Little Lambs is a once-a-month class for children 3-years-old — kindergarten age and at least one parent. It is on a 3-year cycle.
REMINDER EMAILS: Since classes are only once a month, it is easy for parents to forget about class so I send out a reminder email the week before our class. I ask the parents to let me know if they will be at class. This helps me to know how many to be prepared for.
NAME TAGS: Everyone who comes to Little Lambs wears a name tag – parents and children. In large parishes and small parishes there are people who may say “hi” each Sunday, but they do not know each other’s names. Wearing name tags makes it easy for people to learn names. Since families may sit with different families each month, we use name tags for every class.
SNACKS: Our Little Lambs class is after Mass so the kids are hungry. We always have a snack – usually cookies and apple slices. The kids love the apple slices and parents like that they are eating something healthy. I bought an apple slicer so that any adult can slice the apples quickly and no one gets hurt on sharp edges.
PRAYERS: Learning prayers is an important part of teaching our children the faith. In Little Lambs, each child makes a prayer ring. The prayers are printed on bright colored cardstock. The children often pick the next prayer to work on by the color they most like ?
At the first class of the year, parents help their children pick out the prayers they already know and one new prayer to learn. These prayers are put in their prayer rings. Many of the children attend Little Lambs for 3 years and during the third year, the children have learned all of these prayers, so I add some more.
These are the prayer cards I use for Little Lambs.
4 copies of one prayer per page
For more information about my prayer rings, check out Prayer Rings: Memorizing Prayers is Important
HOME LESSONS: Each family takes home a manila envelope containing home lessons for the coming month. It is optional for families to do these home lessons – I do not check to see if they have done the lessons – but from what I hear, the majority of the families do use the home lessons. The parents comment that they are learning about their faith, too.
The home lessons come from Family Formation. Each month I receive an email with a link to Dropbox to download that month’s lessons. I copy the lessons. Each family gets an envelope with the number of copies needed for their family.
STICKERS: I end every class by giving each child a sticker. Kids love stickers so stickers are a very positive way to end each class.
MAGNETS: At the first class for the year, I give each family a small magnet that has the dates of all classes for the year. Families really like this reminder of upcoming classes to put on their refrigerators.
Click the picture to go to the Lesson:
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