Now that Isaac is in kindergarten, he has graduated to Tool Time on Sunday mornings at church. This means that he no longer attends the large-group Pond gatherings, where the kids see the puppet shows as part of the Sunday school lesson each week. (I play a puppet--Bumbles the Bunny--and I enjoyed covertly looking for him in the crowd when it was my turn to volunteer. I have to say it is a little weird--and it makes me a little sad--to not have a child in The Pond anymore.)
Anyway, Isaac is LOVING Tool Time! The church passed out an info sheet about Tool Time recently--and although Kate attended Tool Time when she was in kindergarten, I learned some new things about the program. Here are some highlights from the handout:
Tool Time is a program just for kindergarteners developed for Peachtree by Peachtree, and is entering its seventh year.
The program gives kids the tools to get ready for elementary programming and for attending worship services. These include learning Bible basics such as Bible organization, stories and verses as well as learning what worship is and how it looks.
Tool Time eases the transition from The Pond (preschool Sunday school program) to KidJam (elementary-school Sunday school program), providing a strong foundation of knowledge and increasing participants' confidence.
As the year progresses, students will follow the course of God's big story and discover the active part they can plan in the lifelong adventure to be more like Him. Classes will talk about the Old Testament, follow the life of Jesus from birth to resurrection, and focus on how to pray. Throughout the process, the goal is for kindergarteners to learn how God sees them and loves them.
A typical Sunday morning includes:
Classroom time with a small group. During small-group time (before and after large group), the lesson is reinforced with various activities and Bible practice.
Large-group time, which introduces a new topic as well as reviews prior weeks' learning. Large-group time also includes singing songs of praise.
Starting in November, Tool Time classes will to go worship services once a month to reinforce things they have learned during small- and large-group time. Participants will arrive close to the beginning of the service and leave during the Doxology (before the sermon).
Each week, a Tool Talk handout is given to parents at pickup. This handout summarizes the lesson, suggests ways parents and children can share the Bible together, and offers activities for families to worship God together.
Throughout the year, students will be challenged to learn a few memory verses, including John 3:16. Prizes are given, and participants' names are shown with a sticker for each verse memorized on their class grid in the Tool Time room. The challenges are meant to be a fun activity for the kids (no pressure), and to create an opportunity for parents to work with children through the week.