VBS Day 4

Day 4 of Vacation Bible School was filled with discussion of Jesus dying for us and celebration when he rose again. Our snack (a bagel with fruit on top) represented the crown of thorns Jesus wore when he died on the cross. We sang "Here is Our King" to celebrate and remember all Jesus did for us. Our science experiment taught us all about trusting! We didn't believe the water wouldn't fall out when we turned over the bottles. But it didn't! It stayed inside even when the bottle was upside down (as long as it wasn't on an angle!)! In Bible Adventures we each took turns praying at the cross and surrounding the cross with our names.

Sir Valiant taught us the Trusting God helps us STAND STRONG!

Check out our slideshow here



And see what we did in Bible Adventures here

VBS Day 3

 

Today at VBS we learned from Swift the Falcon that "Prayer helps us STAND STRONG!"

In Imagination Station we were wow-ed by an experiment that we didn't think was possible. In Chadder, we saw the crazy adventure Chadder was up to and got our Bible Buddy dog tags. In Games we learned how to joust and even Father John joined us! Check him out in the video! In King's Kitchen we ate a trailmix that reminded us about prayer. In Bible Adventures, we learned about the wall Nehamiah built by relying on the power of prayer. At Fanfare Finale Lady Sarah was struggling with all of her burdens and worries. With our encouragement she prayed and gave them to God. She felt much better and was able to lead us again!


See what we did here!




And check out some of our Bible Adventure activities here:
(Coming Soon)

Tomorrow is Royalty and Superhero Day!

VBS Day 2

 

VBS Day 2 was another success!

We met Duke, the horse, and learned that Friends and family help us STAND STRONG!

 

We also learned the story of Esther, the young Jewish girl who was made queen!  At first she couldn't tell anyone that she was Jewish, because she might be killed. But she stood strong and told the king the truth. He listened and saved other Jewish people because of her bravery!

You can see some activities about this story with a Veggie Tales activity sheet here.

(If you would like to see the videos larger, click on the title of the video on the top and it will bring you to YouTube). 

Check out our slideshow of all of our activities today :

You can also see another video that just has clips from Bible Adventures where we learned more about the story of Esther.

Make sure you spend time as a family looking over the Coloring Sheets that came home. Also, each child came home wearing a bracelet that is supposed to be shared as a family. Make sure you do it together!

VBS Day 1

We had a fun and fabulous first day at Kingdom Rock VBS today!

 

We started off in Sing and Play Rock where we met Truman the bulldog and learned the Bible Point for the day: "God's love helps us.....STAND STRONG!"

We played fun games, ate tasty snacks, watched Chadder's adventure, acted out the Bible story, made fun experiments and sang and danced our socks off!

Check out the slideshow below to get a little glimpse of what we did! You will notice our famous VBS prayer in the middle. This prayer might be a great way to start praying at the dinner table at home! 
(Click on the top of the video where it says "Day 1" to watch it bigger on YouTube)

First Communion Jeopardy

For our last class, we played "First Communion Jeopardy". 

I created a Jeopardy PowerPoint game to play with our class for the last day. 

If you would like to use the game, you can click on the link and it will open up in Google Docs. Click to "open". Click save in the upper left corner. Save to your computer. 

First Communion Jeopardy

It would be a great way for families to practice before First Communion!

Stations of the Cross and Practicing Communion

On Saturday we did Chapter 14. We also did the Stations of the Cross in the Worship space.

During Stations of the Cross:

We talked about what was happening in each one and read our papers (that we brought home).

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.

The most anticipated part of the class today was having the chance to taste the bread and wine before our first communions. EVERYBODY tried the bread AND the wine. Miss Stephanie was very proud of us.  She said we were her first class ever that were respectful the WHOLE time. No one said "gross"!

We practiced the important parts of taking communion:

-stand quietly in line thinking about Jesus
-hold your hands together in front of your chest (left over right)
-bow your head before you receive communion
-say "Amen" after the minister says "The Body of Christ"

-pick up the host with your right hand and put the WHOLE thing in your mouth.
-say "Amen" after the minister says "The Blood of Christ"

-take a small sip out of the chalice
-sit down in your seat quietly and say a prayer

We encourage everyone to take the wine during the First Communion. Everyone did great during class! We talked about how some people "dip" the host in the wine, but technically that isn't allowed. Some people are worried about germs, but it is actually less santitary to dip because a lot of people accidentally get their fingers in the the cup, and fingers are proven to be more filled with germs than mouths! (Just something to think about!)

Pictures of us practicing here:

Homework:
169-172 in the book
Finish Reconciliation books

Wishes and Prayers

This week we did Chapter 12 about prayers for others.

O God, hear me and answer my prayer. 
Based on Psalm 17:6

We took time to think of wishes we had. We thought of wishes we would want for ourselves, wishes we would want for our neighbors and family, and wishes we would want for the world.

Here you can see us sharing about our wishes. The kids did a great job being creative and thoughtful. What a caring group of kids we have!





When we pray we can tell God about the needs of other people. We trust God to bring them comfort.

After reading the chapter, we broke into groups of 4. Each group came up with a prayer scenario. They worked together in their groups to think of the situation, write out notes, and decide parts. Then we all sat down to watch the performances. There was a lot of thoughtful discussion about when people need prayers and how we can pray for them.

Make sure to let your kids see the video! They were so excited about their performances!



We learned about Jesus and prayer. We also learned about the Prayer of the Faithful: the last part of the Liturgy of the Word at Mass, when we pray for the needs of people everywhere.

Now we know...
Jesus is with us when we pray for others. 
Jesus asked God to help his friends tell others about God's love.

Homework
Pages 147-148 (review of chapter 12)
Pages 151-152 (preparing for chapter 14)