|
|
|
|
|
|
Children’s
Ministry Committee Welcomes You Winnetka Congregational Church School is designed to Know God Follow Jesus
Christ Serve God and Neighbor
The Children’s Ministry Committee
of Winnetka Congregational Church is your source for children’s programming
and Christian education. We offer the following children’s
activities programs, each designed to foster the love of God and neighbor
within a nurturing Christian community:
Drawing upon Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, we moved to story-based curriculum to encourage and facilitate the variety of learning experiences children prefer and enjoy. Our curriculum today is embedded within the seasons of the church year as it tracks Old and New Testament stories heard in our worship services. With our holy scriptures as our template and foundation we draw from great works of children’s literature as contemporary parallels of “good book” tales. Classroom time is experiential. Children study scripture, learn prayers, design liturgical arts and personal masterpieces, work on dramas, and learn that God values their gifts of worship as part of the Body of Christ. These creative offerings are received periodically as part of our whole congregational worship. The result, we hope, is a full-bodied experience of what it means to be a child of God, a person of the Book, and a follower of Jesus.
Our children are best
served by a partnership between parents, teachers, and staff. As they learn stories of the faith, the children also learn new concepts while reviewing and deepening their understanding previously taught concepts.
2008 CHURCH SCHOOL CALENDAR
Our Pastors and
Children’s Ministry leaders make the presentation to 5th graders during worship
service—each student will come forward to receive a blessing and their own
personalized Bible. Junior Kindergarten and 3rd
graders receive their Bibles during church school. Service to our greater community
is an important aspect of Christian Education. We collect money—mostly
single dollars and coins—as a part of our weekly classroom ritual. All monies
are collected solely for outreach and mission and are not used for church
school operations. In 2004/2005 we donated to The Night Ministry. In 2006/2007 church school offering will go
to Heifer International, an international organization which aims to increase
self-sustenance in impoverished areas. Our goal is to raise $1000.00 to
purchase a “Milk Menagerie” of 1 water buffalo, 1 heifer and 2 goats. We hope you will
encourage your child’s natural generosity by discussing how they can
contribute to a healthy society through their church school.
At WCC, we recognize that
our children are uniquely gifted and are blessings to the whole church. We
celebrate each child. As an historic leader in
Village matters, WCC strives to provide moral leadership so that we can be a
welcoming community for all people. We strive to follow Jesus’ example in our
ministry of caring, healing, justice, and joy. We recognize that the
active participation and contribution of all people enrich the entire church
body. Each of us has gifts to give just as we need to receive the gifts of
others. We want to include all people in the educational ministries of our
church. To that end we welcome
the gifts of children with special needs and desire to work with their
parents to achieve a nurturing environment for learning and fellowship. We
pledge to do all we can, within our resources, to meet the needs of these,
and all, children. Please call Family Involvement
Building Community: The success of our
church school depends upon our volunteers and families. Our church school
operates as a cooperative with parents volunteering time to prepare lessons
and teach or help shepherd the children.
Lessons are based on a purchased curriculum and training, resources
and support are provided. Here’s what you can do
to help maintain and build on our success:
Be
part of a team of 2 or 3 parents who will stay with a particular grade (1st
– 6th) for the year. There
will be about 12 teaching Sundays between Sept. and May. The other Sundays will be assisting
workshop leaders. Typically one
shepherd per grade is needed each week.
The responsibility and schedule is shared among the shepherd team.
Prepare
a “workshop” based on a particular Bible lesson and teach it 3 consecutive
times to 3 different groups of children who will “rotate” to your
classroom. Shepherds will be with each
grade and will assist the workshop leaders.
Many focus areas – art, computers, cooking, games, music, science,
storytelling – are incorporated into the workshops.
The
younger children participate in classroom church school with a consistent
room and consistent set of teachers.
They do not participate in the workshops. We are looking for a team of 3 teachers to
teach on most Sundays from Sept. through May.
Teaching is shared within the team so no single teacher is responsible
for every Sunday.
Pray
out loud, in front of your children so they begin to understand that prayer
is natural--that way you empower them to pray outside the lines. Pray for our
teachers, helpers, students and director. Consider how you can best support
them. Be caught in the act of reading the Bible!
At
worship and in the classroom—consistency is important as the kids develop
trusting relationships with teachers and fellow students.
If possible, plan to
complete your family’s card prior to the start of Church School. Let’s work
together to make Winnetka Congregational a safe and nurturing environment for
our kids. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
