August 25, 2007

Dear Parents:

Thanks so much for entrusting your child to our care on Sunday morning in the Fourth Grade Department of the Jersey Baptist Church! We’re looking forward to a terrific year of fun and learning with our new class of fourth graders, as we get to know each other and study the Bible together in lots of interesting ways.

Our class meets each Sunday at 9:45 in room 4017. We would welcome your stopping by and letting us introduce ourselves to you. Please inform us if there should be any special arrangements for your child when class is over. Normally the children are dismissed from the classroom at the end of the session, but they are welcome to stay until a parent arrives if you prefer.

Fourth graders are at a terrific age—their reading skills are developing well and they are capable of understanding quite a lot about the Bible and how it relates to their daily lives. Each week we make every effort not only to study the Bible story, but also to relate it to real-life applications that the children can put to practical use in their spiritual journey.

Sunday School affirms the home as the center of biblical guidance. Parents are the most important people in a child’s life, and learning about God starts in the home. Teaching children about God is a seven-day-a-week effort, not something that is done just an hour or two on Sunday morning. We pledge to do our best to support you in your child’s spiritual education, and stand ready to help you at any time.

To help you and your child, we will give each child a Learner page each week with daily Bible readings, that week’s memory verse, and some fun learning activities which the child can do at home. We encourage you to ask about the Learner page and talk about Sunday School with your child.

To help even more, your adult Sunday School book may help keep you informed about the subjects your child is learning about each week and suggest activities that you can do with your family at home to help reinforce our Bible learning each week. If your class is using the Life Truths series (aimed at parents), you will find a weekly page titled "Family Bible Time," which will inform you what your child is studying that week and provide suggestions for ways you can reinforce that learning in your family setting. Please let us know if we can assist as you help your children to grow spiritually.

From time to time, when appropriate for the lesson or the season, we may have snacks or taste foods related to the story. Please let us know if your child has any allergies or other dietary restrictions. Because of this and out of fairness to other children, we ask that your child not bring food into the classroom.

Some of the things you can do to support the best Sunday School experience for your child are:

Sunday school starts each week at 9:45 a.m. Please help your child to be on time and attend as often as possible. Consistency and continuity are extremely important for your child during these years. To provide the best learning experience, we teach in units of study that build from week to week through the month, and it's best for the child to be able to experience each week's lesson, if possible. We prepare carefully each week to begin meaningful teaching from the very beginning of the class, and your child's arrival on time helps the whole class to get the most out of the session.

We promise to join you in praying for you and your child. We believe that prayer is an effective and powerful force to help protect your child and help him develop to his highest spiritual potential. We would much appreciate your prayers for us and the class as well.

In addition, we encourage your child to develop the habit of a daily quite time with God, which will help provide a firm foundation for her future life. We provide Adventure! for your child each month. This is a book of daily devotional thoughts and scripture verses, along with fun activities and stories to supplement the readings

Please encourage your child to bring a Bible and an offering each week. We will actively use the Bible each Sunday in class. The Sunday School offering supports the Jersey general budget, just as the worship service offering does. However, we also use the children's offering to help them develop good habits of stewardship, as we discuss how the money is used to provide services and ministry at our church and support missions around the world.

We intend to engage in a number of missions and ministry activities during the year. Last year our class prepared gifts for our truck stop ministry and helped with the Jersey mission trips to Singapore by praying for our missionaries and making items to encourage them and support their work. From time to time we may invite the children to bring foodstuffs or other items to share with needy families in our community. During September we will be collecting school supplies for poor families in German Village area, and before Thanksgiving our class will participate in the church-wide Thanksgiving food drive.

We will make significant use of computer technology in the classroom to reinforce Bible learning. If you have internet access, a great thing you can help your child to do is to access our own class web page at http://sschool.com/kids/, where you will find some of the learning activities, games, music, and stories we use in class. We also have a new class blog at http://sschool.com/blogs/, updated weekly with information for the kids about what we’ll be studying the next Sunday.

Please be sure that we stand ready to help your family at any time. Let us know of any special ministry needs, or other special needs your child may have. We consider it an honor and privilege to be allowed to work with your child over the next year. We much appreciate your support, and we pledge to work with you in the best interests of your child.

Yours and His,

Sydney Cook

Thomas J. Cook

(614) 855-2175
tjcook@earthlink.net
http://sschool.com/kids/
http://sschool.com/blogs/