Curriculum for Sunday School

Tonight I had a curriculum meeting at my church to go over what I will be teaching for the first Sunday school rotation of the year.  First through 5th graders are broken down into 5 classes, according to grade.  Each week during the rotation they go to a different classroom and learn about something different (according to a theme).  One or more teachers teach the same thing to each class for 5 weeks.  The first Sunday school rotation will cover the 7 principles of our church.  I am teaching about the 7th principle, being good stewards of our Earth.  There was a lot of positive feed back last year after I taught the kids how to make juice pouch notebooks and paper beads.  The next set of classes begins in 2 weeks.

I'm going to begin by doing a fun guessing game.  What is this made out of?  I'll have a variety of items that are made using recycled items, and I'll have the kids guess what was the recycled / upcycled element used in it.  I'm thinking of bring the cardboard bangles, the plastic bottle cap pincushions, and the plastic bottle ring wreaths among other things.

Then we will make plarn (plastic bag yarn).  I've been asked to also demonstrate how I spin the plarn to make it thinner and more yarn like.  I'll also bring several finished plarn projects with me.

If there is time left, we will work on one or two plastic bag wreaths.  The wreath(s) will be worked on by all the classrooms and then sold at the church's holiday fair.

If the younger kids have trouble tying knots for the wreath, then I will have them color plastic bottle caps to decorate the wreath.  I'll show them this Halloween wreath as an example, but I'll ask them to draw winter and Christmas scenes on theirs.

While crafting, we will talk about different ways in which we can help the environment.

Last Sunday the church's green committee, which I am on, hosted coffee and social hour.  Its where people stay and talk after church services and have coffee, tea, juice, and some food.  We hid the garbage can and put out a paper bag for composting.  We laid out items that were reusable or compost-able for people to use for their food and drinks.  Its been a while in the making, but the kids are no longer  offered dixie cups.  We had small glasses for their juice and other cups for their snacks.  The green committee wanted to get the first official church service of the year off to a green start.  It was a success.