We reviewed with the help of our CTR board game and a mix of old and new questions. The blue team won by a large margin, but the red team persevered and eventually reached the final square.
It was Cookie Cupcake Sunday! They were a sticky, tasty, fun snack, and a successful trial of a new recipe. Next time Sister Combs will try baking the batter for a few minutes and then adding the M&M's, so that they will not all sink to the bottom of the cupcakes. We listened to several stories about prayers and how they were answered. Sometimes the answer is "yes", sometimes "not now", and sometimes "no". We learned that Heavenly Father knows what is best for us, and He will give us the the things we need when it is the right time for us to have them. If we pray for something that we should not have, the answer will be "no". The children all had stories of prayers that were answered in different ways. We reviewed with the help of our CTR board game and a mix of old and new questions. The blue team won by a large margin, but the red team persevered and eventually reached the final square. We commemorated Memorial Day by coloring American flags and very exciting stars. It was funny to watch one child meticulously color the flag with the correct colors, while another quickly scribbled her own combination of blue, red, and purple stripes!
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Today's cookies were the second half of the batch of Easter Carrot Cookies, which had been frozen for such a day as this. While the children ate, they discussed possible alternative snacks for future Sundays. They suggested PB&J's (too messy), cupcakes (also messy, and too bulky to carry around church all day without great inconvenience), more grapes (Sprouts ran out of grapes this week), and various other more or less ridiculous ideas. Considering all the conversation, the cookies disappeared remarkably quickly! We took turns holding a flashlight and turning it on and off. The flashlight works because it has electrical power, and we are blessed because of Priesthood Power! We talked about Jesus calming the stormy sea. The children agreed with the disciples that being on a ship during a storm would be very scary, and they were amazed that Jesus was asleep when his friends came to him for help. Although the disciples were astonished that Jesus had power over the elements, the children were not particularly surprised. We talked about how it was the Priesthood that enabled Jesus to save his friends from danger. We discussed how men in the Church today also hold the priesthood. Some of the children were not sure if their fathers had the priesthood, but when we talked about specific ordinances, they knew their dads could perform them, so it was an interesting discussion. The children had a lot to say about partaking of the Sacrament. They did not realize that the boys who passed the bread and water every week held the Aaronic Priesthood--the only child in the class with a big brother who is a deacon was absent--so we talked about how old boys need to be to receive the Priesthood. Reed was excited that deacons are only twelve years old, since his brother just turned ten, so he is "almost 12!" We talked about having to be at least sixteen to be ordained a priest, but that was far less interesting. We reviewed what we had learned in previous lessons about administering to the sick, baptism, and confirmation.
We talked about being married in the temple when we are grown up. The point was supposed to be that a man who holds the Priesthood performs the sealing ordinance, but the children were unanimous in declaring that they did not want to be married, because then they would have to kiss somebody, and kissing is gross! On the other hand, they all know that families are forever and are happy that their parents were married in the temple We had a good time looking at pictures of the Houston Temple and several other ones, and talking about how they all looked different, but are all the House of the Lord. We talked about father's blessings for when we need comfort or extra help with a difficult situation. At least one of the children remembered having this kind of blessing and how warm and safe she felt afterward. We had a wonderful time coloring "I Love to See the Temple" flip books. All five children argued with their parents about leaving at the end of class, because they wanted to stay and finish their project! . . .making up your own dance routines!
In the past, Abby only ever danced to one song on Just Dance 3: "Dynamite". Today, though, she decided to try some other songs. She was worried about not knowing how to do the steps, and was frustrated by how hard it was to figure out what to do. She decided to try ignoring the on-screen instructors and doing her own thing, and that was tons of fun! Today's cookies were white cake mix cookies with sprinkles mixed in and frosting on top. Everyone enjoyed the frosting, and most of them enjoyed discovering which colors of sprinkles were hidden inside. The boys were reminiscing about the time we had grapes and muffins for our snack, and Zach said, "You should make some more grapes. Grapes are my greatest fruit ever!"
We looked at items that would be found in a typical first aid kit. Then we talked about something else that can help us to feel better: a priesthood blessing. We learned that Jesus raised Jairus's daughter from the dead, and that worthy Melchizedek priesthood holders can also bless people who are sick. Most of the children were quite happy to share stories of times that they had been given blessings. We read a story about President Monson when he was a young man. While serving in the US Army in World War II, one of his friends became ill in the middle of the night and asked for a blessing. This was President Monson's first time administering this ordinance, but fortunately he had a Missionary Handbook that told him how to do it. We talked about how nervous he must have felt giving a blessing in front of 120 soldiers! Our coloring was copies of the visual aids we had used during the lesson to talk about how blessings are given. We began our lesson by playing two rounds of "Teacher Says", which the kids understood as soon as they figured out that it was the same as Simon Says. It was really funny when people forgot to listen for "Teacher Says"! It was a good way to work out some post-Sharing Time wiggles and introduce the lesson's message of following our Leader.
We learned about a boy named Sam, who walked through deep snow with his father. He was having trouble with the snowdrifts until his dad taught him to walk in Dad's footsteps. The kids liked the story, but the picture led to the following conversation: Reed: Is that boy really Sam? Sister Combs: Well. . .they gave me the picture to use with the story, so. . .I think so. Reed: I don't think so. I think it was just some boy. Zach: I think his name is really. . .Joseph! Yes, definitely Joseph. Sometimes in our class, we are very old and sophisticated, and sometimes we are young and silly. Today we seemed to be both at the same time. We learned about Jesus calling Peter, James, and John to be his disciples. They enjoyed the story about catching lots of fish, but had some funny explanations of why they hadn't caught any fish all night, but then all of a sudden they had too many. A few children thought that the fish had just woken up, and another suggested that the fish really wanted to see Jesus, so they came out of the water to have a better look! We eventually decided that Jesus loved the people and helped them. The children were glad that the men decided to follow Jesus, but were disappointed that the Bible does not tell us what happened to all of those fish! We learned that we should show our love for Jesus by keeping the commandments. We also talked about how Jesus wants us to love everybody, not just our family and friends. To review these concepts, we went fishing! Each fish had a scenario attached, and the children brainstormed how they would react in the situations. We are all experts at being loving and choosing the right, so this part was pretty easy, but it was definitely fun to use the "fishing pole". The plan was to finish the day by coloring happy fish, but everyone preferred to decorate and play with the cardstock fish from our fishing activity instead! They drew beautiful polka dots and stripes and had a great time being creative. Only one or two children took a happy fish page, so we can color the rest another time. |
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