HOLDING MEETINGS
Techniques for Student Management
NATURAL STUDENT LEADERSHIP
Kids for Christ Clubs activate and utilize the natural desire of 5th Grade Students to be helpful leaders to create very effective student management. 5th graders enjoy having a chance to lead younger students. The Club Handbook prescribes meeting structures that the 5th grade students do. These simple meeting structure plans help students lead and control large groups with very little School Sponsor assistance.
(The school sponsor is a volunteer the school approves to assure the safety & rights of all the students. Schools often require they be present to assure the conduct of the students and any guests. They can not interfere with the normal club activities so long as the club is in line with Local, District, County, State & Federal School policy concerning student clubs & activities. Any School polices or laws that violate student's right to voluntarily assemble during non instructional time, can and should receive a merited legal challenge. Religious freedom must also not be infringed upon nor assisted by the sponsor. A school sponsor role is strictly administrative for the school and must remain neutral in overseeing the club observance of policy remain non participatory in the club's function. There are Non-Profit legal organizations like the liberty Foundation and the American Center of Law and Justice, who will assist students with a merited case with out charge.)
Duties which Officer-Helpers volunteer to do: (We encourage them to take turns)
Being an Officer-Helper offers 5th graders opportunity to develop early leadership skills as they serve. Any 5th grade student interested in helping can do so. Your training can help them learn these important skills as they begin to exercise natural leadership leanings.
Kids for Christ Clubs activate and utilize the natural desire of 5th Grade Students to be helpful leaders to create very effective student management. 5th graders enjoy having a chance to lead younger students. The Club Handbook prescribes meeting structures that the 5th grade students do. These simple meeting structure plans help students lead and control large groups with very little School Sponsor assistance.
(The school sponsor is a volunteer the school approves to assure the safety & rights of all the students. Schools often require they be present to assure the conduct of the students and any guests. They can not interfere with the normal club activities so long as the club is in line with Local, District, County, State & Federal School policy concerning student clubs & activities. Any School polices or laws that violate student's right to voluntarily assemble during non instructional time, can and should receive a merited legal challenge. Religious freedom must also not be infringed upon nor assisted by the sponsor. A school sponsor role is strictly administrative for the school and must remain neutral in overseeing the club observance of policy remain non participatory in the club's function. There are Non-Profit legal organizations like the liberty Foundation and the American Center of Law and Justice, who will assist students with a merited case with out charge.)
Duties which Officer-Helpers volunteer to do: (We encourage them to take turns)
- Invite and schedule guest speakers from the Kids for Christ Club guest list (Create the list and include Local Children's ministers and Pastors)
- Relay the confirmations back to the Community Volunteer Facilitator to put them on the Calendar
- Suggestions for guest speakers with their name and phone number
- Attend all meetings. (Especially if meeting more than once a week)
- Ask the office to make any announcements for Kids for Christ Club
- Stand at the door to greet the students coming to the Bible club
- Open and Close the Bible Club in prayer
- Help as Row Monitors of the students who sit in rows according to their grade & be attentive
- May serve in other ways during meeting times such as.
- Officers can set up & start the CD player in the morning
- Hand out object lessons prizes
- Lead motions for opening song
- May also learn children’s ministry arts such as skits, puppets or sign language songs to perform for the students during the meeting. At the end of the year they are asked to share with the whole group how Kids for Christ helped their faith. What they learned from being in the club. They are also given a gift for serving during the year.
Being an Officer-Helper offers 5th graders opportunity to develop early leadership skills as they serve. Any 5th grade student interested in helping can do so. Your training can help them learn these important skills as they begin to exercise natural leadership leanings.
SMALL GROUP & LARGE GROUP PLANS:
When you begin you may have some restrictions that may reduce the amount of students who attend. Facilities, student body size, newness of the club. If your group is small in the beginning then you may be able to utilize a small group plan. The time restriction before school will always push you toward a large group format since any discussions between you and individual students will devour your time quickly. The use of object lesson handouts & T-Shirts will cause rapid growth in your group size and the need to move to a large group plan may happen quickly. If you are interested in keeping a smaller group setting you may want to include an after school program where time limits are not as severe.
ROW MONITORS:
The 5th graders ROW MONITORS standing on the row ends will help remind students to be attentive by simply looking, making kind eye contact, at the child who has become disruptive and putting finger to their own mouth to make the sign for silence and pointing to the guest speaker to redirect their attention back to the one speaking. (You will teach the 5th graders how to do this during the orientation and may have to remind them periodically.)
The 5th graders who have the red & white pails (or bags) with the novelties will begin handing them to the students when they are asked to; starting from each end of the rows. The students are not allowed to trade colors and may only trade out a damaged item.
A cell phone alarm can be set to remind the club organizer when it is time to dismiss. When the warning alarm sounds, immediately wrap up and say a closing prayer relating to the message. Then only allow one grade at a time to stand up and leave the room orderly and quietly to return to where the school normally has them before the bell rings for classes to start. You must allocate more time for this with larger groups and campuses. BE aware that you will quickly & rightly get on bad terms with the school if you disrespect the time and behavior the school must retain.
When you begin you may have some restrictions that may reduce the amount of students who attend. Facilities, student body size, newness of the club. If your group is small in the beginning then you may be able to utilize a small group plan. The time restriction before school will always push you toward a large group format since any discussions between you and individual students will devour your time quickly. The use of object lesson handouts & T-Shirts will cause rapid growth in your group size and the need to move to a large group plan may happen quickly. If you are interested in keeping a smaller group setting you may want to include an after school program where time limits are not as severe.
ROW MONITORS:
The 5th graders ROW MONITORS standing on the row ends will help remind students to be attentive by simply looking, making kind eye contact, at the child who has become disruptive and putting finger to their own mouth to make the sign for silence and pointing to the guest speaker to redirect their attention back to the one speaking. (You will teach the 5th graders how to do this during the orientation and may have to remind them periodically.)
The 5th graders who have the red & white pails (or bags) with the novelties will begin handing them to the students when they are asked to; starting from each end of the rows. The students are not allowed to trade colors and may only trade out a damaged item.
A cell phone alarm can be set to remind the club organizer when it is time to dismiss. When the warning alarm sounds, immediately wrap up and say a closing prayer relating to the message. Then only allow one grade at a time to stand up and leave the room orderly and quietly to return to where the school normally has them before the bell rings for classes to start. You must allocate more time for this with larger groups and campuses. BE aware that you will quickly & rightly get on bad terms with the school if you disrespect the time and behavior the school must retain.
Large Group Meeting Plan:
The student enrollment of your school creates the potential. We begin with a plan that prepares for 60% of the student body. Once you know your student body count then you can anticipate a group of 60% within the 1st year. You may experience explosive growth and reach that number very quickly. If your group has the potential to grow to hundreds, you must move to a large Group format. Excellent organization is a must to be effective in this very short 10 min time frame. Once you are moving 100-300 kids in and out of a room your time can easily be used up leaving no time for the presentation. To avoid that from happening the 5th graders will help carry out an efficient flow of students in & out of the room. Groups any larger will need to be divided into separate meetings. For instance, K-2nd on one day & 3-5th on a separate day. You would request some of your 5th grade officers to be available on the younger grade meeting day.
5th Grade Officer-helper Volunteer tasks for a Large group format meeting
Leading the arrival song
5th graders get the CD player from stored location, plug in & start a children’s God's Top Ten praise song on loudest clear setting.. Play the same song every meeting so kids can learn words by the end of the year. Have some of the 5th graders stand in front to clap, do hand motions and sing along with the words as students come in. Once all the kids arrive. Introduce the volunteer to lead in prayer. You may choose to make a poster of the lyrics it will help kids sing along as they arrive and learn them..
Open in prayer
Once all the student are seated by grades with Kindergarten closest to the front, then 1st on the next rows & so on. Turn off the music & welcome them. Introduce the 5th grader who will lead the prayer. When they are finished, thank them and introduce your guest speaker or the lesson you will teach therm.
KEEPING Their Attention:
Work with your school. There are many useful techniques they may already be using they can share with you for respectfully gaining the attention of the students. Schools often have techniques the students already respond too. Ask how they gain the students attention if they become noisy.
REMEMBER: Yelling, anger, demeaning sarcasm are destructive and never allowed. Always look for ways to regain their attention if you lose it. A distinct hand clapping rhythm they will repeat is a useful tool. Be Prepared! Make sure you keep the program moving along.
Bibles
Encouraging faith is done best by introducing regular Bible Study habits. Helping families afford their child’s first Bible is an important step. International Bible Society is a valuable resource. We include the option to order a NIV Children’s Bible on the permission and T-Shirt order form. We set the price for the Bibles at COST so that every child is given full opportunity to buy one. Another option is to find sponsors to purchase them for the children. But they must all be either free or charged for.
Lessons
In a multi denominational environment doctrine that is common to all Christians is important. Prosyliting toward a particular doctrine would not be beneficial to the families who entrust them into your care.
The lessons need to be FOUNDATION since many of the kids do not get to attend church anywhere. Short but helpful lessons about the Bible, the 10 Commandments, the Cross, Prayer, salvation, forgiveness are good subjects to teach. Visual aids like poster size pictures, video clips, skits…any kind of visual aids will help.
With only 10-12 minutes to make an effective point, lessons need help. A very helpful tool is Object Lesson Novelty Prizes. These can be purchased online from Oriental Trading Co. or other online suppliers as well as local party supply stores with the Club funds received from the T-Shirts. Kids love the novelty prizes and will tell other kids about the club. This will increase your group and give you more opportunity to reach more kids with the Gospel.
Guest Speakers
Using visual aids, ministry art forms such as puppets, object lessons, posters, video presentations, audio tools. There are many, many resources to inspire your teaching efforts. Also find those in your area who have already honed a presentation technique and invite them to come as a special guest. We look for area Children’s Ministries that are willing to come and share their talented presentations with the group. Some area Pastors have ministry skills for reaching the hearts of Children. We look for age appropriate ministries to come and present to the Bible club. Check with area churches to find them and invite them to come.
Funding
The funding comes from the orders sent home with students to buy the optional Bibles & T-Shirts. The Bibles are always at cost. The T-shirt price is set a little above cost. We suggest you have them printed by a Local T-Shirt Company. The more ordered the lower the cost in larger quantities. So often the printing price originally quoted will drop as the ordered amount increases giving us a greater surplus income. That income is used to purchase inexpensive novelties to use for lessons. The kids love getting these and they provide a reminder of the lesson they can explain to family & friends. You can charge a little extra for the T-Shirt to cover the extra expenses. Your group will grow quickly once word of these prizes gets around. You will then have more opportunity to reach more kids with the Gospel. You must submit your items to be ordered for approval to the school principal.
T-Shirts
We keep the same shirt design each year so parents do not have to buy new shirts every year and can pass them on to younger kids. The School may allow them to wear their shirts instead of their uniforms on meeting days. We use white lettering on a red shirt. The T Shirt design is on the last 2 pages. Sometimes a school may request a different color.
Book Keeping
Once permission slips, orders & monies are received may be supervised by the in-school sponsor, the monies from the orders will be posted by the school bookkeeper.
PURCHASING:
The bookkeeper will keep & disperse funds for you through a Purchase Order or items may be paid for from outside funding upfront and be reimbursed with a check by the school bookkeeper from the club funds. Funds in the club account are not from any school resource and are raised by club T-Shirt sales. .After the Order forms are counted a student can request a purchase order. The purchase order is how the school bookkeeper dispenses funds from the club account. It is written to purchase the T-shirts, Bibles & lesson novelties. If you use a purchase order you will need to give COMPLETE information and website info to the school personnel who will facilitate the purchase. Be patient GIVE THEM AMPLE TIME. Be patient. Always get items you intend to purchase approved before completing an order. Always respect the right of the principal to reject any item you may have chosen to use. If an Item is thought to be disruptive to the class instructional time or even the welfare and conduct of students an administrator may deny its purchase.
Resource Links:
The student enrollment of your school creates the potential. We begin with a plan that prepares for 60% of the student body. Once you know your student body count then you can anticipate a group of 60% within the 1st year. You may experience explosive growth and reach that number very quickly. If your group has the potential to grow to hundreds, you must move to a large Group format. Excellent organization is a must to be effective in this very short 10 min time frame. Once you are moving 100-300 kids in and out of a room your time can easily be used up leaving no time for the presentation. To avoid that from happening the 5th graders will help carry out an efficient flow of students in & out of the room. Groups any larger will need to be divided into separate meetings. For instance, K-2nd on one day & 3-5th on a separate day. You would request some of your 5th grade officers to be available on the younger grade meeting day.
5th Grade Officer-helper Volunteer tasks for a Large group format meeting
- One to open in prayer
- 2 to get the CD player & start music after announcement made
- Students sit in rows by grade order with the Kindergarten in the front
- 8 to stand at end and start of each grade for row placement
- One to contact office to make the club starting announcement
- 8-10 to hand out novelties
- Several may elect to do hand motions with the song
- The 5th graders who are on a task stand across the back of
the room.
- Children do continue to arrive after the meeting has begun. The 5th graders near the door will point them to their places.
Leading the arrival song
5th graders get the CD player from stored location, plug in & start a children’s God's Top Ten praise song on loudest clear setting.. Play the same song every meeting so kids can learn words by the end of the year. Have some of the 5th graders stand in front to clap, do hand motions and sing along with the words as students come in. Once all the kids arrive. Introduce the volunteer to lead in prayer. You may choose to make a poster of the lyrics it will help kids sing along as they arrive and learn them..
Open in prayer
Once all the student are seated by grades with Kindergarten closest to the front, then 1st on the next rows & so on. Turn off the music & welcome them. Introduce the 5th grader who will lead the prayer. When they are finished, thank them and introduce your guest speaker or the lesson you will teach therm.
KEEPING Their Attention:
Work with your school. There are many useful techniques they may already be using they can share with you for respectfully gaining the attention of the students. Schools often have techniques the students already respond too. Ask how they gain the students attention if they become noisy.
REMEMBER: Yelling, anger, demeaning sarcasm are destructive and never allowed. Always look for ways to regain their attention if you lose it. A distinct hand clapping rhythm they will repeat is a useful tool. Be Prepared! Make sure you keep the program moving along.
Bibles
Encouraging faith is done best by introducing regular Bible Study habits. Helping families afford their child’s first Bible is an important step. International Bible Society is a valuable resource. We include the option to order a NIV Children’s Bible on the permission and T-Shirt order form. We set the price for the Bibles at COST so that every child is given full opportunity to buy one. Another option is to find sponsors to purchase them for the children. But they must all be either free or charged for.
Lessons
In a multi denominational environment doctrine that is common to all Christians is important. Prosyliting toward a particular doctrine would not be beneficial to the families who entrust them into your care.
The lessons need to be FOUNDATION since many of the kids do not get to attend church anywhere. Short but helpful lessons about the Bible, the 10 Commandments, the Cross, Prayer, salvation, forgiveness are good subjects to teach. Visual aids like poster size pictures, video clips, skits…any kind of visual aids will help.
With only 10-12 minutes to make an effective point, lessons need help. A very helpful tool is Object Lesson Novelty Prizes. These can be purchased online from Oriental Trading Co. or other online suppliers as well as local party supply stores with the Club funds received from the T-Shirts. Kids love the novelty prizes and will tell other kids about the club. This will increase your group and give you more opportunity to reach more kids with the Gospel.
Guest Speakers
Using visual aids, ministry art forms such as puppets, object lessons, posters, video presentations, audio tools. There are many, many resources to inspire your teaching efforts. Also find those in your area who have already honed a presentation technique and invite them to come as a special guest. We look for area Children’s Ministries that are willing to come and share their talented presentations with the group. Some area Pastors have ministry skills for reaching the hearts of Children. We look for age appropriate ministries to come and present to the Bible club. Check with area churches to find them and invite them to come.
Funding
The funding comes from the orders sent home with students to buy the optional Bibles & T-Shirts. The Bibles are always at cost. The T-shirt price is set a little above cost. We suggest you have them printed by a Local T-Shirt Company. The more ordered the lower the cost in larger quantities. So often the printing price originally quoted will drop as the ordered amount increases giving us a greater surplus income. That income is used to purchase inexpensive novelties to use for lessons. The kids love getting these and they provide a reminder of the lesson they can explain to family & friends. You can charge a little extra for the T-Shirt to cover the extra expenses. Your group will grow quickly once word of these prizes gets around. You will then have more opportunity to reach more kids with the Gospel. You must submit your items to be ordered for approval to the school principal.
T-Shirts
We keep the same shirt design each year so parents do not have to buy new shirts every year and can pass them on to younger kids. The School may allow them to wear their shirts instead of their uniforms on meeting days. We use white lettering on a red shirt. The T Shirt design is on the last 2 pages. Sometimes a school may request a different color.
Book Keeping
Once permission slips, orders & monies are received may be supervised by the in-school sponsor, the monies from the orders will be posted by the school bookkeeper.
PURCHASING:
The bookkeeper will keep & disperse funds for you through a Purchase Order or items may be paid for from outside funding upfront and be reimbursed with a check by the school bookkeeper from the club funds. Funds in the club account are not from any school resource and are raised by club T-Shirt sales. .After the Order forms are counted a student can request a purchase order. The purchase order is how the school bookkeeper dispenses funds from the club account. It is written to purchase the T-shirts, Bibles & lesson novelties. If you use a purchase order you will need to give COMPLETE information and website info to the school personnel who will facilitate the purchase. Be patient GIVE THEM AMPLE TIME. Be patient. Always get items you intend to purchase approved before completing an order. Always respect the right of the principal to reject any item you may have chosen to use. If an Item is thought to be disruptive to the class instructional time or even the welfare and conduct of students an administrator may deny its purchase.
Resource Links:
- WWW.Orientaltrading,com - Object
lesson Novelties
- WWW.IBS.org - International Bible Society for Bibles
- WWW.Childevangelismfellowship
- Curriculum & training
- WWW.Gideons.org - New Testament Bibles