WOW Week 3 - G4/G5 Class on 12/20/2015

Hi parents,
Here is the quick update on week #3, WoW Class on 12/20/2015.

The theme is "John Prepare People for Jesus's Comings", as demonstrated in the account of Gospel of Luke 3: 7 to 18. John pointed out that those who believed they had an advantage because they were descendants of Abraham were mistaken. Many accepted his cutting messages; some even suggested that he (John) himself might be the Messiah (Luke 3:15). However, John's statement in Luke 3:16 reveals his true character. His role or whole purpose in life is to prepare people for Jesus's coming. John calls for people's repentance.

Luke chapter 3:
verse 8:
  你們要結出果子來、與悔改的心相稱、不要自己心裡說、有亞伯伯罕為我們的祖宗．我告訴你們、　神能從這些石頭中、給亞伯拉罕興起子孫來。
  Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

verse 18:
  約翰又用許多別的話勸百姓、向他們傳福音
  And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.

Ice Breaking: 
Sometimes, it may be confusing for children to grasp the concept of the word, "sin" in the eyes of GOD;
There are few Greek words in the New Testament which represent sin in its various aspects.
 a few references:
A) http://www.truthmagazine.com/archives/volume27/GOT027122.html 
B) http://biblehub.com/greek/266.htm 
ἁμαρτία, (ας, ἡ (from 2 aorist ἁμαρτεῖν, as ἀποτυχία fromἀποτύχειν), a failing to hit the mark.

We started out with a "DART game" to bring out the concept of "missing the mark"; It is through Jesus Christ that brings us the salvation for those who repent and believe in HIM.

Our main key Verse of the Day (VOD) is 1 John 1:9;
約翰一書 1:9
  我們若認自己的罪、　神是信實的、是公義的、必要赦免我們的罪、洗淨我們一切的不義。
  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Every student gets to remember the VOD in the class. Pray that the Holy spirit works in each student's heart for his/her salvation.

  Action Time: 
It is the good news that we are to share with the World about Jesus's birth and the salvation through Him!
Later, we have a "Music time - name that tune" contest among two teams:
  PinkNose and Bob's House.
During this Christmas season, we'd like to "Keep Christ in the Christmas"!
So, we utilized YouTube to share a few Christmas songs for students to try recognizing the song title.
1) O Holy Night
2) O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
3) Feliz Navidad  ( Spanish phrase meaning "Happy Christmas" or "Merry Christmas" )

As the World celebrates the Christmas, it is worthy noting that His good news and messages are for the whole world, whether it's English-speaking or Spanish or Chinese, etc.

OK, it is Christmas card writing....
   I encourage each student to identify a person, whether a friend, neighbour, or relative, to whom he or she can write and send a Christmas card to share the gospel messages, good news about Jesus Christ.
When your student brings home the card, please work with him/her on the Christmas card or via e-mail to share the good news.

After lunch, we share a candy cane as a small cheer for the Holiday...

Next week, it will be Christmas celebration party in the G5 class, if you are in town, I would encourage your student to bring a new friend to Plano Chinese Alliance Church.

Until next time, wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy and Safe  Holiday!

[EOF]

WoW week 2: additional video from the class

Team: Bob's House - presenting their work from Luke 1:75 to 79.

WOW Week 2 - G4/G5 Class on 12/13/2015

Hi parents,

Here is the quick update on week #2, WoW Class on 12/13/2015.

The theme is "The World Needs Jesus", as demonstrated in the account of Gospel of Luke 1:67 to 79; where
Zachariah prophesies about Jesus's birth.

It is GOD's Plan and Promises - a Child to Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth in their old age.
Luke 1:76 indicates that John (their son) would be prophet who would prepare the way for Jesus.

Ice Breaking:
  How do you go from point A to a point B?
Using a RC car, the idea is to bring out a point of making a plan as you would before your travel plan. 

As GOD's plan for the salvation through Jesus unfolds as Zachariah was suddenly able to speak again after his unbelief that he and his would have a baby boy at their old age.

Then we jumped into our 
Scripture Learning (5 W and 1 H);

Luke 1:67 to 79:

67:  His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
68: "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people.
  (在他僕人大衛家中、為我們興起了拯救的角、)
69: He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David
70: (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
71: salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us
72: to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant,
  (就是他對我們祖宗亞伯拉罕所起的誓、)
73: the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
74: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear
75: in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76: And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
  (孩子阿、你要稱為至高者的先知．因為你要行在主的前面、豫備他的道路．)
77: to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
  (叫他的百姓因罪得赦、就知道救恩．)
78: because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
  (因我們　神憐憫的心腸、叫清晨的日光從高天臨到我們、)
79: to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."
  (要照亮坐在黑暗中死蔭裡的人．把我們的腳引到平安的路上。)

We went through 5 W (Who/When/Where/What/Why) and 1H (How) principles for scripture study; hoping that the students will learn some basic analytical skills as they grown up and deeper in the scriptures when they grown up into teenage-hood. 

I can see the participation from all the students; Next, let's install some action time.

Action Time/Re-enforce the learning:
We use PlayDoh for two teams (PinkNose and Bob's House) to bring the bible story alive!
They work together to create a gospel message with the materials they have and at the final results: they get to present the message.

Our judges (helper: brother Patrick, Co-teacher: brother Mike) come up with FOUR (4) categories for the students' work:
1) Content
2) Presentation
3) team work
4) Creativity.
  While we are amazed by the work of students, they have demonstrated the ability to present the story at the end of the work; as part of the Sunday school class, we encourage students in various capacities such as organizing skill, verbal presentation, etc.

You should be proud of your students who have worked as a team to bring up what they learned and present a gospel message.

Our final score: it is a tie!!
Both Bob's House and Pink Nose: 4 pt + 2.5 pt + 1 pt + 2.25 pt = 9.75 pt

For lunch, we enjoy Pizza. Thanks to the church and all the unsung heroes who helped out in the background who made this possible!!

Until next time, here is our theme verse:
 John 3:17
"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him".

KLUP!
-Sam

Some Christmas (Christ-theme) worship songs ...

Firstly, I would like share a few Christmas worship songs:

WOW Week 1 - G4/G5 Class on 12/6/2015

Hi parents,

Here is the quick update on week #1, WoW Class on 12/6/2015.

The theme is "Prophets Foretell Jesus' Coming"  in the account of Jeremiah 33:14 - 16.
This passage was written nearly 600 years before Jesus was born.
At the time of the Jeremiah, (Northern kingdom of Israel had fallen to the Assyrians, who had in turn fallen to the Babylonians.)

Despite all that was going on around him, Jeremiah's message in this passage is one of HOPE!
Here we go - as the class unfolds:

Ice Breaking:

What  is "Promises"?
Students came up with some answers:
(1) the opposite of lies
(2) words or actions that were said/done did not turn out to be true
It's in the ballpark.

Then we moved on the the Scripture time, where the theme verses are Jeremiah 33:14 - 16.

14: " 'The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.
15:  'In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land.
16: In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.'

(Chinese translation: 耶利米書 33:
14: 耶和華說、日子將到、我應許以色列家和猶大家的恩言、必然成就。
15: 當那日子、那時候、我必使大衛公義的苗裔長起來．他必在地上施行公平和公義。
16: 在那日子猶大必得救、耶路撒冷必安然居住．他的名必稱為耶和華我們的義。 )

Since it is LORD who chose and sent out Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 1: 5) as a Prophet to the nations.

1:5 -> "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
1:5 -> 我未將你造在腹中、我已曉得你、你未出母胎、我已分別你為聖．我已派你作列國的先知。



Action Time: (picture puzzle time - to bring out the message of LORD is great and there is always HOPE in the LORD)

We formed two teams and each team gets to elect their own Captain and the name for their team:

Team A: Pink Nose
Team B: Bob's House
Each team has 5 minutes to solve the picture puzzle in which it bears bible verse messages:
1) Psalm 145:3 
2) Psalm 31: 24

Both team did a great job; we had some fun on the "taping skill" in order to re-construct the picture back from the puzzle pieces. See some of the "de-puzzle" in action (video below)

Later, we introduce a short YouTube clip on the 100 name of the LORD; such as,
Lord of the LORDS, Emmanuel , the Bread of Life, the Light of the World.

To wrap up the scriptures and the "God's Promises" and HIS Hope, we had another round of CrossWord activity:
Each team took turn to solve the Across Word or Down Word based on their choice.

It is an intensive game for both teams to compete the word-solving game. The idea is to re-enforce the verses for each student as we engage them in the scripture-centered activity. Final scores:
Pink Nose: 6 points + 2 (from puzzle game) = 8 points
Bob's House: 3 points + 2 = 5 points 

Next is the lunch time  where we have fried rice with egg and bacon. That's it; See you next time.

KLUP!
-Sam

Some bible resources available on the Internet:
1) http://www.glorypress.com/Devotional/Bible.asp 

New quarter of Sunday school class (Dec/2015 to Feb/2016)

It's a new Quarter for G4/G5 graders.

Material: Group, FaithWeaver NOW Bible Cirriculum.
WEEK 1: Prophets foretell Jesus' Coming (Jeremiah 33:14 to 16)