KIDZTOWN UPCOMING NEWS & EVENTS!
Nursery:
Currently: We recruit for one volunteer slot for 9:30 and two for the 10:45 hour (for toddler and infant, if needed) and rely on the wonderful TLC workers to provide consistent care to our youngsters.
Starting In Mid-December: We will recruit volunteers only for the two 10:45 slots (infant and toddler). We will no longer seek volunteers for that earlier slot at 9:30 and but will trust our TLC workers handle the small number of little ones during that hour.

Kidztown Sunday School:
Currently: We have 3 rotation groups: Prek-K, 1st-2nd, and 3rd. These 3 groups rotate between 5 stations over an average of 5 weeks. Starting With the Advent Rotation (12/4/2011): We will move to 2 rotation groups: Prek-K and 1st-3rd. Normally, these 2 groups will now rotate between 4 stations over an average of 4 weeks. The 4 stations to rotate between will change depending on which unit we are covering, so all of our stations will get some time to shine! That means the computer station is coming back!

SPECIAL NOTE on Advent: You will not see the normal layout of this change until January, because our advent rotation is super short. Advent will rotate only twice, since there will be NO sunday school on Christmas morning and December 11th is being combined due to a children’s choir rehearsal!

Kidz Own Worship & Kidz In Worship
Currently: Kidz Own Worship meets every week.
Starting In November: Kidz Own Worship will be 3 weeks of the month and meet in room 312. One week of the month, often on communion Sunday, will be designated as a Kidz In Worship Sunday, when all children in Kindergarten and up will stay in the sanctuary. In this Kidz In Worship service we will seek to be extra relevant to the children in our midst. This component will vary month to month, but on November 13th it will be the Children’s Sabbath and 3rd grade Bible presentation. One consistent component of this change will be to explicitly offer a slot for one child to help during the worship service, such as with ushering or serving during communion. If your child is interested in taking part in this opportunity please let me know! This enables more of our children to be present for communion, gives our volunteers a chance to attend worship AND communion, and encourages our corporate worship to be a teaching moment! NOTE: this does mean there will be NO Kidz Own Worship November 13th. A more detailed schedule and description of components will follow.

Extended Session: no changes at this time.

General News and Upcoming Events:
Phew! You made it it through the confusing part, so the following is simply some calendar notes and reminders.

• November 13: Third Grade Bible presentation!
• November 16- January 25th: Learning to Use My Bible Classes will be taught by Kim Blackwell and myself beginning the following week Wednesday during the same time as Club 45 . A complete schedule will follow.
• November 27: KidzTown Sunday School will be combined due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
• December 10: Don't forget A Night in Bethlehem! If you are interested in Volunteering please email me!
• December 11: Kidztown Sunday School will be combined due to the children’s choir rehearsal.
• December 25 & January 1: No Sunday School before the 11am service. There will, however, be nursery care provided 10:30am-12:30pm. Don’t worry parents of older kids, this is a Kidz In Worship Sunday!

Sundays at KidzTown
NURSERY - Infants & Toddlers
8:45am, 9:45am & 11:00am in the KidzTown Wing
The nursery is your child’s first experience with God’s family and we want it to be a positive one. Our goal is to reflect the love of God to your child while in the nursery. Our dedicated staff and volunteers provide loving childcare for children infants to age 3 during all worship services and other special events.

SUNDAY SCHOOL - 9:45am - 10:45am
Preschoolers through 3rd Grade
9:45am in the KidzTown Wing
What do you get when you combine fun and learning about God's love with the faithful guidance of caring teachers? You have a wonderful Sunday school program for children. Using the Workshop Rotation Model, children experience the stories of God's word incorporating the various ways we each learn. Over a 6-week period, children "rotate" weekly through our exciting new theme-focused learning rooms. One week it might be cooking in the KidzTown Café, or storytelling in the KidzTown Library. The next week the kids might be learning the lesson in the computer lab at the KidzTown Connection, or by watching a video in the KidzTown Cinema, or even through art or science in the KidzTown Clubhouse. Our preschoolers are learning the same lesson of our elementary age children through a similar version of the Workshop Rotation Model.

Club 45
9:45am – Room 211
New to the KidzTown neighborhood is Club 45, a new alternative tweens program for our 4th and 5th graders. Club 45 is designed to help bridge the gap between children’s ministry and youth ministry by offering a specifically designed ministry to meet the distinctive needs of preteens. As they begin to desire independence and begin to form their own opinions and thoughts on life issues, we want Embry Hills to be a place where they feel safe, and where they feel like they belong. Crossroads is the Sunday morning component of Club 45 where kids will meet for discussion based lessons. During this time our 4th and 5th graders will be challenged to move toward thinking more abstractly in a non-threatening manner.

Children in Worship at Embry Hills UMC
We welcome children in worship. We believe worshipping as a family is an important part of each person’s faith development. Children learn what it means to worship God by observing the examples of adults. We are pleased to offer the following suggestions and learning opportunities for supporting the children and families who worship with us. If you have questions about any of this information, a member of our clergy staff will be glad to assist you.

Helping Children Prepare for Worship

• Explain worship and share stories from the Bible and from personal experience.
• Make Sunday worship a regular part of the time you spend with children.
• Anticipate events in the church, such as changes in the seasons, colors in the sanctuary, observance of the sacraments, and other special services. Be prepared to help explain these changes to children.
• Encourage children to take a drink and to use the bathroom before church to minimize the need to exit during the service.
• Establish non-verbal signals that can be used with your child during worship.
• Prepare children to participate in the sacrament of holy communion. Invite children to walk with you so that they might see and hear this ritual.
• Helping Children Participate in Worship
• Help children greet other members of the congregation and include children as introductions are made.
• Pick up a bulletin for each child.
• Share the Bible and the hymnbook with children. Help them find the readings in the Bible. Encourage them to mark the hymns that are going to be used. Assist them in following the readings or singing by using the bulletin to underline verses or stanzas.
• Assist children to rise when the congregation stands since this stretches muscles and encourages participation.
• Provide a coin for the offering to teach about sharing and stewardship. Children may bring their offering to the Time on the Steps or put their money in the offering plate and help pass the plate to the next person.
• Model worship participation by taking an active part in the service as greeters and ushers. Watch for seasonal opportunities to participate.

“Time on the Steps”
11:00am in the Sanctuary
During the 11:00 a.m. worship service, children are invited to hear the Children’s Sermon on the steps with the pastors. The message comes from the children through the sharing of “The Box,” a kind of Sunday show- and-tell. Each Sunday a child is chosen to take the box home and return the following Sunday with a specially selected object–nothing living, dead, slimy, corroded, or weaponous—which is discussed in a way relevant to the sermon and to our daily lives.

Extended Session for Preschoolers
11:00am following the “Time of the Steps”
We know that a morning of Sunday School and the regular worship service may be a bit much for our little ones. Immediately following Time on the Steps, children ages 3 to 5 years old are invited to our Extended Session in room 305 for a special playtime.
PLEASE NOTE: Extended Session is on hold for the summer and will resume in August. Please contact the church if you are willing to volunteer for this special ministry!

Children’s Worship
11:00am following “Time on the Steps”
Children in 1st through 3rd grade are invited to join us for Children’s Worship every sunday. (If there are exceptions for special holidays or events, we will try to provide advance notice.) Children begin worship with their parents at 11:00 a.m., then following Time on the Steps the children are led by adult volunteers to the Chapel to learn more about worship and its various elements.
The children will be learning who God is and how to worship God. In addition, the children will have the opportunity to acolyte, read the scripture lesson, and lead in prayer. On Children’s Worship Sundays, the “Weekly Source” bulletin insert will explain what the children will be learning. The following week, as they attend the regular worship service with you, the children will be asked to watch for the particular element of worship they learned about.

Learning to Use My Bible
Each year Embry Hills presents Bibles to our 3rd graders and because we don’t want these Bibles to be dust collectors on a bookshelf, we offer a fun and exciting time where children actually learn to use their Bible.

A Night in Bethlehem - 2nd Saturday night in December.
Come to the village of Bethlehem and experience the sights, smells and sounds of what it may have been like 2000 years ago...when a baby was born. Enter the gates of Bethlehem, register with the census taker then begin your journey visiting the many different shops and sights of the village. Make a candle, dye some fabric, explore the marketplace, and other exciting shops. Visit the live animals, see the Holy family, stop for refreshments by the fire pit and listen as Mary’s cousin Elizabeth tells the nativity story. Free for the entire family. Make plans to join us for A Night in Bethlehem!

For more information on Kidztown please contact:
Susannah Bales
Director of Children’s Ministries
susannahb@embryhillsumc.net
770.938.0661 ext. 114