Can you feel it in the air? The slight shift from lazy summer days to the scheduled weeks of fall is coming soon. Ready or not, a new school year is almost here! New students, new classrooms, new curriculum, and a whole new opportunity to share God’s love with kids! Sunday School teachers and ministry leaders have just as big of a responsibility to prepare for the new year as those in the education field. Promotion Sunday, Move-up Sunday, no matter what your church calls it, this special day is coming sooner than most of us think. This time of month brings big changes, growth, and the joy of new open hearts and minds. While every church will have their own schedules, curriculum, and themes for the year, what about starting off with a special day focused on growing with Christ that can continue to set the tone throughout the whole year?
1. Connect
Don’t rely on that first Sunday to meet and form relationships with your kids. Plan to send out a postcard two weeks early inviting your kids to class, introducing yourself, and letting them know why you’re excited to see them each week. If you have space, share the theme for the year and why this class is important. A note like this forms a relationship up front, shows you care, and provides both parents and kids a reminder that the class is starting soon and what it will look like to attend. An email or other online communication would also work, but how exciting would it be for a child to get mail in their own name!
Bonus: Don’t rely on snail mail alone. Find ways to introduce yourself to your students in the larger church setting. Put their parents at ease by making it a point to say “Hello” and let them know what class will look like this next year.
2. Prepare
If you’re not prepared, it will show. You can’t be excited about something you haven’t fully thought through or learned yourself. Know your overall plan for the year and make sure any helpers you have understand it as well. It’s vital to make sure everyone is on the same page about what you’d like to accomplish this year and the atmosphere you want to promote. Have a conversation about schedule, expected student behavior, and helper responsibilities. Your helpers may have some fantastic ideas, so make sure to ask their opinion!
3. Decorate
Some of you are blessed to have your own designated spaces that don’t get shared with the rest of the church. Go crazy! Decorate your room. Make it comfortable, practical to fit your goals for the year, and full of nods to your theme. An inviting space instantly brings a sense of calm and belonging. For a growing with Christ theme use green colors or a hardy class plant to reinforce the idea throughout the year. If you have a large space, decorate the wall with a large tree using brown butcher paper for the trunk and branches. Let students cut out their own leaves using green construction paper, adding their own names to be attached to the tree. Not enough space for that? Create a growth chart, but instead of tracking height, add markers for spiritual growth like kindness, helpfulness, or learning a memory verse.
But for the rest of us, if we’re honest, we share rooms with at least four other ministries and feel like it’s a move in and move out situation at the end of class each week. It’ll be more effort, but find ways to make your space extra exciting the first week. Use a Welcome banner, mini artificial plants, faux greenery and vines, brightly colored tablecloths or balloons, a special treat, or any other easy set-up methods to promote excitement.
4. Snacks
Speaking of special treats, what kid doesn’t like snacks? While most weeks may involve snack time, make the very first week extra delicious. An easy, inexpensive treat that fits most allergy restrictions is the tried-and-true Rice Krispie. But don’t be average about it, decorate your treats with your grade number in icing and some sprinkles. Delicious and colorful! Did you notice a shy kid in the beginning of class? Have them help you pass out the treats. It’ll allow them the opportunity to connect with everyone else without being completely put on the spot.
5. Welcome
The first impression a child gets when they walk into your room will be the most important. Most of your children will be thrilled to be moving up and into a new class, but you’ll also have a couple who are a little anxious about the change. No matter what feeling you get from the overall group, this is your chance to help them celebrate a milestone. Start the class time with a welcome and a reminder that growing is a gift from God. Preview your theme verse or lesson passage. Remind your new class that just as Jesus grew in stature, he also grew in wisdom and favor with God and man (Luke 2:52). Encourage spiritual growth along with physical growth and celebrate the start of a new chance to grow more like Jesus.
6. Ice Breakers
Did you get a little nervous just reading that word? Most of us have some traumatic memory of a less than comfortable ice breaker setting. We want to avoid that feeling. But it’s always a great idea to find easy ways to connect the children with one another. A child is more likely to want to attend and find himself comfortable in a setting where they have friends. Consider an easy, no thinking of an obscure fact, kind of activity. Have a list of ideas beforehand to read off and ask kids to find someone that shares the same trait. After each child has found a partner, have them introduce themselves before moving on to the next idea. Things like, find someone with the same color shirt, same number of siblings, your eye color, or height—the list could go on and on. Have ideas ready ahead of time to keep the game moving and ensure kids have a good chance to meet several, possible new friends.
7. Theme Verse
The Bible promises that God’s word will always change hearts and minds. The amount of preparation, decorations, or any other promotional hype you may plan can’t impact a heart for eternity if absent of truth. A class that brings honor to Christ will be one that focuses on the truths found in the Bible. A natural theme verse to reinforce the spiritual growth we want to encourage is 2 Peter 3:18a, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Display this verse on a chalkboard or poster all year as a constant reminder of this goal.
Play a simple game to practice the memory verse. Have everyone shrink down to the floor and gradually grow up to their full height as you say the verse together. Have children take turns choosing words from the verse where everyone will snap their fingers together as they “grow” and say the verse. Use the link to listen a song that will help children memorize the verse.
Need some more ideas on how to introduce and teach this verse? Check out our KEJ “Dive In!” Lesson 1. We already did the work and tried it out with some excited kids!
8. Lesson
Linking your first lesson with your theme verse is key in reinforcing a great start to the year. Let’s call this lesson, “Jesus Grew Too!” Luke 2 tells us about the birth of Jesus into the world. That’s the familiar portion, but near the end of the chapter we see how He spends His childhood. Luke 2:52 tells us, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” If we want our children to follow anyone, it should be Jesus. We want to naturally connect the excitement of moving to a new class with the greater goal of growing in faith. This year isn’t just about an age or classroom change; it is a chance to grow spiritually.
Object Lesson: Bring shoes in several sizes (baby shoes, child shoes, adult shoes). Explain that just as we outgrow shoes, God helps us grow in our faith. Growing can feel new or even a little scary, but it’s a wonderful part of life. Just as Jesus grew in his stature and favor with God, we want to see our kids grow in the same way.
Love the ideas so far and wish you had the complete thing all in one place? We have you covered! For the full lesson, games, printables, activities, craft, and more, check out our KEJ lesson, “Jesus Grew Too!“
9. Crafts
Crafts are a great way to interact with your students while creating a reminder of the day’s lesson. Use the attached PDF outline of a tree and fill it with ways the children want to grow this year. Some ideas could include Pray More, Memorize Scripture, Be Kind, Obey Parents, Tell others about Jesus, etc.
Print out your tree outline on cardstock, and glue crumpled, brown tissue paper squares onto the trunk. Provide colorful markers and allow students to write down their ideas around the branches. You can also print and cut out the ideas provided for younger children. Fill the extra space with crumpled, green tissue paper squares. Click on the link for a free template!
Supplies:
- Cardstock
- Brown tissue paper squares (about 1×1”)
- Green tissue paper squares (about 1×1”)
- Glue
- Scissors
- Markers
10. Pray
Despite our best laid plans, if God is not in it, we will accomplish nothing. We should never rely on our own strength or grand ideas to achieve a successful year. Without God’s blessing and guidance all our hype or promotion will be in vain. Start the year out right with prayer. Write down your goals and ask God to lead and direct your desires to be in line with His own. He already knows what kids will be in your classroom and the specific needs of each child. Find other dedicated prayer partners to join with you. Mid-way through the year, once you have a better idea about each child’s needs, update that list for your prayer partners and pray more specifically for each child in your class.
Happy planning! Our prayer at KEJ is that you would use your position to lead children towards growing more like Jesus each day!
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