It was Special Helper Sunday! Our usual Primary Pianist was out of town, so Sister Clark sat with the Super Class while Sister Combs played the piano in Sharing Time. Then, when we arrived at the classroom, Brother and Sister Echeverria had decorated the chairs with cars! They stayed to help with the teaching and cookie-eating, and did a great job with both. The primary topic of discussion during our stop light sugar cookie snack break was, "What is our lesson about today??" Post-cookie, the children turned over the cars and discovered that each one had a word, sticker, or object on the back. We took turns doing the activities represented by the symbols, and learned about many different laws and how they keep us safe and happy. We learned that a Pharisee tried to confuse Jesus by asking him if it was important to pay taxes. Jesus showed the Pharisee the portrait on the front of the coin and told him to give Caesar what belonged to Caesar, and give God what is God's. We learned that this means we should obey the laws of our country as well as Heavenly Father's laws. Note: We used a different picture to go with this story in our class. . .but the subject matter is the same! We finished by coloring one of two pictures: a fireman dog, to remind us to be kind to animals and obey the law, or a pair of flowers, to remind us not to litter, so the plants can grow. Actually, most of the children colored both. We are grateful for the laws that protect us every day, and for the ward members that helped our class today!
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It was Back-to-School Cupcake Sunday! One of the students in our class had been on a dairy-free diet, so these were Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes, with sprinkles on top and no frosting. It is too hot to take frosting to church right now anyway. Some of the children loved these, but others were seriously unimpressed. The sprinkles looked artistic, anyway. We learned from a story about Theodore M. Burton, who went to visit his grandmother's farm when he was five. Grandma told him to stay away from the chickens, because they were feeling very protective of their chicks. Theodore went close to a chick to feel how soft its feathers were, and the mother hen pecked his hand! After Theodore stopped crying, his grandmother explained why the chicken had hurt him, and sent him back outside to play. She warned him to stay away from the goose and her goslings. Theodore went outside and started to come close to the geese, but the mother goose hissed at him and he ran back inside. We talked about how much happier Theodore would have been if he had been obedient to his grandmother. We also talked about how our Heavenly Father, parents, grandparents, and Primary teachers give us rules to protect us, just as the chicken and goose were protecting their children. We learned that Jesus Christ was obedient to all of Heavenly Father's commandments, even when it was really difficult. We will never be asked to do anything as hard as what Jesus did for us, but we should do everything that Heavenly Father asks of us. We did some fun activities and sang a couple of songs about obedience. "Do as I'm Doing" seems to be our favorite song at the moment. . .and it involves moving around, which is always helpful at the end of a long day at church!
We learned that Noah was obedient when he built the ark and gathered all the animals onto it. We had fun at the end of class coloring our Noah's Ark pictures! This week, we celebrated the Return of the M&M Blondies. Everyone loves them!
We talked about why we use flashlights, and then discussed what would happen if we put it inside a box. Obviously, that would be silly, because we wouldn't be able to see the light! In Jesus's time, there were no flashlights, so they used candles when it was dark outside. He taught that, just as we should not put a candle under a bushel, we should let our light shine by being a good example to those around us. We made bushels, decorated with fancy patterns from our vivid imaginations, and took candles to remind ourselves to be good examples. Most of the children decided to tape their candles to the bottom of the bushel, birthday-cake style, so that everyone would see them shining. Each candle had a number on the back, so we took turns choosing a story, activity, or song related to being a good example. Everyone seems to have forgotten how to sing "Choose the Right Way", which we practiced a lot at the beginning of the year, so it may be time to re-learn that one. It was a busy, fun day, and the children were happy to have a simple little craft to take home! Since almost everything made with marshmallows is delicious, Emily and I decided to try making a S'mores Pie. Emily and Jonathan unwrapped a large number of Hershey's Kisses (to use in place of the chocolate bars), and we used Starmallows instead of plain white miniature marshmallows, because the stars are so much more interesting. Emily and Jonathan had fun arranging the kisses and stars on top of the layer of marshmallow fluff and telling me where to put the bits of crust on top. Once the pie went in the oven, Jonathan turned on the light and monitored the baking process. The Starmallows grew bigger and browner, and the marshmallow cream oozed out around the rest of the filling and swallowed most of the top crust! Abigail was too ill to try this confection, but here are the results of the taste test:
Emily: Mmmmmm! This is soooo good! Jonathan: Yum! I couldn't finish it because there was so much sugar! Benjamin: Too sticky. Me not eat this. Me want cookie. Popo: This is so sweet I can hardly talk! Rebecca: I was expecting more graham cracker flavor in the crust, so that was a disappointment. Also, less marshmallow fluff would have been better. This was a good experiment and a fun recipe to make, but next time we will probably make S'mores Brownies instead. August is a complicated month: today was No Treat Sunday (also known as Fast Sunday) and next Sunday is No Primary Sunday (alias Stake Conference).
We looked at a map of the Holy Land and talked about some of the places that Jesus went and knew about when he lived on the Earth. We learned that the Jews and the Samaritans lived near each other, but did not like each other. Then we took turns acting out the Parable of the Good Samaritan. This was fun, except that everyone really wanted to be the traveler who was attacked by thieves, so all of the other roles became consolation prizes. Even though the priest and the Levite knew what the right choice was, only the Good Samaritan chose to be kind and take care of the wounded man. We talked about being kind even when it is not easy, illustrated by a story about a little girl sharing a snack with a boy who was mean to her. We learned that if we love one another, we are Jesus' disciples. We sang the hymn "Love One Another". . .or at least Sister Combs sang it, with occasional help. We colored pictures of the key elements of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, so the children can share the story with their families. Those who had extra time drew other pictures and added smiley face stickers, because when we are kind to others, it makes everyone happy! |
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