Queen Esther Class #6

We had our last 'princess' class last night ... 

... next week we will prepare for the finale where we invite the girl's family in to see and hear what they've learned.

The take home this week was invitations to the finale.

(I used things I had on hand that I had gotten on clearance at one time or another to make the invitatons.)

We finished the account of Esther by picking up with the King not being able to sleep the night of the first banquet and calling for the book of records so he could read for awhile.  The King noted in his reading that nothing had been done to reward the man who had uncovered the plot to have him killed.   He was pondering on this when Haman came to speak to him about having Mordecai hung.  The King immediately asked Haman what should be done to reward someone the King wanted to reward.  Haman, thinking the King wanted to reward him, told the King the highest honor would be to put the royal robes on the person, sit him on the King's horse and have him led through the city praising him to all.  The King thought this was an excellent idea and told Haman to do all that he had said to Mordecai.  Haman was not happy but did as the King requested.  

As soon as Haman had finished leading Mordecai through the city square, Haman was taken to the second banquet with he and the King in attendance, when the King inquired of Queen Esther what her request was, she told him that her people were going to be killed and  slaughtered.  The King was shocked and wanted to know who would do such a thing.  (I reminded the girls of Esther secret and that the King did not know that she was a Jew.)  When Queen Esther told the King that the person was Haman, the King was so upset he left the room. Meanwhile, Haman, knowing that he was in trouble, begged Queen Esther for mercy.  The King returned to the room during Haman's pleading and thought Haman was assualting the Queen.  The King ordered Haman to be hung on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.

The King, knowing he could not undo the law he had been tricked into making by Haman, allowed Mordecai and Esther to write a new law that would save the Jews.

That's where we ended the class and the girls were full of questions.  I answered them to the best of my ability!  I think they have really enjoyed this special summer series ... their 'princess class.'

One more thing ... I caught one of the girl's being extra kind to a visiting little girl we had in class by helping her with her workbook activity.  She was so tender with her and helpful in guiding her through the activity ... it just made my heart swell with pride.   I want to reward that kind of behavior so, she will be given the kindness badge too.

To say that I have enjoyed teaching this special summer series is an understatment! The girls were wonderful to work with and I fell even more in love with them.  I pray that something I've said or done during this series will cause them to want to learn more about our Lord.  Just like Esther, God has a plan for their lives and I hope in some small way I've helped them realize that. 

patsy

She Hath Done What She Could

Queen Esther Class #5

We have one more class and then we'll close out this special summer series with a banquet/program.   The girls will be telling the story of Esther and sharing what they've learned with their parents and grandparents as the audience.

Our take home this week was scrolls with Esther 3:13 as the message.

We continued our lesson and picked up with Queen Esther going before the King not knowing if she would die or if the King would hold out the golden septer to her.  The girls learned that the King did indeed hold out his golden septer to her and promised to give her up to half of his kingdom before inquiring what her request was.  The Queen requested that the King and Haman come to a banquet she wanted to give for them.  The King said yes and Haman was so full of pride all he could think of was how important he must be if the Queen wanted him to come to the banquet. However, he was still thinking of how he could get rid of Mordecai ... immediately!  He even went so far as to have gallows made to have Mordecai hung!  Meanwhile, Haman goes to the banquet only to learn that the Queen's request was for him and the King to come to a second banquet. 

That's where I left the girls and told them they would have to come back next week to find out what the Queen's request was.  They moaned and groaned ... 

patsy

She Hath Done What She Could

Queen Esther Class #4

(Notice the workbook/activity book that has a card laying on top of it?  One of the girls was having a birthday the day after this class so I prettied up a card and presented it to her.  She loved it!)

We're in our fourth week of our 'princess class' and we have pretty much established a routine.  

One of the students will open the class with prayer

We go over our memory verse (Esther 4:14) and give any of the girls that want to an opportunity to recite the verse.

We review past lessons which have the events of the story of Esther in chronological order. The girls really enjoy retelling the account, I just get them started and ask a question every now and then.

I teach the next 'thing that happened' in the account, which this week was ...

Mordecai and Esther's conversation regarding her role in possibly saving her people.  It involved her going before the King, only no one dared go before the King unless he had sent for them.  If someone did present themselves uninvited before the King and he held out the golden scepter to them they would live, if he did not, it meant certain death.  The King had not sent for Queen Esther in a month!  Queen Esther and her maidens fasted and prayed for 3 days, so did Mordecai and the Jews.  Would the King hold out the golden scepter to Queen Esther ... that's where I left them.

We sing songs

The girls choose something to work on in their workbooks

One of the girls was caught being extra kind to a younger child after Bible class so I placed a 'kindness' reward in her workbook/activity.  She doesn't know she has earned it!  I can't wait to see her reaction!

I continue to use 'speech bubble' sticky notes and write notes to the girls in their workbooks/activity books. I found the speech bubble sticky notes at the Dollar Tree about a year ago.

I also continue to take pictures each week and add them to the girl's workbooks/activity books.

The take-home for this week was of course, a golden scepter for each girl!  (Pictured in the center of the table in the picture above.  I made them out of styrofoam and my husband spray painted them gold.)

patsy

She Hath Done What She Could

Queen Esther Class #3

Last week we did not have our Queen Esther class because we were doing Vacation Bible School. 

This week we started the class with prayer, lead by one of the girls. Then we worked on our memory verse (Esther 4:14) and after that, did a thorough review using our story wall.

Then we talked about Mordecai discovering and reporting to Esther a plot to kill the King.  Esther reported the plot to the King and those responsible were hanged.  It was at this point that wicked Haman was introduced.

We talked about the fact that Haman hated Mordecai because he wouldn't bow down to him. We also talked about the fact that Haman came up with an evil plan to get even with Mordecai .  He wanted to kill all the Jews, which Mordecai was and Haman knew, but, Haman didn't know that Queen Esther was also a Jew!  Haman convinced the King to make his wishes a decree and the time was set for all Jews to be killed!

What were the Jews going to do? 

That's where I left the girls and told them if they wanted to know what happened they would have to come back next week.

Amidst groans of  "No, Mrs. Patsy" we moved onto singing and working in our activity books.

Our take home for the girls were these Queen Esther playing cards.  

All the take-homes are geared towards reinforcing the lesson each week.  

I want the girls to know this Bible account frontwards and backwards!

patsy
She Hath Done What She Could

Queen Esther Class #2

For our second 'princess class' we had to add another chair and workbook because we had another little girl in class ... 6 in all!!

We started out the class by asking for a volunteer to open the class in prayer and almost every little hand in the room went up!  We chose one little girl and assured the others that they would each have a turn in the upcoming weeks as well.

From there we reviewed our memory verse (Esther 4:14) and then went over to the story wall and reviewed our story from last week where we were introduced to the King and his Queen.

We left our story last week with the King needing a new queen and that's where we picked up this week.  We learned how Queen Esther was chosen and about her secret.  The girls really liked this part!

One of the girls asked where I was getting this story from and I showed them in the Bible the book of Esther.  They couldn't believe this story was in the Bible and a couple of them said they were going to go home and read it.  As a Bible teacher, I can tell you it just doesn't get much better than that!

After our time at the story wall, we sang some 'Esther'songs and opened our activity books to finish out the class.

Our take home item for the girls this week were 'Esther' paper dolls.  

As they color each piece I hope it will reinforce what they have learned so far.

Class #2 was another huge success!

patsy

She Hath Done What She Could

Queen Esther Class: The First Class!

The  first class of our special summer series on Queen Esther for girls, ages 5 - 9, was held last night.  What a success it was!  My helper and I welcomed 5 little girls to the 'princess class.'

I added a little fru-fru to the door handle of the door leading into our classroom  ...

Amidst ooh's and ahh's, the girls came in and seated themselves at the table.  

Each girl had their own activity/workbook.

In the middle of the table was tulle topped with princess crowns and a jar of plastic bracelets, rings and necklaces that the girls will earn by saying a prayer in class, leading a song in class, etc.

The little purses were their take homes for the week.  Each purse contained their memory verse for the series ... Esther 4:14.  (Their assignment is to read the verse to someone once a day all week long.)

I had each girl to write their name in their activity/workbook and the date.  Some of them really tried to get fancy.  I also took pictures of each girl and of the whole group of them.  I'll add each girl's picture and a group picture to their individual books as well.  I really want this activity/workbook to be a keepsake for them.

Here's a close-up of the purses!  I had so much fun making them and the girls loved them.  It was worth all the cutting and gluing to see their little faces when they saw them.

Speaking of the memory verse, here's what we're using to learn it.  As the girls become more familiar with it, I'll start taking away crowns so they will have to recall it from their memory.

In addition to working on our memory verse, singing some Esther songs, going over their activity/workbooks, and learning how they could earn bracelets, necklaces and rings we talked about King Xerxes and Queen Vashti.

I laid the foundation for the class by telling the girls what kind of king King Xerxes was and about the 180 day party he threw and then the 7 day party he gave.  I told the girls how King Xerxes wanted Queen Vashti to come to his party to show off her beauty.  I told them that Queen Vashti wouldn't go and how mad it made the King.  I left the story with the King taking counsel from some of the men at the party which ended in the King taking the crown away from Queen Vashti.  I told the girls that after a while the King wanted a new queen and that was what we would talk about next week.

The girls wanted to know who was going to be the  new queen, but I told them they would have to come back next week to find out!!!

One more thing, we talked about the banquet we would have at the end of the class to close the class out!  I'll be sharing more about that later!

Our first 'princess class' was a hugh success!  My goal is to teach what the Bible says about Queen Esther and her role in God's plan ... and to make it as much fun as I can!

patsy

She Hath Done What She Could

Queen Esther Class: The Workbook!

I spent several hours making these workbooks for the girls.  They are filled with 'to-do' type activities, the memory verse they'll be learning, activity pages, coloring pages, badge earning pages, pages for individual pictures as well as a group picture.  I even threw in a couple of blank pages in case we wanted to add something as we went along!  After I pulled it all together, I laminated the front and back covers and then comb-bound the books.  The goal is for them to have a keepsake when the class is over.

The finished product!

My message to the girls. 

A blank page and a pretty divider separating the coloring pages from the activity pages.

(The pretty purple flowered divider page is cardstock I found on sale at a craft store!)

The girls are excited about the class and I am too!

patsy

She Hath Done What She Could

Queen Esther Class: The Invitations

In this post I told you that I was working on a special summer series class for little girls ages 5 - 9 on Queen Esther.  I am having so much fun pulling this class together ... and I haven't even started teaching it yet.

The invitations have been made using things I had on hand except for the princess celophane bags, I purchased them at the Dollar Tree for $1.

I hand delivered them to 5 little girls.  

They were thrilled!  I hope they all get to attend!

I've secured a helper for the class ... with that many little girls, I need a helper!

to be continued ...

patsy

She Hath Done What She Could

Queen Esther Class! ... for little girls!

I'm working on a special series of classes for the little girl's in our congregation.  It will take place June through August of this summer on Wednesday nights.  It will be for girls 5 - 9 years old and will be about Queen Esther.

Here's what I'm planning so far ...

I'm putting together an Esther coloring/activity book for each girl

Within that coloring/activity book will be memory verses to learn, songs to sing, rewards to earn and a project for them to complete.

I'm working on making a set of Esther paper dolls for each girl to help them learn the Esther story.

We will have a banquet during the last class along with a little program. The  mommies, daddies and grandparents will be invited.

Can you think of something else I can add to this series that will make learning about Esther fun for these girls?

Thanks!

patsy
She Hath Done What She Could