit on the sinful woman. Do you have anything I can use. Thank you and Aloha, Jackie Allaire


7) Idea Folder "Portable SSTN" Sarah & all those who contribute, Thanks so much for all your ideas. They really helped me out this morning! I keep a binder of ideas from your site that I think might work with the kids at our church. This morning, on the way out the door to Sunday School, I was asked to substitute for the teacher of the twos & threes. I had always taught school age kids until today! I grabbed the idea folder, & while my husband did the driving, I found a lesson idea & two songs. That got me through the classtime...& the students left smiling! Your site is so helpful. Thanks again! Norene






8) Permissions for Church Newsletter I love your Sunday school network. it gives me great pleasure and I learn so much. I would like to share some of this information with others. can i get permission to put one of your articles in our church newsletter? --from SSTN: please see our copyright page: www.sstn.org/copyright.html



9) Ten Commands Teaching Guide I absolutely loved the easy to use teaching guide for God’s Top Ten and the flashcards made it so simple to remember. Thank you, Maranetta --from SSTN: Thank you, Maranetta. Those have been among our most successful teaching aids, along with our poster. I wish parents and teachers would make it their mission to put our Ten Commandments poster in the homes of children in their care! http://www.sundayschoolnetwork.com/curriculum-ten-commandments-poster.htm



10) Ten Commandments Shoes One activity (4 and 5 year olds) we did for the ten commandments was tracing the students shoes and letting them color their footprint. We discussed Moses and the people walked through the sand to the place where God gave us His rules. At the bottom of the paper we glued "God wants us to follow His rules" I haven't looked through the ten commandment activities you have on your website, but you could add this if you would like. http://www.sundayschoolnetwork.com/lessons-ten-commandments.html Tenise



11) Jesus-ween I have not heard this term before but we have a Fall Fellowship Trunk of Treats. Our objective is to reach more kids than Satan does that night. Several area churches, about 10, combine together in our city park. We have asked each congregant to provide a bag of candy or trinkets, each church to decorate one car's trunk with a general theme, this year it is "Potpourri", each church provide an activity such as soda ring toss, cookie decorating, face painting, cake walk, moonwalks, and hayride. The final thing we ask for is food items. Each church has one item such as nachos, cotton candy, hot dogs (this church has to do old fashioned wiener roast on a clothes hanger), sausage on a bun or stick, pizza, popcorn balls, candid apples, snow cones, popcorn and so forth. We suggest that each church devise a schedule so that all can fellowship, not only are adults needed to man the food booths but to patrol the grounds and activities, esp. the hayride. Taking turns makes it fun for all. We also have a huge container of candy corn that each person can guess the number of candies. We allow costumes but no witches, ghost or blood. We hand out church invitation cards and tracts. This year we have invited our volunteer firefighters to bring out a truck and hand out candy from the truck, the police dept. and several community businesses. Everyone decorates the area of their booth and car and it's beautiful, easy, and inexpensive. It's an awesome fellowship and outreach time. Last year we actually were able to minister to more unchurched adults than children. We have been truly blessed with this opportunity. Let me know if there is any way I can further help. Let me of any additional ideas you may have. Donita



12) HELP! Sunday School is Dying How can a Sunday school be revived? How can you get adults interested in coming to Sunday school when he people don't think its necessary anymore. They say it was for back then. Please any suggestions will be greatly appreciated! Kimberly P. Walker



13) Trunk n' Treat We are sponsoring a Trunk and Treat for both our church family and our church neighborhood. Prior to this we will also have an indoor session with a lesson and into of our children's programs. --from SSTN: for those of you who are not familiar with Trunk n Treats, visit our home page to use the "Search the Site" box to learn more: http://www.sundayschoolnetwork.com/



14) Dry Bones Skit Dear Friend at sstn@Sunday SchoolNetwork.com, Thank you for the nice and simple explanation of the Valley of the Dry Bones you made into a short skit. I think the children will not be scared but will enjoy the story because of this clear, understandable message through your skit. Can I use your idea because we are also working on our Sunday School materials in our church? May God richly bless us as we work and share our Sunday School lessons around the world. In His service, Aida --from SSTN: all materials in the site are there for use within your church, but may not be sold or distributed. Please see our copyright page referenced above in item #8. For those wanting to use the Dry Boes skit, you can find it on our skits page for under Fall Skits, Plays & Dramas: http://www.sundayschoolnetwork.com/skits.html

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Copyright 1997 - 2011 / d.b.a. "S. A. Keith of Creative Imaginations Reproducing in any medium, commercial or noncommercial, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission. SSTN has contributors from all over the world who share their ideas. If you reprint any of the ideas from SSTN, SundaySchoolNetwork.com or ChristianCrafters.Com in any medium (websites, magazines, newsletters, etc.), you must contact the submitter, and website for reprint permissions. Any materials used must also include the submitter's name and where the ideas were gleaned from. The opinions expressed or advertisements displayed in the SSTN e-Newsletter are not necessarily endorsed by SundaySchoolNetwork.com or any of its affiliates. SSTN reserves the right to edit and or exclude information from the SSTN e-Newsletter.