We’ve been very busy this term with lots of different projects and lessons! Jo has written about a couple of them here so you can get an insight into what we are doing day to day in the schools of Guernsey.
Creation Lessons
We have enjoyed taking the Creation lesson into Year 1 classrooms across the island, this term. We introduce that we will be talking about what Christians believe about how the world was created which is right at the beginning of the Bible.
We start by watching a beautiful video of stunning nature images from across this beautiful globe. The children love these and there are lots of “wow!” moments when they see pictures of the Northern lights or thunder storms, and lots of “cute!” moments with seeing baby animals and lots of giggles when they see funny animal pictures too.
The children then discuss what was their favourite photo and why. We talk about this beautiful world and pose the question “should people help to look after this wonderful world”? We then look at the Creation story with the use of picture boards to represent each day that was created. The day of rest is blank to illustrate that in our minds we can each think of something that we would do in the day of rest.
We ask the children what their favourite day was and why. We pose the question “could we remove a day and still have everything that we need”?
The children then enjoy making something from creation with playdough and they all share with the class what they have made and we talk about how they felt about their creation and how God feels about His creation.
A lovely conclusion to the lesson is the treasure box that we show the children. This is where we talk about God’s most precious creation that he loves so much and that we have it here in this treasure box. They come up to look inside and inside is a mirror showing them that they are God’s most precious creation.
The children conclude by discussing the importance of looking after our world and how we can do that.
Prayer Spaces
Prayer Spaces is when we take over a classroom or school library for a few days and have classes visiting us in that room to explore different ways to pray. We have several prayer stations set up where small groups of children visit each prayer station.
Examples of this include ‘prayer lilies’ where you write down a worry on a paper lily and once folded in a certain way and placed in a large dish of water, the lilies slowly open up, symbolic of us opening up to God and releasing our worries to him.
‘Sorry sand’ where each child has a tray of sand and writes or draws in the sand something they are sorry for, then wipes it away, smooths out the sand, showing how God forgives us and wipes the slate clean.
There are many more prayer stations that all show different ways to connect with God.
I love the prayer wall as it is so lovely to see what children write as a prayer to God. Examples of these prayers are – “thank you for being a Father to me” – “Thank you for the best gift ever, my life”. “Please look after my Gran in heaven”.
A favourite is the prayer tent. A pop up tent with twinkly lights inside or a bubble tube. A chance to be still and quiet and pray in a relaxing space set apart from everything else.
Teachers love how calm it is and the children enjoy having a moment out of their busy day to reflect, think and pray.
Superhero Assembly
We have also been leading assemblies in Primary schools on the theme superheroes.
The children start with a quiz to see if they can guess the superhero from the emoji clues on screen. They tell us what their superpower would be if they were a superhero.
We then explore the idea that there is more to being a superhero such as being kind and caring and honest and brave.
We go into the story of David being chosen to be king with 9 volunteers to play Jesse and his sons. They learn that man looks on the outside but God looks on the inside.
The children learn that there are lots of different kinds of superheroes, it is important not to judge others by the outside, and that we too can be Superheroes if we work on the person we are on the inside.
This week we are starting to deliver our Christmas in a Box lessons, visiting St Sampsons High for some lessons on Christian Views on War, visiting Amherst for a lesson on Jesus along with daily lunch clubs and a couple of assemblies. Please do keep these activities, the students, team and volunteers in your prayers this week.
