Book Review: Before I Dream Bedtime Bible Storybook

Review: Before I Dream Betime Bible Storybook by Karyn Henley

As we await little A's arrival, we have been reading a bedtime story each night. Yes, I read to my belly, and yes, he sometimes seems to respond. Recently we finished reading Karyn Henley's Before I Dream Bedtime Bible Storybook. I bought this book at an Abilene Educational Supply booksale and got the copy that came with a CD of music. The same issue with CD can be found on Amazon for about $50. You might try second-hand bookstores or Christian bookstore's clearance racks for a better deal. Tyndale gives it a retail value of $15, but it is currently out of print.

That being said, keep your eyes out for this book at any second-hand sales or your church's library! I loved reading through this book. It covers a variety of stories from the Old and New Testament, some children's classics such as Noah and David and Goliath, but also some lesser heard stories such as Samuel and Saul. A's favorite seemed to be the couple with Solomon.

Ms. Henley describes her purpose for the book as sending kids off to sleep with positive images in their minds. She does just that. Even when some of the more gritty stories are included, they are tastefully made child-friendly. There is plenty of onomatopoeia ("clip-clop, clip-clop" "whoosh") in the stories to help the reader and listener get into the spirit of things a bit more. Each story also has at least one illustration, and some have full page art.

Overall, this was a great book and I would highly recommend scooping it up if you find a copy!

Easter Review Game

Easter is almost here! In Sunday School we've been working on the events of Holy Week for sometime now. I teach a Kindergarten class and find that it can be difficult to find games and lessons appropriate for this age group. So, I made my own. It's very simple to make and reviews the events leading up to the death and resurrection.

Materials:
Paper/Pen or Computer
Plastic Easter Eggs
Scissors or Paper Cutter

Print or Write out the list below. You'll want one copy with the numbers to serve as your key (even us adults sometimes forget, maybe more than sometimes), and another copy without the numbers.

Take the copy without the numbers and cut it into slips.

Place the slips in the eggs.

Weather permitting, hide the eggs outside and let the kids go find them. If you're stuck indoors, place the eggs in a basket and let each child choose one. If you're doing this at home, you can have your children find the eggs from around the house.

Next, have the kids sort the slips of paper into the order that the events occurred (The same order as they are numbered).

This is a fun way for kids to review previous lessons about the events, and builds up a strong understanding of the scriptures for the future.

Here's the list that I've used. Feel free to adjust the list to meet your needs and cover the stories that you've studied.

1.   A Woman pours perfume on Jesus’ feet.

2.         Judas met with the Pharisees and agreed to hand Jesus over.

3.         The Pharisees gave Judas forty pieces of silver.

4.         Jesus sent disciples to find a house to have the Passover.

5.         Jesus said, “One of you will betray me.”

6.         Jesus took the bread, broke it, and gave it to His disciples. Jesus said, “This is my body.”

7.         Jesus took the cup and blessed it. Then He gave it to His disciples. Jesus said, “This is my blood.”

8.         Jesus told Peter that Peter would betray him three times.

9.         Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to pray.

10.     Jesus’ disciples fell asleep while Jesus prayed.

11.     The guards came to get Jesus.

12.     Peter cut off a guard’s ear. Then Jesus healed the guard.

13.     Jesus was taken before the religious leaders and before Pontius Pilate.

14.     The crowd asked for a criminal to be released and Jesus to be crucified.

15.     The guards made fun of Jesus and put a crown of thorns on his head.

16.     Jesus was put on the cross next to two thieves.

17.     The guards gambled for Jesus’ clothes.

18.     The guards gave Jesus sour wine to drink.

19.     Jesus said, “It is finished.”

20.     The guards pierced Jesus’ side.

21.     Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb.

22.     The women went to visit the tomb, but Jesus wasn’t there!

Season of Gratitude

Today I am grateful that I got to see my Kindergarteners again. I was sick two weeks ago and then hurt my back so I had missed two Sundays. I loved getting to sit with those little ones and have them tell me about school and how Harry Potter 3 is so scary and that guy with the weird nose is creepy. These little ones keep me young, give me joy, and just make life better.

Seven Simple Truths I Learned Teaching Sunday School

I help teach our Kindergarten class on Sunday mornings. Our current class averages about 15-23 kids. This is my third class at this church, and they've taught me a lot.

1. Thank God for everything... In one class we let the kids say a prayer for what they were thankful for and one little boy was thankful for food. "Thank you God for all our food, our ice cream, and our carrots." I don't know that I've ever thanked God for carrots or ice cream, but perhaps I should.
2. The Bible is an unbelievable story... It's never the same story, but there's always a point in which one  kid will let out a good, "no way!" I think it's important to remember the awe that these stories inspired in us the first time we heard them. 
3. Praise twice as often as you punish... I've studied parenting and education through out both degrees, but the one thing that could never be stressed enough is that children thrive on praise and perish when overly punished. Yes, kids need to be disciplined in order to learn proper behavior, but I've noticed that we get much better behavior when focused on positive reinforcement of good behavior than discipline of negative behavior. We recently started giving stickers out for exceptional behavior, and I'm making a point of thanking kids for sharing, helping, and listening, and I have seen a huge change in their behavior.
4. Childlike faith may be simple, but it is real... God is so real to these kids. They don't even think to question if it's just a story or why other people don't believe the same way. God is real and He lives in heaven. Jesus is His son and died on the cross and rose again. And when you pray, God listens. The simple belief of these kids is amazing and wonderful.
5. The kids are watching you... I've seen little kids (five and six) say and act like 40 year olds, and there's only one place they're learning that: from what they see. This can be both good and bad. One little girl was the spitting image of her grandmother and she sat next to a crying child and patted his shoulder. Another group of little girls emulated their fashionista mommas as they stood in a circle and discussed how another little girl's shoes were "ugly" and "not cool." Good or bad, your children will follow in your footsteps.
6. They learn what to expect... Most of the class knows to get their name tag now. They know when it's about time to clean up, and they know what the bell means. They also know whether to show Mom and Dad their picture because they will be excited, or just hand it to them because they won't say anything. (I don't mean to rag on parents. Many of our parents are great, but it breaks my heart when kids are so excited to show their parents their balloon sheep, but then Mom's too busy to notice.)
7. Simple truths are best... Our recent lessons on baptism have been kind of hit or miss. Our lessons are written out for us and we do our best with them, but the baptism lessons were a bit above their level. Cleaning on the inside versus the outside is a bit hard for a Kindergartener, but Jesus is the Lamb of God went amazingly well. People call Jesus "the Lamb of God". Kids can get that. They get that John the Baptist was weird and ate bugs. False prophets and spiritual purity are a bit tougher.

I love teaching my Kindergarteners. It's so amazing to see that little seed of faith grow just a little bit bigger each week. I've even found some amazing role models in the parents whom I can see are making active efforts towards growing their children's faith. 

Season of Gratitude

Today I am incredibly grateful for my Kindergarten class. I teach Kindergarten for Sunday School, and I absolutely love it. I look forward to class every week. This week was particularly fun.

We walk the kids through the new testament and of course we start at the beginning. This week, we were talking about the three wise men. In the past this lesson has been a movie day. The activity is really short and the kids don't always get it. Typically after the teaching part of class they draw their gift to Jesus, which is intended to be something deep and spiritual, but the kids are five, they don't really think that way.

Instead, today we had them draw what they would bring Jesus if they had been with the wise men. My favorites included a rattle, a doll, and a bottle. The bottle was so that baby Jesus could drink it and get really fat. (Definitely a walk away and laugh moment.)

Then, we had the kids wrap gifts to give away. The rules are that they have to give the gift to someone not in their family and not in our Sunday School class. We had some of our high school kids come and help, and the little boys just loved it! Not only did several of our little boys talk about how they would give their gifts to girls so that they could get girlfriends, but they were really hoping that some of the high school girls would be cheerleaders. It starts so early!

Then came my favorite part! Before they sat down for lesson, the kids took their shoes off and placed them outside the classroom in a line against the wall. The Three Kings then came during class and filled them with treats!

I loved doing this! It was great to see the kids emptying their shoes (particularly one boy who trying to put his boot on but it didn't fit so he flipped it upside down and shook out a starburst). We had several adults wishing they could be in Kindergarten for class that morning. I really enjoyed putting that together for our kids. I can tell why "Santa" likes coming very year on Christmas.

I am so grateful that I get to be there for these kids and minister to my church family every week. In particular, I'm glad that I have a church family that is so supportive of my work with these kids. I've had experiences in the past when I've been told that for whatever reason that I haven't been able to minister in one way or another, but the church we're out now is incredibly supportive and I couldn't be more grateful to our ministers for giving me this opportunity each week.