Friendship & animal crackers

This week we discussed being friends with our sweet little Sunbeam class. This week I had a strategy to keep them occupied by doing different activities every 5-10 minutes and it seemed to work. They were more attentive and engaged than usual.

I tried an object lesson: I gave each of the children a toy animal. Then I asked them to turn to the child on their right and ask if they could have the other child's toy. They enjoyed this very much and learned that sharing is what friends do.

We also asked them who their friends are. We asked them what their friends are like, what made them different, and emphasized that their teachers and parents are their friends. One of the little girls volunteered that Jesus is our friend, which we reinforced. I think the most important thing I can teach the children is that they are children of a loving God and that Jesus loves them.

On a side note, this was the first Sunday we went without snacks during class. I thought we would have trouble maintaining peace, but keeping them engaged in the lesson helped avoid concerns about snacks. When the children are in nursery (18 months - 3/4 years old) they are allowed to eat snacks and have more playtime. Part of the goal of Sunbeams is to help them transition to the rest of primary, and the rest of primary does not have snack time. The rest of the year my co-teachers and I will continue to 'ween' them off snacks all together.

Until next week!