Parent-Servant meeting May 30 th , 2010

1. Parent-Servant meeting May 30th, 2010 St. Mary’s COC Sunday-School Grades 1 & 2

2.  Welcome!  • Goals of this meeting • To get parents & servants on one team & on the same page • Create a family & servant supportive network • Future: Establish a clear spiritual curriculum with the families • Frequency of meetings: • Next meeting in September, 2010; • Every 3-4 months thereafter. • Frequency of meetings important to follow-up matters • to ensure issues brought up by parents are addressed & to update on the progress of the service)

3. Brief Outline • Getting parents & servants on one team. (Ramez Sidaros) • The curriculum plan to September 2010 (Mervat Shenouda & Mira Amin) • The Sunday-school point system (Paul Tokuda) • What the servants would like from the parents (Fabiola Tokuda) • Communicating with parents in the time between meetings (Mervat Shenouda & Fabiola Tokuda) • Q&A and ‘one-to-one’ Parent-Servant meetings

4. One team: One body, One spirit! A few words on the importance of getting parents & servants on one team. • Ephesians 4: One hope, one faith, one baptism, One God. • Unity in the Body of Christ was given to us; how can we keep it ? • One Spirit, One mind. How did the Early Church keep this unity? (Acts2:42-47)

5. One team: One body, One spirit! • Was this unity an initiative of St Paul? Was it Christ? ( John17 :20-23) • Why? … To prepare God’s people (to raise children of God) so that the body of Christ may be built up. • Goal: Attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ = Eternal life in Christ • An example from the early church (Acts 4:31 , 5:32-35) • A life example (Engineering)

6. The curriculum plan to September 2010 Schedule overview: • Pre-class songs (G1-G3) • 12:00-12:15pm in Baptisery • Special weekly topic (G1-G3) • 12:15-12:25pm in Baptisery • Sunday-school • 12:25-1:10pm • G1 in room at North end of Stage • G2 in Baptisery

7. Curriculum for Pre-class songsSongs – alternate between English & Coptic

8. Curriculum for ‘Special Topics’ Topics include: • Church etiquette • Prayer • Confession • Fasting • Current issues/news

9. Curriculum for Sunday-school lessons • To date: SUS curriculum (http://www.suscopts.org/ssc/ ) • As of June 13th: Mahragan 2010 Competition 3-month Lesson Outline as follows: • June 13th & 20th – Faithfulness of my heart • June 27th & July 4th - Faithfulness inside my church • July 11th & 18th – Faithfulness with my talents • July 25th & August 1st – Faithfulness with my family • August 8th & 15th – Faithfulness with all others • August 22nd – Psalm 23 and Psalm 11 memorization Confession Schedule • G1 every 5th Sunday & G2 every month

10.  TRIVIA!  Win points for your children! Guess Who? – 10pts Guess Who? – 10 pts

11.  TRIVIA!  Win points for your children! For 10 Points! For 10 Points! How old was Moses when he died? Answer: 120 • On which day did God create animals? 
 • Answer: On the sixth day.

12. Sunday-school Point System • Goals of point system • Promote attendance • Encourage children to participate in the class • Provide positive reinforcement • Promote reading & memorizing Bible • Points distribution • Arriving on-time to Pre-class songs at 12:00pm (10 pts) • Song memorization (20 pts) • In Class Participation (10 pts) • Bringing their folder to class (10 pts) • Reward system • (Help needed!) • Completion of homework (20 pts) • Memorizing a verse (10 pts) • Memorizing a Psalm (half=50pts; full=100pts) • Perfect attendance in a month (100pts)

13. What we’d like from YOU!Pretty please…  • Follow up with your children on every Sunday-school lesson • Ask them about the lesson and, if needed, read it with them from the Bible (even before the lesson!  ) • Help them complete any hand-out (word-searches, colouring sheets, questions, etc.) • Help them memorize their weekly/monthly Bible verses and/or Psalms • Remind them to complete & bring their folders every week

14. What we’d like from YOU!Pretty please…  • Confession Sundays – please be patient with the timing • Help us practice what we preach! • Coming to church on time • Having communion every Sunday • Good behaviour during the liturgy & appropriate clothing • Daily prayers -- as soon as children wake-up, after school, and before meals • Fasting – encourage this as much as possible by providing suitable foods; also encourage them to fast from bad words , excessive computer/TV/video-game usage, etc… • Please make sure children arrive to SS on time (12:00pm)

15. Communicating between meetings • Progress-report through every meeting (3-4mos) • Weekly phone-calls to children • Handouts • Posters • Visitations • Reminder emails (supplementary method only)

16. Outline of next meeting Projected date: September 2010 • Follow-up on the progress made from May to September • Topics to be followed in Sunday school for the successive 3 months • Getting the children involved in church activities • Follow-up on the topics parents suggested they would like us to stress on in Sunday-school • In response to the paper questionnaire distributed at the end of the present meeting.

17. Q & A and ‘One-to-one’ Meetings OPEN FLOOR! ***Parents are strongly encouraged to provide us with feedback, comments, questions, suggestions, and/or concerns. • Suggestion box available just outside of the Baptisery to make comments and remain anonymous