A Sample Sunday School Review Lesson to Keep Kids Interested in Class

Recently I received an email from a new retiree who started teaching Sunday School at her church a few weeks ago. She shared her teaching experience with me and I replied and gave her a few suggestions for her class. Here are my suggestions to help her develop her Sunday School teaching skills:


Hi, Rose,

So good to hear from you! I could feel your excitement about teaching Sunday School to these kids!

I can also feel that your confidence and skills are developing rapidly! By the time July comes, you will have become a good teacher for your volunteer teaching in Asia!!!

Love the way you are teaching the lessons to the kids!

May I give you some suggestions so that you can have a break and also add some variety to your  lessons? Every 3 to 4 weeks, you can have a Review Lesson with the students.

In this Review Lesson, you can:

1. Ask students questions and make a fun game out of it  - a fun way to review all the characters, events, places  in the lessons you have taught them. Divide your Sunday School class into two teams. A little competition between the teams will create some excitement for  the children.

2  Invite students to retell one of their favourite bible stories you taught them 

3. Ask students to explain what they have learned from that story

4. Ask students to share how they have applied these lessons in their daily lives

5. Students can draw a picture for their most favourite bible stories 

When we teach, we need to keep students interested and motivated. One of the important things to remember is keeping lessons interesting by providing students with a variety of activities. Surprise students by doing something different or wacky once a while. This will keep them guessing what you would do next so that students will look forward to coming to your class.

This week, I will be sharing a message at your church. You deserve a break to sit and enjoy the message. May I suggest that you prepare some of review questions and ask your helper to do the Review Lesson. What do u think?

Yes, I will bring more games to church this week for you!

Keep up the great job you have been doing!!!

Blessings,

R.T.
Toronto

A Letter From A Beginner ( Happy) Sunday School Teacher

I have kept in contact with a number of my recently retired professional friends who are high achievers and have worked hard for the last thirty plus years in their hectic jobs. Newly retired, with much free time on their hands for the first time in their lives, some retirees are not sure what they should do with their  time.

For some of my dedicated and devout Christian friends, I encourage them to be involved in church, particularly, as a Sunday School teacher sharing their love of God and the bible knowledge with the children.

To support this group of newly minted, inexperienced but enthusiastic Sunday School teachers, I have provided them with some basic training, follow up and ongoing encouragement. I recently received a heart warming email from a retiree who started teaching children at her church three weeks ago.  I enjoyed reading every line of her email:


Hi,  R.T.

Sunday School went well today!  I have been teaching for 3 weeks now. We've learnt about Judges - stories about Gideon and Samson.  This week we learnt a story from 1 Samuel - the story about the Ark of Covenant - why do we need to fear God, the difference between being afraid and fearful.

Anna and Davin are good at reading especially the names of people and places in the bible. Steve and I are not good at that but Steve is good at understanding the bible passages and I'm good at asking them questions. Those questions help the students to fully understand what the Bible verses want to teach us. We are learning from each other.

If you have more games please bring them to us when you come to our church next time. I have found that games and treats are a relaxing happy start to Sunday School for kids. Also, I have found out that when the children like you,  they will listen to you.

Today I taught the kids, especially Davin (a little rascal ) about manner and respect for others.

They listened. Echoed to today's lesson on 'Respect to God'!

Thanks for your help. God Bless!

Rose
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I am so proud of how well Rose is doing and the skills she is developing in teaching children about the bible stories. Nothing is more satisfying to a teacher than seeing that your students are learning and improving!

R.T.
Toronto
P.s. names have been changed to protect the privacy of students

A Review of the Memories Resort at Trinidad Del Mar,Trinidad, Cuba

Entrance to the Memories Resort at Trinidad Del Mar, Cuba

While in Cuba, we stayed in a beautiful resort in the southern part of the island.


The resort is located minutes to a large lake from the front of the building with a beautiful beach at the back facing an ocean.

We love walking and spending time on the beach of the Memories Resort

A spacious and comfortable lobby

Guests enjoy hanging out in the spacious open lobby.




With comfortable seating, guests can wait for their tour bus or use the resort's wifi to check their emails.

We checked emails at the lobby

Along the resort's main corridor, there are lounge chairs dangling from the ceiling.















There are abundant beautiful places at the resort for relaxing and napping.

These wonderful quiet places beckon guests to pause and take it easy there.

This a  big resort with a lot of space for various activities.

In addition to a spectacular white sand beach, guests can enjoy sunbathing and splashing in a good size swimming pool flanked by some beautiful outdoor daybeds and lounge chairs.

Most of the resort hotels are 2-3 story high with easy access to amenities at the resort.

Each room comes with a balcony and a couple of patio chairs should guests choose to relax in their own room.


A few things we have enjoyed tremendously at the resort:

Dining Room of the Memories Resort

a. Our daily meals at the resort's  dining room.

We love the abundant fresh tropical fruits and enjoy both the amazingly fresh fruits and juices at every meal.

The dining staff has tried hard to please our palates.

We enjoyed the fresh coconut water straight from the fruit!

There has been something different on many days served to the guests.

We loved drinking coconut water freshly coming out of coconuts prepared right in front of us one evening!

There was no extra charge for that!

Donuts freshly prepared and hung on a donut board for breakfast!

A couple of days, we were  surprised to see a donut board full of different kinds of donuts and bagels for breakfast!

How Canadian was that!

Daily dance lessons at the resort

b. The daily free Spanish and dancing lessons offered at the resort.

Claudia, our instructor has been patient and kind helping us to build our Spanish and dancing skills.















c. The nightly evening free entertainment after dinner.
















We went almost every evening except for a couple when we were exhausted from our excursions.

We enjoyed the variety of the shows
presented to us each night.

These performances have included comedies, classical and pop singing as well as some fantastic footwork in both modern and Spanish dancing.

d. A wonderful friendly staff - everyone is friendly and provides good service to resort guests.

The Memories Trinidad Del Mar - one of the most beautiful resorts in this area of Cuba

We stayed at this building at Trinidad Del Mar

e. A marvelous comfortable bedroom and a well lit resort

Memories is a marvelous resort; some guest told us that it is one of the most beautiful resorts in Cuba. We agree!

Our bedroom - spacious and comfortable.

A different towel sculpture sat on our bed after daily housekeeping 

We also appreciated the entire resort being well lit at night so that we felt safe walking around on well lit paths.












However, there were a couple of  issues. They were:

- there was a lack of  hot water in the guest rooms during the first couple of days of our stay

- difficulty of buying wifi access cards at the resort for the first few days










Other than the above, we loved every minute of our stay and have enjoyed our vacation at the Memories Trinidad Del Mar resort!

 We enjoyed our stay at this Cuban resort

For guests who like to explore the city scene on their own, there is a public bus that goes to the city of Trinidad for 5 CUC ( about Canadian $ 7.00) for a return trip.
So guests can head to the city should they wish to get away from the resort.


We would return to the Memories Trinidad Del Mar resort should we visit the same region in Cuba in the future. I would recommend this place.


R.T.
Memories Trinidad Del Mar Resort
Cuba