So much is happening at NoVES in our Sunday school classes. This past week I didn't have to teach, so I had lots of opportunities to take pictures which I haven't been able to do for several weeks. And wow! There are so many interesting creations that I took over 60 photos on Sunday! I love seeing the kids enjoying seeing me with the camera too. They love showing off their creations and I love sharing them with you all!

 First, in the yougest class, 3-5 year olds, were learning about growing. Here they are reading "The Tiny Seed" by Eric Carl. They are trying to find the little seed on each page:

This past week was a lot of fun in classes. We weren't sure how big of a turnout we would have as it was a holiday weekend, but for the most part, we had a good turnout. The children have started to stay in the room for the song right after the Children's Story and this past week the Music Director, Doris Justis tied the song of the day with the story - all about a tree. How cool is that?

Then we split up into classes. The younger class learned about honesty. As we all know - something very important! And one traits we are learning about this year. Afterward, as always they did some artwork. This week they made pictures of something that made them happy.

We have been so busy in our Sunday school classes. I hear from many parents that their children are talking about Sunday school all week and they are so excited to come each Sunday. I can believe it because my son is one of those kids who would be really upset if he had to miss going to Green Hedges. Look at those happy faces!

The preschool class has been working on the subject of Love. Seems fitting for February, doesn't it? We read a couple books about love and first made cards for the Caring Committee to use for when members need a pick-me-up and the next week we made Valentine's using fancy stickers!

Time has escaped me as we have been so busy at home and with Sunday school, but I vow to stay caught up!

 Classes resumed last week after a winter break and our winter festival. We were happy to see so many happy faces return and to see some new faces as well.

First, I have to start out by saying that being around all these bright, happy, and joyful children is such a pleasure. While it's my job, I love it! Those eager faces are precious and  the excitement on their faces when they get something? So rewarding.

And that leads me to the last two weeks. The youngest class had so much fun and yes, preschools can really work together without tears and without fights. We read a story from Sesame Street called, "Big Bird Shares". In the story Big Bird gets a new toy that he doesn't want to share and by the end he learned that sharing his toy led to making something even greater than he could have made on his own. So, our kids worked together and built this (plus many more like it): 

This past week, we focused on UNICEF. We started classes talking a bit about what UNICEF is and why we try to help and talked about how the children can help. The classes divided up after that and each teacher centered their lesson around UNICEF within the framework of their curriculum. For the preschool/kindergarten class that meant they read a story, Biblioburro by Winter. It's a wonderful story and ties in so well with why giving to those who have so little is so important.

We had such a fabulous week last week. We started with seeing the slideshow. As one member said, "I learned more about our Sunday School and what they do in that 2 minutes than I have in all the years I've been coming to Ethical Society." Ah, that was great!

The youngest class continued with the theme of Loyalty and the book, Miss Tizzy. They completely understood the theme and could grasp why the children were doing the nice things for Miss Tizzy when she was sick. This week we made cards to be given to members when they are sick to make them feel better and they made cookies for family members. One little boy made a cookie for me  which made me feel very special and made him feel pretty nice for giving of his heart too. 

I was a little worried this Sunday as it was a holiday/three day weekend and when it was 11 am and we had only one student, I felt a little sad. We had such great things planned for the day, but within five minutes four families with two kids each arrived - a little late, but I so understand - remember, I have kids too!

So, attendance was a little low on Sunday because of the holiday and I'm sure also because of the great weather, but we had a great time!

We are really getting into the curriculum now and sounds like the children will have a lot of fun this Sunday!

 The youngest class (preschool/kindergarten) will be touching on the topic of Loyalty. The story we will read for this unit is  Miss Tizzy by Libba Moore Gray. In this story the children often play games, make cookies and parade with Miss Tizzy, but one day Miss Tizzy is ill, but the children come to her side to keep her company and to make her feel better.

They will talk about loyalty/standing by friends through puppet play, music and will draw a card for members of society who might not be feeling well. We might have a music parade, decorate cookies and make puppets.

The weather was iffy outside, but lots of great things happening inside.

 I have so many cute things to share and the slideshow is already being set to music. I cannot wait to share it at the opening of an upcoming platform meeting. I think the kids will love seeing their work and I'm sure the parents will love seeing into their child's world a bit too.

First, the youngest class. This past week's theme was Courage and we talked about how it takes courage to make new friends and to meet people that seem different from us. Then we used our big map and talked about different languages and where they were spoken. In the story we read, the children were from Mexico and the United States, so we found those places. We have children who speak other languages in the class, so we found South America and Europe too and one child even noted that Asia was the biggest area/continent on the map.