4th/5th grade change

Mellingers and Suarezes are switching their months for January and February. The Mellingers will do January instead of the Suarezes.

Help for the Herr

Brian will be alone in the 1st grade class this month. Will you please make sure an adult aide joins Brian in class? Thanks!

K Class--December

December 7: Reinford
December 14: Alburger
December 21: Alburger
December 28: Reinford

Please pray that God will bring us teachers to fill the April/August slots.

Class Update

For the remainder of this month, the 1st and 2nd grade classes will be combined. Jan and Becky Landis will be the teachers.

Medical Response Team

Greetings Coordinators!

Hope you are all doing well today! I am e-mailing regarding a new procedure we would like to implement in children's ministry. In the case of an emergency, you would have the multi media team flash the number 999 on the screen so as to alert a medical response team that they are needed in children's ministry. We are forming a team of several ladies (Julie Bell, Linda Meuleners, Mary Munsell and Bev Silver) that will "sign in" each week they are there so you are aware of who to go to in case of an emergency.
If you have any questions about this, please feel free to talk to Blake.

Thank you!

Have a great weekend!

Teacher Changes

K
November 9--Mike and Brenda Alburger

1st Grade
November 2--Dave and Sherri

4th/5th Grade
November 2--Dan and Linda Meuleners
November 9--Dan and Linda Meuleners

Children's Choir Rehearsal

Greetings Coordinators!

Just to let you all know, rehearsals for the children's Christmas Eve Choir begin November 16th and the plan for this year is for the children to be dismissed from class at 11:40. Rehearsals will be from 11:45-12:30.

Thank you!

Cleaning Germs

It sounds like we've been getting feedback about the cleanliness of the toys in the nursery. Connie Reed will be placing Clorox wipes in the nursery this week. As the attendants put the toys away, they will wipe them. Kerry High will also give them a thorough cleaning from time to time. If any parents are wondering, you can mention that we are trying! I know we've had different systems in place, but none has really worked so far. Hopefully this one will!

Aides

I know you decided at the coordinators' meeting to have four aides each week. Instead of releasing someone from the schedule, however, Blake and I decided to leave them all there, giving us "wiggle room" for mornings we need extra help. One example will occur tomorrow morning. One of our teachers can't be in the classroom because of sick kids. Instead of calling someone to substitute, we can assign one of our adult aides to be the second adult in the classroom.

I thought I should explain this in case anyone wonders why the schedule isn't pared to four aides each week.

Class Changes

Kindergarten
The Mellingers--September 7
Deb Peart and Dianne Mesure--September 14
The Millers--October 5
The Alburgers--December 7

1st Grade
The McGraths--September 14
The Herrs--October 5

New Classrooms

Greetings Coordinators!

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend! Just so you are all aware, the classrooms will be changing this Sunday. Here is a list of the new classrooms:

Room #223 - Nursing Moms
Room #225 - Nursery
Room #226 - 6th Grade
Room #227 - Kindergarten
Room # 228 - Early Preschool
Room #229 - Late Preschool
Room #231 - 2nd Grade
Room #232 - 1st Grade
Room #234 - 3rd Grade
Room #236 - 4th/5th Grade

Thank you for all you are doing to make this transition run smoothly!

Have a great night!

Assembly

Just so you know, Blake and I have planned an assembly for tomorrow. We will be celebrating the end of our first cycle of God's Story and recognizing our 6th grade graduates. If you are coordinating, the 1st through 6th graders will only be in their classes the beginning and end of the CM time.

Coordinator's Meeting

Greetings Coordinators!

Would you all be available for a coordinators meeting on October 5th? It would be immediately following the service, would include lunch and would end by 3pm. Location is TBD. If you could all let me know if you are available for that date, that would be great!

Thank you!

Have a great weekend!

Just a few notes

Hello coordinators!
Just a few things to note: New blue family ID cards were placed in file box to be handed out over the next couple of weeks. There is now a pack of napkins in the "big blue bin" to give to teachers who forgot to bring napkins for their snacks. We are trying to not have the teachers grabbing the school's paper towels. It worked good to have them right at the table so the teachers could grab them on the way into the cafeteria. Also, this past week there was not a trash can in the caf. for all of the snack trash. Whoever is on, might want to mention it to the set-up guys so that they might be able to find one. That 's all for now!

6th Grade Changes

Hello Coordinators!



This is just to make you all aware of the new schedule for the 6th graders in the new school year. Beginning September 7th, the schedule will look like this:



1st Sunday - children are taught by one of the pastors

2nd Sunday - children remain in the service

3rd Sunday - children are taught by Jim & Nancy Fenstermacher

4th Sunday - children remain in the service

5th Sunday - children remain in the service (unless otherwise indicated)



Thank you for all you do to make these changes run smoothly!!

Response to "Late Parents" from Blake

Let’s keep this procedure in place. For those parents/kids who would repeatedly be picked up late, we should approach the parents to setup a contingency plan w/ another parent, teen or older child to retrieve the younger child(ren). This would need to be passed along in communications and should only be allowed for legitimate needs (e.g. intercessory prayer team after service).

Late Parents

Well, look what I found in the notes I send teachers each month! Would you like this procedure to remain?

Take any children who haven’t been picked up by a parent to the nursery by 12:15 (or 15 minutes following the conclusion of the service). A coordinator will be there for supervision.

New ID Cards

Greetings Coordinators!
This is just a "heads up" for you all regarding the new Family ID Cards. Beginning next Sunday, August 17th, the new blue ID cards will be available for distribution. Families have until September 7th to return their old one and pick up a blue one. After the 7th, the old cards will no longer be accepted. If the coordinators scheduled to serve next Sunday could begin letting parents know of this change, it would be most helpful.

Thank you for all you do to serve the children of Grace!

A few questions...

Do we need to save the green family ID tags in the file box? We have tags for the following families: Nowicki (#124), Meyer (#145), Seeley (#138), Yerk (#133), and Derminio (#604). All of these families have not been coming for long time, that I know of. 

Also, how long do we save visitor cards in the file box? There are some from 2006 and the box is getting pretty full. I would gladly sort through it if I have permission to. 

At one time we were asking teachers to bring children to the nursery if parents were late in picking them up. Is this procedure still in effect, and if so, what room are we using for it? I had a teacher ask me where to put the children this past week and that room is now the guest reception room. I just had the children wait with me at the CM table until the parents came. I think it is important that there is consistency among us coordinators to minimize confusion for teachers, parents, and children. 

Please let me know your thoughts on these three questions. Thank you!

Also, thank you Sherri, for the list of birthday parameters that you put in the file box. It was very helpful to me in placing visitors in classes. 

Loving Sean

I asked Robin to write an e-mail to parents of the K class, so they can do the appropriate follow-up. Here it is.


Dear parents,

First we want to let you know that Kristie and I are thoroughly enjoying our Sunday mornings with your children. We'd like to take this opportunity to make you aware of the events of this past Sunday AM class time.

As many of you are aware, Sean Dailey, one of the boys in the class, has some learing challenges. It can be difficult at times for him to stop talking. He can have a trouble sitting as well (beyond the normal wiggles). If he is asked a question by a friend, at times he will not be able to answer the question or have a little conversation with a friend. The children can find this confusing. My daugther Melanie and I have the joy of going to the Dailey's home regularly to help Brooke in any way that she is in need, so I have had a some additional time with Sean and am enjoying getting to know him and learn ways from Brooke that he learns and communicates best.

This past Sunday Sean was "extra excitable". Some of the children were laughing and whispering, looking and pointing at Sean. This was unusual. Kristie took Sean out of the classroom for a walk in the halls to try to calm him a bit. We had just finished going over our verse for the month, " The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and RICH IN LOVE." I felt the Lord would want me to take a little time to talk to the children about Sean. I asked if any of them had a little trouble talking with Sean or asking him a question and getting an answer. Many of the boys raised their hands. I tried to explain to the children that Sean has been made perfectly and beautifully by the Lord just like each of us. He is learning and growing inside in some different ways than many of us are used to, so that is why it can be difficult or confusing to talk with him. Remembering that God made us all just right, we ar e to be RICH IN LOVE towards everyone. I can't remember my exact words but that is the gist.

I chalk the laughing and whispering up to a lack of understanding, not crueltly. I just wanted to let you know, as I'm sure you might want to follow up with your child and are you of course are better able to address your own child's specific questions. Thank you again for bringing your child to Sunday school each week. It is truly a blessing to share time with your child learning about our Savior together.

In grace,
Kristie and Robin

K Teachers for August

We're piecing together the kindergarten class in August.

3rd – Denise Randolph & Tanya Pampel
10th – Dan & Brenda Reinford
17th – Dean & Gwen Knepp (need to find a replacement for Dean at aide role)
24th – Dan & Brenda Reinford
31st – Dave & Tricia Mellinger

Any ideas for consistent teachers?

Nursery switches

Just an FYI about a change in nursery schedule for the Kleins. We will be on vacation the first week of August, which is 8/3 and have asked two people on the fifth Sunday to switch with us. Christine F. and Sue Paquin will take our week in Aug and we'll cover for them the 5th Sunday of August, which is Labor Day weekend.

f.y.i.

hey everyone! Just wanted to mention a little episode on Sunday in the late preschool class. A child was very upset and screaming when parent was trying to leave when dropping off. I was standing there watching and wondering if I should intervene. The child then hit the teacher in the face and so I felt this is where I should draw the line. I asked the parent if they could take the child out as this was creating quite a scene for the other little ones. The Seasholtz's (teachers) were very gracious and were even willing to keep the child in the classroom as the parent felt quite sure the child would calm down after they (the parent) left the room. I had felt at that point that the child had "lost the privilege" of Sunday School. That was just my personal opinion. Also, we had a regularly attending family ask if they could bump their 5th grader up now instead of Sept. and we did ask that they would hold off until Sept. I know if we make exceptions for one then where do we draw the line? That's all for now, folks..

The Kidwells

Move Up Date

Attention all CM Coordinators! Just for you information, the move-up date for this year will be September 7th.

Welcome!

Here is the blog for communication between the CM Coordinators at Grace!