Parma Lutheran Church

Parma Lutheran Church

Sunday School

2017-2018

Parent Packet

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14 NIV

“We are people loving Christ by Praising, Learning, and Caring.”

Hello and welcome families to a very new Sunday School year at PLC! I’m extremely excited to get started with our program this 500th Anniversary of the Reformation year at PLC and to fully take the reigns as your Education Director! We have some exciting curriculum, teacher, and leadership changes for the year. I pray that through the life of our congregation and its programs that our children will grow in spirit and faith.

I welcome Stephanie Antal as our temporary Education and Family Ministries Council Representative. She will be serving us in this leadership role through the end of 2017. The role will again be open for a two year term in January, so please contact myself (Katie) if you are interested and called to serving in this position. Specials thanks to all of our generous teachers and volunteers for sharing their time and talents lending a hand to guide and form our children’s faith.

Our teacher list is as follows:

Sparklers Class: Kim Cummings and Beth Iafigliola*

PreK-K: Beth Vaitekunas and Mike Hill

Grades 1-2: Cindy Lucas and TBD

Grades 3-4: Barb Schneider and Dan Zaranec

Grades 5-6: Jennifer Hill, Katie Galicic, and TBD*

Grades 7-8: Pastor Don, Martin Woodworth, Katie Galcic, and TBD*

Grades 9-12: Linda Duffy, Katie Galicic, and TBD*

*Teachers will rotate which weeks they are teaching.

We also will have gracious volunteers to fill in when our teachers are out. Please make sure to thank them when you see them leading for the week.

New class designation and curriculums are as follows:

Our Birth through age 3 Sparklers class will be using the Spark Activate Faith lectionary-based curriculum in the upstairs Choir room.

For our Pre-K through 4th Graders, our Holy Moly lesson starts at 9am with a snack, gathering activity, and movie in rooms 203 (3-4), 204 (1-2), and 205 (pre-k, k).

*Music time for Birth through 4th Grade with Miss Katie and Mr. Dan is from 9:50-10:00am.

Our 5th and 6th Graders will be learning from the re:form Ancestors curriculum in room 202.

For our 7th and 8th Graders, we will be finishing up the last units of “The Affirmation of our Faith” curriculum and transitioning into the CoLABorate Lutheran Confirmation curriculum in the upstairs chapel.

Our High Schoolers will continue using Echo: The Storyand other various lesson materials in the Youth Room, room 201.

We will be starting our classes at 9AM. The Holy Moly classes will begin with a snack, gathering activity, and a movie that lasts about 5-8 minutes. Please plan your morning accordingly because this movie ties in to the rest of the hour’s lesson plan, and the kids really enjoy it! Our re:form, coLABorate, and Echo classes will also typically begin with a movie clip that set up the lesson as well.

For parents of children 6th grade and younger, please walk your child up to their classroom so the teacher knows that the student is safely present and offering can be placed in basket. You may also help them place their sticker on the attendance chart for that day! Music will be from 9:50- 10:00 in the upstairs “Sparklers” classroom. Plan on picking your child up in their classroom by 10AM. We would like the teachers to dismiss the students to their parents so we know that your child is safe. In the event that your child needs to be picked up outside, please let your child’s teacher know in advance and a designated Education Ministry Volunteer will walk them to the doors in the brick lobby downstairs.

Attached is a written schedule with the lessons for each class for the next 3 months. (The 7th-8th Confirmation lessons will be provided to you by your teachers.) The lesson plans are being provided to you in advance so you can help prepare your child for what they will be learning that day and also to help you as a parent interpret what your child is telling you about what they learned! Education in faith goes both ways and you’d be surprised how your child interprets a bible story at such a young age. Regularly sharing in the study of the Bible together, as a family, is essential to grow in your faith together, and also a strong basis for the way we practice our faith as Lutherans. We are blessed to have the lesson plans to help guide our children’s faith and relationships as they share them with others at their home, schools, sports teams, and out in the community.In the case that your child is absent for a Sunday School class, I pray that providing the lesson plans in advance will help you fill-in-the-blanks for the story that they missed.

Keeping with last year’s new tradition, there again is an opportunity for parents to help out in the classrooms (all classrooms!). Please consider to “pick-a- day” that would be special to your child or family (for example, a wedding anniversary, first day at karate class, Grandmother’s 90th birthday, adopting a new pet,etc). Parents are encouraged to participate in the classes, assisting the teachers with reading or crafts.

If applicable for a Baptismal Birthday, we would like to celebrate your child’s day that they entered God’s Kingdom with their class and to highlight your child and share in their special day with their family.

For our Holy Moly classes, parents are asked to provide a healthy, small snack for all the children to share. There is a sign-up available through Sign-up Genius online which will be emailed for you.

Announcements regarding Education and Family Ministry Events will be provided as handouts during class. Emails will also be sent so please provide a current email so that you can be added to the education list serv. You will see emails coming from myself, Stephanie, and also volunteers who have accepted the calling to lead specific events. If you would not like to be added to the list serv for Sunday School updates, but would like to still provide your email for other communication purposes then please let me know. We are also using a Communication Station that is visible in the upstairs hall for Sunday School specific events, so stay tuned.

For our Sparklers and Holy Moly classes, we are again excited to offer Christian music for the children during the last 10 minutes of each class. At this point, the music will be led by Katie Galicic and Dan Zaranec. The children will be invited to participate in worship service occasionally with a song. They will be learning a worship song during our music time, along with Christian favorites such as “Jesus Loves Me”, “This Little Light of Mine”, and “Father Abraham”. We will introduce both new songsand old favorites, such as “I’ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy” and “Jesus Loves the Little Children”. If you have an old favorite that you recommend for us to share, then please let your child’s teacher know!

Wondering what you should do during the hour that your child is at Sunday School? You are welcome to join in fellowship with other parents and church members in the brick lobby. Coffee is provided and donuts would surely be welcome!  Stay tuned for details to have an opportunityfor short parent bible study sessionsduring the Sunday School hour. If you have any ideas on topics you would like to see explored, then please share. I’m looking into organized materials from the ELCA and various other Lutheran Education Publishers for ideas. As this is the 500th Anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation, perhaps we can start there!

As a gentle reminder and disclaimer, PLC hired me for both the Youth Director and Education Director positions. Sometimes there is overlap of these duties and time commitments, and so I greatly appreciate your parental leadership at times when I am needed in both places. Although I work at the church 25-30 hours a week, when split between the two positions and worship that only leaves me 10-11 hours of real availability to you. I typically take Mondays as my Sabbath, which means I will not be meeting, texting, calling, emailing, or Facebooking with you then (unless it is imperative). I typically hold office hours Tuesdays and Wednesdays, although I do stop by other days and occasionally work from home as my schedule allows. Please contact me ahead of time if you would like to chat (at my office or out and about is fine), so I can make sure to be available to you and to budget my time appropriately. Since I am only part time at the church, I also work limited hours at another job (currently in transition); so sometimes my schedule at the church will fluctuate and I greatly appreciate your understanding.

For communication purposes I will typically use email and Facebook, although texting, calling, and the occasional ‘snail-mailing’ are not out of the question. You are always welcome to contact me, and I will do my best to reply ASAP. This past winter we had quite a few email and technological glitches that interfered with our communication, so I hope that we have those out of the way for this year! I am looking into some automatic message and reminder programs as well for both your sake and mine, so please keep an eye out for updated communications.

Again, I’m very excited to be leading your Sunday School program this year! I look forward to joining all of you as we provide the best possible year. I can’t do everything nor do it alone, so I look to you to help lead events throughout the year. Please sign up to share your talents with the children. TOGETHER we will make this the best year yet! Don’t forget to thank your teachers!

Peace in Christ,

Katie Galicic

Director of Youth and Education Ministries @ PLC

Email:

Call/Text: (412) 296-2745

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