VBS Day 3

We can't believe there are only 2 more days left of VBS! We have learned so much and made such great friendships in such a short time! You may notice in the pictures we look goofy. It was crazy day!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

What you see:
Sing and Play: Putting cotton balls on our poster to represent our God Sightings. Take the time to look around and notice God in everything you do! Silly Flash visits us at Sing and Play every day. We are teaching her to TRUST GOD!
Snack: We worked as a team to make the snack for the day.
Preschool Games
Snack: We had rootbeer floats! We put the ice cream in and then added the rootbeer. The ice cream floated to the top just like an eagle soars in the sky! The preschoolers also say our prayer when they have snack!
Imagination Station: Decorating our tube-a-loons
Bible Adventures: We found some clues in our garden and went on a hunt for clues. We found: 30 coins that Judas left when he felt bad for betraying Jesus, a crown of thorns Jesus wore, Jesus' clothes, and Pontius Pilate's belongings. With his belongings we found a bowl of water because he "washed his hands of Jesus". We went back to our garden and prayed together. 
Chadder Movie and Missions: We talked about Scout the eagle and then prayed together with Chadder. 
Preschool Imagination Station: We decorated our tube-a-loons and then threw them!
Imagination Station: Throwing our tube-a-loons outside. Just some plastic, but they could fly!
Sotlight Drama: Watching the powerpoint that WE starred in of the Bible Story.
Finale: We talked about mean things that people do. All of the crew leaders brought up balloons that represented bad things that kids do to each other. 

She felt the weight of the balloons. But when she trusted God, the balloons fell away!

 

VBS Day 2

Sorry I am late posting. We had a great day 2! You can read about what we learned today on the coloring sheet your child brought home.


Check it out!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

What you see:
Sing and Play: Reviewing yesterday and learning the Bible Point for today. Collecting donations for our mosquito net collection. For every $6 collected, one mosquito net can be purchased to protect 2 kids in Africa!
Snack Service: One group made the snack for the day. Jello hearts and strawberry hearts!
Preschool Games: The "raised" Lazarus from under the parachute. 
Snack: We all ate together. 
Imagination Station: Decorating our hover balls: getting ready for our experiment. 
Bible Adventures: We learned about Jesus' friend Lazarus who was sick. We took care of him by putting blankets on him, but he died. We wrapped him in toilet paper and he went in the tomb. Jesus arrived and was very sad.  Suddenly a light came on and he came out. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. 
Preschool Imagination Station: Making our hoverballs!
Games
Spotlight Drama
Finale: We learned that even when there are dark clouds around, the sun is always there behind them. Just like God is always there, even when we are sad! We also sang our songs and reviewed the day!

VBS Day 1

We had a phenomenal first day of VBS today!

Your child came home with a coloring sheet with information containing our Bible Point, Bible Buddy, and Bible Story. Take some time to talk to your child about this at home. They have a lot to share!

Check out our slideshow from today! You can see all of the fun things we did. In the middle you can even see a video of our snack time prayer! You could do this prayer at home before you eat too!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

What you saw:
Sing and Play: singing and dancing and learning about the day
Snack: The preschoolers had snack service today. They made snack for everybody!
Spotlight Drama: Each day one group takes photos during games for our slideshow at the end of the day!
Games: Fun outside! The games focus on cooperation, not competition.
Imagination Station: Today we made our namebadge holders. They also hold our Bible Buddies!
Bible Adventures: We met out leaders and joined a Roman army! We saw a Roman officer's faith in action and discoverd Jesus' healing power!
Chadder Movie and Missions: We met Chadder and saw a movie about him. We started learning about our Operation Kid-to-Kid project. And got a Bible Buddy!
Snack: We all eat together. But first we pray!
Games: More games!
Finale: We reviewed the day, sang songs, played a game called "Will it launch?" and learned about our mosquito net donation collection. 1 net protects 2 kids for 4 years. Crazy!

Welcome to VBS 2012

Check out the VBS intro video here:

At Sky, kids discover that for God, ALL things are possible! Sky is filled with incredible experiences that allow kids to see, hear, touch, and even taste! Science-Fun Gizmos, team-building games, cool faith-filled songs, and tasty treats are just a few of the Sky activities that help faith flow into real life. Plus, we’ll help kids discover how to see evidence of God in everyday life – something we call God Sightings. Get ready to hear that phrase a lot. Ask your child about his/her God Sighting each day!

Your kids will also participate in a hands-on project, through a program called Operation Kid-to-Kid with Catholic Relief Services, that will let the kids in our community show God’s love to children in Africa. We will be collecting donations (even pennies are great!) Tuesday through Friday. For each $6 collected, we will be able to donate one mosquito net to children in Africa to protect them from Malaria. One mosquito net protects 2 children for 4 years! Your child can bring change, cash, or a check (made to Church of the Holy Spirit) if you would like to participate.

Click on this picture to learn more about mosquito nets:

Last Class and Jelly Bean Prayer

On Saturday we had our last Religious Education class of the year. 

On Saturday we drew pictures and wrote words that showed what we understand about "Father, Son, Holy Spirit". We did this activity at the beginning of the year and then did it again this Saturday. We compared and contrasted our papers to see what we learned throughout the year. 

The Jelly Bean Prayer
Since Saturday was the last class and we are currently celebrating the season of Easter, we each received a bag of jelly beans with a special prayer inside. We talked about the meaning of each line of the prayer as we tasted the differently colored jelly beans. 

The Jelly Bean Prayer

Lord, in my bag I see colorful jelly beans.

What could they mean?

Black is for the brokenness of my sin.

Red is for the blood; my salvation you’d win.

Purple is for faith; it’s a gift I received!

White is for cleansing of sin. I believe!

Green is for studying your Word so I’ll grow.

Orange is for the promise of heaven,
 where one day I’ll go.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,

and you will be saved.

Acts 16:31

First Communion Taste Test

A few weeks ago we had the chance to taste test the bread and wine at Religious Ed class.

We practiced lining up and taking communion like we were at church. We learned that since the gifts were not consecrated (blessed) they are still bread and wine and not yet Jesus' body and blood (but they will still taste the same). 

We practiced: 

-Holding our hands in front of us-left over right. 

-When the priest/minister says, "The body of Christ," we respond, "Amen." 

-Then we pick up the host with the other hand and put it in our mouths. We try not to chomp on it like gum, but we can chew it to make it easier to swallow. 

-Then we go to the next minister. When the minister says, "The blood of Christ," we respond, "Amen." 

-Then we take the cup in both of our hands and take a small sip. 

-Though some people do "dip" the host, we are encouraging taking a sip. It is actually more germ-y to dip than sip because people's fingers have more germs than their mouths! And even when people don't think they are, they often get their fingers in the cup. Though some churches do allow parishioners who desire to do so, dip. Proper practice is to sip the wine. 

-One of the most important things we learned: When you get back to your seat, it is a time to sit and pray. Thank God for the things in your life and ask for prayers for what you need.

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Stations of the Cross

For Religious Ed class on Saturday we were very busy! First Fr. John talked to us about adoration. It is an opportunity for us to be in the presence of Jesus and use that time to pray to Jesus truly present in the Eucharist. We place the Blessed sacrament (or consecrated host) into the monstrance and pray to Jesus present there

Then we went on a scavenger hunt around the church. After that, they 5th graders acted out the stations of the cross for us. At the end we were able to go around the church and see the stations ourselves. We talked about what was happening in each one and what we remembered from seeing the presentation. 

You can go through the Stations of the Cross with your child right here:

Stations of the Cross for Kids

Why Stations of the Cross?

From the website:

Stations are places where people wait while they are going from one place to another. A school-bus stop is like a station. People wait at train stations or bus stations or airports. Think of some stations where you have been.
Stations are also places where people take time to think about Jesus as he went to die on a cross. They are “Stations of the Cross.” They show us how much Jesus loved us.
You do not have to think of all of the Stations of the Cross on one day. You may want to stay at one Station with Jesus for a few days before you move to another Station. Whatever you decide, Jesus is with you and he loves you.

As you "visit" each station on the website with your child, look at the picture and ask him or her
"What is happening here?"

At church we looked at each painting around the church and talked about what was happening after we saw the presentation by the 5th graders. 

monstrance

Our Scavenger Hunt

the seats

the altar

the baptismal font

the altar

the Presider's chair

 thurible (incense thing)

Blessed Sacrament Chapel

Tabernacle

Presentation of Stations of the Cross